Ridley Scott Has A Few Choice Words About The Gucci Family's Response To House Of Gucci
If esteemed director Ridley Scott has proven anything in 2021, it's that he's not afraid to bluntly speak his mind when it comes to his films or thoughts about others'. In the past few weeks alone, he issued a scathing indictment of superhero movies, saying, "They're f***ing boring as s***," and more recently, he blamed millennials for the failure of his historical medieval tale "The Last Duel" because they are "audiences who were brought up on these f***ing cellphones." As such, it shouldn't come as a big surprise that Scott isn't taking too kindly to criticism of his fact-based crime drama "House of Gucci" – especially not from the actual Gucci family.
"House of Gucci" recounts the tumultuous marriage of high-society wannabe Patrizia Reggiani (Lady Gaga) to fashion heir Maurizio Gucci (Adam Driver) over the objections of Maurizio's father, Rodolfo (Jeremy Irons) — who viewed the object of his son's affections as a low-class gold digger. After Maurizio and Rodolfo made peace, Patrizia asserted an influential position in the Gucci fashion empire — and after years of excess, deceit, and betrayal, she plotted with her personal psychic Pina Auriemma (Salma Hayek), to have Maurizio murdered. "House of Gucci" also stars film icon Al Pacino as Rodolfo's brother and Gucci brand co-owner Aldo Gucci, and Oscar-winner Jared Leto as his outsider son, Paolo.
Released in theaters November 24, "House of Gucci" opened to mixed reviews (via Metacritic), as well as critiques of the film from the likes of former Gucci creative director Tom Ford, who is played in the film by Reeve Carney. Perhaps the most significant reactions to "House of Gucci," though, have come from the family of Aldo Gucci, who died in 1990, and it appears that Scott has had enough of it.
Ridley Scott defends his casting of Al Pacino as Aldo Gucci
In a statement released November 29 by the Italian News Service ANSA, Aldo Gucci's heirs aired their grievances over the film. They claimed they were not consulted by the production, and implied in the statement that legal action was being considered. The statement was the latest shot at "House of Gucci" in a conflict that dates back to April, when Aldo's granddaughter, Patrizia Gucci, took issue with Pacino playing her grandfather.
"My grandfather was a very handsome man, like all the Guccis, and very tall, blue eyes and very elegant," Patrizia said (via IndieWire). "He is being played by Al Pacino, who is not very tall already, and this photo shows him as fat, short, with sideburns, really ugly. Shameful, because he doesn't resemble him at all."
Addressing the Guccis' criticisms of "House of Gucci" in an interview with Total Film (via IndieWire), Scott responded to questions of his casting of Pacino in blistering fashion: "The people that were writing from the family to us at the onset were alarmingly insulting, saying that Al Pacino did not represent physically Aldo Gucci in any shape or form. And yet, frankly, how could they be better represented than by Al Pacino? Excuse me! You probably have the best actors in the world, you should be so f***ng lucky."
Ridley Scott also defends the look of Paolo Gucci in the film
Patrizia Gucci's early criticism of "House of Gucci" was not exclusive to her grandfather's appearance. According to IndieWire, Patrizia also took issue in April with the photos she saw of Leto's iteration of Paolo, where he had "unkempt hair and a lilac corduroy suit," adding, "Horrible, horrible ... I still feel offended."
Scott responded to Patrizia's pointed observations of Leto's turn as Paolo in the Total Film interview as well, noting there was "not a lot of information about Paolo, but there are pictures of Paolo and that's exactly what Paolo looks like."
"We found the pictures and Jared did what he did and dressed the way Paolo dressed," Scott told Total Film. "There's not a lot of Paolo on camera talking. And so that had to be, to a certain extent, imagined, but clearly Paolo was a very colorful and flamboyant man ... The flamboyance of Paolo was quite nicely captured. And how could that be offensive? We paid attention to not getting too overt if we can avoid it."
"House of Gucci" is playing in theaters, whether the Gucci family likes it or not.