“Unmasking Versus Sensation.” Tom Rob Smith On ‘American Crime Story: The Assassination of Gianni Versace’

Tom Rob Smith, a British TV writer, wrote subtantially on American Crime Story, including the Emmy-nominated episode of American Crime Story “House By The Lake.” We chatted to him about his writing process and inspiration behind writing crime dramas.

With a title like American Crime Story, the instinct for many would be to automatically focus on the viewpoint of a police investigation. For this screenwriter, however, the tale of the murder of Gianni Versace was much different. He knew the story should come from many angles, but should be expressed through Versace’s killer, Andrew Cunanan (Darren Criss).

“It was never going to be a story told through the point-of-view of the police, which is normally when it becomes pure crime drama. Part of this is because there was never a central piece to the killing of Versace. You have the police investigating in Minneapolis, police investigating in Chicago, police investigating in Miami—they never really linked up. There was never a cohesive story from a traditional crime point-of-view.”

Despite not having one source story from one perspective, Smith realized that the real story was always about Andrew. By focusing on the degradation of this character, it wasn’t so relevant to focus on the police’s point-of-view. In a reflective nature, Andrew’s life was also the opposite of Edgar Ramirez’s character, Gianni Versace.

The original concept of the anthology series for American Crime Story came from screenwriting partners Scott Alexander and Larry Karaszewski (Ed Wood, The People Vs. Larry Flynt). The creators knew they wanted each season to have a slightly different feel. Originally, they were going to focus on the Hurricane Katrina aftermath, but they decided to push that idea for Season 3 and partner with Smith for the fascinating story of Gianni Versace.

Before Smith landed on this series, the writer and producer was best known for his work on Child 44 (Tom Hardy) and London Spy (Ben Wishaw). Karaszewski and Alexander both liked Smith’s previous works and wanted to see his take on an anthology murder series. After reading and re-reading the source material 7 or 8 times, Smith realized the biggest question was where to begin the story.

Ricky Martin as Antonio D’Amico & Edgar Ramirez as Gianni Versace

Creating A TV Series About True Crime

During the first season of American Crime Story, the alternating mini-series focused on the trials of O.J. Simpson, before moving into Season 2 about Versace. Looking back at these two very different crimes, Smith believes each version of hindsight reflects the world in which we live in.

“I’ve often heard people talking about this crime [assasination of Gianni Versace] and saying that it doesn’t have as much significance,” said the screenwriter, “but I find it hard not to find something grisly about crimes. It’s all significant. It’s all social commentary. It’s about poverty or equality or police funding or bigotry—there’s always something larger in these crimes.”

Overall, the series focuses on crime, but there are also aspects of celebrity, which makes the show different than other crime dramas on television. “It’s really ahead of its time in terms of social commentary. A lot of reactions to the show were people wondering what Andrew Cunanan would have been like on social media in modern times.”

In the 1990s-set story, Andrew would send postcards to people he wanted to impress. The postcards were essentially pre-Facebook updates. The character wanted to show off and explain that he had been spending time with important people. He discussed people, places, and things out of the reach of many, like a misguided “representation of life.”

“I think this story is on the cusp of social media breaking out. Andrew never really defined what he wanted to do. He just wanted to be famous. He wanted to walk into a room and be admired,” said the screenwriter. “There was nothing more behind it. It was the exact opposite of Versace, who was about material, fabric, and clothing.”

“This case is very different than the O.J. case because only a tiny part of it was known, which is the murder of Versace,” said Smith. “We didn’t really know anything about Andrew. In many ways, there was an iceberg quality to this case.”

Creating A Timeless Period Piece

Essentially, the general public only knew about Versace getting shot in Miami. In many ways, the writers knew this was going to be the end of this disturbing story, but there was much more dramatic tension to create. The tale started in San Francisco and then moved through Minneapolis, Chicago, and Miami.

“We’re dealing with people who were outsiders. They were marginalized and we were trying to bring their stories forward. It was really unmasking something deep about the character,” said the writer. “Unmasking versus sensationalism.” In addition to the pre-social media aspects of the story, Smith also noticed additional questions of identity.

Tom Rob Smith is obsessed with what people can overcome and what beats them down. “When I read Maureen Orth’s book Vulgar Favors: The Hunt for Andrew Cunanan, the Man Who Killed Gianni Versace, I had a very intense reaction to it. It’s not like going to a museum and seeing pieces behind glass and not reacting to them.”

“It’s highly combustible and provocative, so you know you’re in a story that speaks about today as much as it did about the period, and a hundred years leading up to that.” Smith knew he wanted the story to speak to various audiences, even those too young to remember Versace’s murder from the news headlines.

The writer said that there were two elements able to reach younger audiences. First of all, Versace was an amazing individual, which led to a rediscovery of the man. Surprisingly, many people who only know about the Versace fashion brand didn’t even know that Versace had been murdered.

In addition to the life story of a fashion icon, the character of Andrew felt contemporary in terms of his ambitions and desires to “be someone… anyone” and to “make a mark on the world.” There were also issues of how young people fit into America in terms of race, work ethic, reputation, sexuality, and so on, to consider.  

Finn Wittrock as Jeffrey Trail & Darren Criss as Andrew Cunanan

The Many Elements Of A Crime

Potential spoilers ahead for American Crime Story Season 2.

Overall, the debate within the show is how to define the relationship between Andrew Cunanan and Gianni Versace. Based on the book, the duo originally met in San Francisco, where “Andrew met Gianni at his high point.” As such, the character of Versace saw potential in the boy, but it wasn’t clear if there was a sexual relationship, even though the chemistry was evident.

For Andrew, he felt like this was the high point of his life; living vicariously through Versace. After this initial introduction, Versace went on to do great things while Andrew’s life fell apart. Therefore, some sort of resentment or vengeance sparked in the young man, who started to become more and more obsessed with the idea of celebrity.

As this twine started to unravel, the writers discussed individuals who wanted to be known for shooting a celebrity (like Mark David Chapman or Robert Ford). “The murder is very complicated in that Andrew doesn’t just go and kill Versace. First of all, his life collapses. We drew a line between the murders. The first two were about people that were close to him—his best friend and his ex-lover.”

By showcasing the original murders, the writers made it clear that the character had not only snapped, but crossed a line in a way that he would likely never return. “He’s now crossed the line of morality into this abyss. Had he given himself up at this point, those murders wouldn’t have been covered. They weren’t getting the attention he wanted.”

This loss of humanity led to the murder of Gianni Versace. Andrew couldn’t make a name for himself as an individual, but he might be able to as a murderer.

Creating Tone For Character, Not The TV Series

Smith said the tone came from the material. The TV series is certainly unlike other shows such as The Killing or Mindhunter, which are noticeably darker and more homgenous in nature. “If you’re making a decision to adapt a book, then you’re looking at the source material of these people’s lives. They have an energy. You can’t go into Versace’s world and not get caught up in his exuberance and his love of life.”

As for Andrew, he was a character drawn to success, but he wasn’t able to achieve any level of success on his own. Those around him were quite successful. “The tone was about these different people. There wasn’t a standard tone that ran across the whole TV series,” added Smith.

“The different episodes have a different tone based on who is at the center of each episode.” As such, the episodes in which Versace is at the center, there is a brighter bounce to the episodes. It’s more about the overall authenticity of each individual character, which came out in each singular episode.

But, without a shadow of a doubt, the most iconic episode is Season 2, Episode 4: “House by the Lake.” While Smith is very proud of each episode, this episode was vital for the series because audiences finally got to meet David Madson (Cody Fern). He was another reflection on the actions of Andrew.

“[Fern] came in and read and we immediately had a powerful connection to him. I said, ‘He can really pull this off. We can watch this episode meet him for the first time, and also cry over his death at the end. You feel like you see his whole life in his episode,” said Smith.

The screenwriter believed the various strands of the show started to weave together through this individual episode. “There’s this bar of outsiders that are never given the time of day,” he mused. “Andrew is sitting there with his best friend thinking, ‘How have I ended up here?’”

Since both characters felt defeated by the world, the episode came off as even more powerful. There was a moment when David was looking out the window where most characters would have ran away, but he had nowhere to go. There was no safe place. Instead, the “two lost souls listened to a heart-breaking song. One is irretrievable and the other wants to fight for love. You have this battle between two characters. It very much captures the essence of the entire TV series.”

Creating Empathy For Criminals

Smith felt that the character of David was completely innocent. He technically broke the law as an accomplice, but the screenwriters wanted to explore a side of David that wasn’t really explored by the police: “Why would someone feel so trapped in a situation that they felt like they couldn’t go to the police?”

“There’s a big difference in that and being an accomplice that is involved in the murder. David didn’t have any violence in him. He was full of love. I was really struck by this idea that if I had walked back into my apartment and suddenly one of my friends attacked someone else with a hammer and it happened in my home, how would I react?”

As the person who brought the friend-turned-murderer into the house, David couldn’t simply abandon his friend, despite the consequences. “It’s very hard to know how you would react in that situation. Andrew was a manipulator. We take the view that Andrew staged that scene to entrap David.”

Because Andrew made David bring Jeff (Finn Wittrock) into the apartment, he essentially trapped him in this murder. By using circumstantial evidence from the various source materials, Smith and company came to this conclusion. Andrew was manipulative and David was caught in a trap.

“There’s this sense that you are scared of the people that are meant to help you,” added Smith, in regards to the social commentary of the episode. David didn’t think the police would help him, which is reflective of today’s societal view. The commentary was more about life than death.

“You’re not coming up with cliffhangers,” concluded Smith. “It’s a real person and people kind of have the facts, so you’re not trying to create suspense as to whether someone lives or dies. You’re trying to create the suspense of the emotional intensity of their lives rather than making it about their death.”

Tom Rob Smith is currently working on a thriller called MotherFatherSon, which will star Richard Gere, Elena Anaya, and Ciarán Hinds.

by Brock Swinson

Freelance writer and author Brock Swinson hosts the podcast and YouTube series, Creative Principles, which features audio interviews from screenwriters, actors, and directors. Swinson has curated the combined advice from 200+ interviews for his debut non-fiction book 'Ink by the Barrel' which provides advice for those seeking a career as a prolific writer.

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