Save this article to read it later.
Find this story in your accountsSaved for Latersection.
Its fair to sayHouse of Gucciwould never have been built without the moviemaking foundation laid by Giannina Facio.
Now,House of Guccifinally is finally in theaters, and has grossed $68.6 million worldwide.
But its a project that I could never let go of.
And thank God I had my husband; we have the similar vision.
Because he was attached three times to this project.
Oh my God!Only it never came together.
Because maybe we didnt have the right cast.
We never had the right script until we got Roberto.
And when we had that wonderful script, we knew we were set to go.
And Rid then said, Lets start casting.
Was the film always plotted around Patrizia?For me, it was always Patrizia.
Because, being a woman, I understood where she was coming from.
I dont understand anybody killing their husband, of course.
But I understood the pain.
I never saw her as a bad guy.
I saw her as a victim of her circumstances.
And she did a terrible thing, but he wasnt that nice either; what he did to her.
And its a story of passion.
There was such gigantic passion between these two.
They were madly in love.
Patrizia was of course more mature than Maurizio.
And she taught him the ropes.
So she had him under her thumb.
Patrizia undoubtedly deserves a lot of credit for the direction that Gucci as a company eventually took.
But I wondered if Ridley required persuasion that this was a good project for him.
Hes best known for sweeping, action-filled films.
Not many of his films feature women as a main character.
What kind of salesmanship on your part was required to get him to commit?Not much.
Ill tell you why.
When I showed him the book at the beginning, he didnt read it.
But there had been many interviews and documentaries done on Patrizia.
And I showed those to him and he got it.
He said, This is really interesting.
The problem was, we went to two or three different writers; we couldnt get the story right.
It just wasnt flowing.
Then he was out.
There were two or three other directors involved.
And we never got the right script.
Then we got Rid back when we had something that felt right for the time.
So at one point it was maybe okay.
But then we werent convinced by the script we had.
We werent getting the cast we wanted.
So he dropped out again.
And we said, Well, wait.
And then this third time was the perfect time.
And nobody had been able to grasp it.
For Ridley, number one is a script.
When she left that first meeting, she said, I was born to make this movie.
I was born to play this role.
Nice.From there it was just easy.
Jared was very excited to join us.
There was Al, who Ridley had never worked with.
And Salma, my really good friend who, of course, had to be a part of this.
Ive been talking to her about it for 24 years as well.
Once we had the script, everything started flowing.
Youre not only Ridleys producing partner on other films.
Youre also his partner in life.
If hes dropping in and out of this project, is there some awkwardness?
Like, Are you dropping outagain,Rid?No, not at all.
Because were both going for the same goal, which is to make a great movie.
And if its not feeling right, were not people that stay attached to something.
Weve been together for a long time.
So we really understand each other and respect each others opinion.
So never a problem there.
By then we were already together.
He brought me onto the film and then said, Why dont you do a cameo?
And so I did.
And then after that, Ive been doing cameos in his movies.
But by then we were already living together.
Weve been together now for 29 years.
Before that, I did a bit of acting.
And Im a person that adores cinema and adores entertainment.
And so I felt like I wanted to tell stories that werent being told.
And I said, Whats the best way?
So I was always reading articles and talking to Rid.
It was very helpful when I got together with Rid that we would talk about projects.
We watch at least one film a day, Rid and I.
It just kind of dawned on us that this is what I should do.
Sounds like you enjoy finding and developing material.
It could have been 20 years ago that we had a cup of tea.
I realized immediately I dont want to get involved.
So at that point, you decided to base the script on Sara Gay Fordens book.No.
Saras book was the first thing.
So theres a lot out there to pick from.
This story is not just Saras book.
That was our inspiration.
But this story is a work of investigation for 20 years.
Angelina Jolie, Penelope Cruz, and Margot Robbie were all attached to play Patrizia at different points.
Thats a testament to what a richly drawn character she is.
She has that feeling of family in her life.
That was one thing that really felt right for us: Her energy was right for the part.
When we sat and talked to her, we realized how incredibly intelligent she is and well prepared.
We were blown away after one meeting.
The Gucci family isless than thrilledyouve madeHouse of Gucci.I wondered if you have any thoughts about ruffling those feathers.
What do you make of the Guccis dismay?I dont think theyre that dismayed.
But lets remember: This is entertainment.
Were telling a story with creative liberty from our end of how it happened.
Were not a docudrama.
Im very curious as to what theyre going to think once they see the movie.
Because we make them all human!
Were telling a story from a humorous point of view as well.
But I dont think in any way were offending anybody or going too far away from the truth.
This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.
