Antonio Banderas is having a fashion moment. Last year, the Mask of Zorro actor enrolled in an MA fashion course at Central Saint Martins and teamed up with Scandinavian high-street brand Selected to launch his first ever fashion collection. Now, the actor will reportedly play Gianni Versace in a new film about the Italian designer’s life. A long-time fan of the designer, Banderas credits Versace with having inspired him to add gold embellishments to a biker jacket he designed for his Selected collection.
Directed by Billie August — who was responsible for the award winning flick Pelle the Conqueror — filming will start in December across Milan, Reggio Calabria (Gianni’s birthplace) and eventually in Miami, where Versace was murdered by serial killer Andrew Cunanan on the steps of the designer’s South Beach mansion.
It should be noted that the film has not been authorized by the fashion house. The company told WWD that it “neither authorized nor had any involvement whatsoever in the forthcoming movie about Versace” and so, in this sense, it “should be seen as a work of fiction.”
Credits
Text Tish Weinstock
Photography Caroline Bonarde Ucci