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Bentivegna is still buzzing from the movies showing the previous night at the Academy Museums resplendent David Geffen theater.
Who can blame him?
Bentivegna relished the challenge to cohere the books whirlpool of events into the mammoth movie now in theaters.
His sprawling screenplay (co-credited to Becky Johnston) is a deluge of fantastical characters luxuriating in extravagance.
Is it any wonder the real-life Gucci family is fretting about their depiction in the film?
Bentivegna brushes off their concern.
They should be flattered Lady Gaga made a movie about them, he quips.
House of Gucciis your first feature-film credit to make it to screen.
When did you begin working on the script?I started writing it two years ago.
Kevin, who runs the company [Scott Free], brought me in to meet with them.
They basically just said:Do you want to take a crack at this?
I grew up in Italy.
I grew up in Milan.
My mother is in fashion and I lived very close to where Maurizio Gucci was murdered.
It just felt very personal to me.
Did you draw from the other scripts or did you start fresh?I started completely new.
Becky Johnston is listed as a co-writer.
I never met Becky or worked with her on it, so it was a completely different time.
I did not write that.
So did Jared Leto.
Letos character Paolo says boof all the time, like its a catchphrase.
Did Leto improvise that?He totally ran with that.
That was completely his invention.
I never met Jared Leto on set.
I met Paolo Gucci for three months.
He was completely in character.
I never saw Jared out of prosthetics.
Last night was the first time.
Gaga took the emotions seriously, you know, she didnt want to come across as a gold digger.
Its a much more interesting arc for her to go through those emotions the way that shes presented it.
Also its a much more empathetic character.
Im not a huge fan of talking about sympathetic protagonists.
I always find that a little bit annoying.
But at the same time, you want to feel something for that person, you know?
It also breaks for her in a way because she, by killing him, shes really killing herself.
Ive gotta ask about the sex scene in Patrizias fathers office, which is … energetic.
Howd you write it?
What was your approach?
Im not describing GPS coordinates:Turn right or left.
I mean, I think the idea is that hes so horny and shes very sexy.
Its almost like the roles are reversed.
Shes the alpha in that scene and in that relationship.
I also love that she puts his glasses on herself.
It was a great touch.
What inspired that scene?Im really glad you asked because Im very proud of this stuff.
Its people shooting stuff in their living rooms.
There were actually a few that went to prison for fraud.
But you couldnt go through Italian television at 2:00 a.m. in the 1980s without seeing at least ten psychics.
They were usually from the south, and they were usually from Naples or Calabria or Sicily.
So I just loved the idea that Patrizia calls in and they have this kind of telepathic connection.
How did you build Pina as a character?Shes definitely faithful to the character in the book.
The biggest thing with her was whether her powers are real or not.
For example, Ridley doesnt believe in that.
Im sort of on the fence.
And its one of my favorite films.
That idea was a big one.
The other movie wasScarface, funnily enough.
I thought of Patrizia as a female Scarface in a way.
And the third one wasThe Godfather.
This is like a sequinedGodfather.
It has a similar family dynamic.
Maurizio is almost like a Michael Corleone kind of character.
Hes reluctant to join the family and all the family members, essentially, are plotting to take over.
He does it in a very quiet way.
And of course having Michael Corleone in this movie helps.
Where did that come from?The one with the golden leaf in it?
Thats a good question.
Aldo definitely designed the shoes Clark Gable wore inMogambo.
The gold leaf was my touch.
Theres no way anybody else could have given him that shoe, except Maurizio.
So its very Shakespearean in that regard.
Was anything left on the cutting-room floor?The very first draft had a ten-page opening sequence.
It was the history of the brand and the Gucci family.
One of my favorite openings ever is the first five minutes ofBram Stokers Draculaby Francis Ford Coppola.
I was trying to do that.
The other thing that got cut was a voiceover throughout the movie that I wrote for Patrizia.
Ridley decided that we didnt need it and we got rid of it.
But all the drafts had that voiceover.
It got down to 135 by the time we were shooting.
We didnt really cut any scenes.
Unless they snuck into a screening, I dont think theyve seen it yet.
But I have two thoughts.
The other thing is that this is a work of fiction.
Its not a journalistic piece.
Its not a documentary.
The family, for better or for worse, is an incredibly interesting, colorful one.
We made the best movie we could about them.
