Tonight was the haunting, operatic finale toThe Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story.
ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: You all shot in the Versace mansion for a month for the beginning of the series.
Was this finale shot when you shot the initial stuff at Versace’s home?
Credit: Ray Mickshaw/FX
Or did you go back?
RYAN MURPHY:No, we went back.
We had to build that houseboat.
We built it based on the specifications of the mockup, so it took some time.
Was that a conscious choice to have them back and, in some ways, take a bow?
Well, I think the point was to bring back as many of the players as you could.
But they were all very active in those final days of Cunanan.
Like, they really did think Cunanan might be coming for Marilyn Miglin.
So it all dovetailed nicely.
That was always part of the plan of the structure.
Yes, and also Marilyn Miglin [played by Judith Light] has a big monologue about family.
Was that rewarding to give them these showcases at the end?
We gave all these great actors these solo arias.
I love that about it.
I thought it added something personal.
So much of the houseboat stuff feels like a hallucination by Andrew.
Was that something you were going for?
So he kind of did have TVs going in every room.
The last couple days of his life were very fraught.
Darren really leaves everything on the table for this role, even shaving his head.
You were his biggest champion for this how do you feel about his performance?
I was very adamant about his casting.
I thought there was a great dramatic actor inside there waiting to come out.
I do think it’s the best performance of the year, and I think it’s the hardest.
It’s a nine-hour descent into madness.
You began the series with Versace waking up, and you end it with Andrew in a mausoleum.
Did you go back and forth on the final image?
He was just one man out of thousands.
When you pull out and the names surrounding him go on forever, as opposed to Versace.
I liked the idea of the anonymity of Andrew’s legacy.
So when willACS: Katrinastart?
I don’t quite know.
We’re working on a couple of things.
That’s a show where we have a lot of things cooking.
We literally just edited the finale last week, so we haven’t made that decision yet.
We’re never going to have aCrime Storyunless we have the scripts down.
I think the reason whyVersacewent nextis because Tom Rob Smith had such a strong take on it.
I am not in a rush to move forward with anything unless it’s perfect.
So we’ll see what’s next for that.
Are you any closer with that?
Still talking about it.
We’re still deciding it.
I’m taking my time and just trying to get everything right.
I haven’t talked to you since the Netflix deal.
How do you feel about this?
I’m really excited.
I’m really excited to do something else.
I’m excited to explore new worlds and do all different types of programming and make documentaries.
At least for the near foreseeable future, nothing has changed.
It’s business as usual and I’m still there, and we’re all still close and cool.
I feel good about everything.
