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Midway through its season,The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Storypivots away from its title character.
Before Maureen Orths book was sent to me, I didnt really know anything about Andrew Cunanan.
I just knew the murder of Versace.
It feels like thats true for most people.
The backwards movement came from thinking about our understanding of the story and how people would react to it.
There was no sense of, This would be an interesting gadget.
There was no desire to do something for the sake of it.
But its an evolution.
The episodes almost become vignettes about Cunanans other victims .
How did you approach those side stories?I dont see them necessarily as side stories.
Once Andrew becomes a killer, he, to me, is no longer the protagonist of the episode.
They become the focus because he doesnt kill people by accident.
Hes cutting a path through all of the things he failed to achieve.
He doesnt submit to that level of pathology.
This character soaks up the homophobia of society and embodies it more viciously and more lethally than anyone else.
When he kills Lee Miglin, he becomes the most horrific, homophobic bully that you could imagine.
Hes saying, Im going to out you, Im going to shame you.
Im not just going to kill you, Im gonna attack your reputation.
All of the shaming that he pours onto Lee with the pornography is extreme homophobia.
Speaking of legacies,the Versace familyhas said that the show isnt a fair representation.
Look, I think its a complicated thing writing about peoples lives.
Ive never done true crime before.
Ive never dramatized real people.
We were coming very much from a position of love and admiration for those characters.
Why did you decide to include that detail?Were taking Maureens book and her sources and her research.
Was I doing it because I thought there was something wrong?
Was I doing it because I thought the stigma held up?
I completely disagree with the stigma.
And actually it was the reverse.
The killer wasnt suffering from AIDS, and this great genius of the fashion world was living with HIV/AIDS.
It was the exact reverse of the prejudice, and that struck as powerful as well.
How much did you see that as part of Cunanans motivation?I think its a big part.
Its interesting to unpick the lies and say, Theres a racial identity that he is running from.
His dad was running from [it], but his dad didnt lie about it.
His dad was very much like, Im gonna be the quintessential American.
Ive come to this country, I was in Navy, and now Im serving in Merrill Lynch.
Im gonna earn money.
Im gonna buy the house.
Im gonna live the American Dream.
Once he is in his 20s, he feels like hes left that behind.
Thats the reason it becomes much more prominent at the end of the series.
Youre dealing with something hes leaving behind.
You said this is your first time writing a true-crime story.
You wroteLondon Spyand crime novels, but how does the approach change when youre constructing something based on fact?
Maureen can say, Look, this might have happened.
You have to show people a version.
This is our interpretation of the fragments of truth that we have.
We thought he did because we read that he had blood on his clothes.
Sometimes you sidestep the details for try and communicate a bigger truth.
That was our approach.
You worked with Ryan Murphy and the otherACSproducers to develop this story.
How did those conversations go?It was just endless discussions.
Brad Simpson and Nina Jacobson were the people I was working with most intensely.
There must have been a process of things going very wrong.
He was an articulate and thoughtful young man.
How did that person end up doing these really horrific things?
Some of them we feel much more strongly than others.
For whatever reason, he cant overcome the hatred of the world, so it breaks him.
This interview has been edited and condensed.
