The Gucci family are ‘truly disappointed’ with Ridley Scott’s new film

It’s been over a month since the internet went into a frenzy and the meme lords reared their heads once more over the photo of Lady Gaga and Adam Driver in Ridley Scott’s upcoming movie House of Gucci. While we can’t stop talking about it, it seems the Gucci family wants to cut the conversation short. 

House of Gucci revives the infamous murder tale of the fashion house’s former head, Maurizio Gucci, with Lady Gaga in the role of Patrizia Reggiani, who was placed on trial and later convicted for the assasination of her ex-husband for 16 years. 

While photos of the cast have been leaked onto Twitter regularly, serving an insight into the costume and making us countdown the days until its release, the family of the luxury fashion house, notably Patrizia Gucci – one of Maurizio’s second cousins – worries the film goes beyond the genre of a biographical crime film and tours too deeply into the private lives of the Gucci heirs. 

“We are truly disappointed. I speak on behalf of the family,’’ Patrizia Gucci shared with The Associated Press. “They are stealing the identity of a family to make a profit, to increase the income of the Hollywood system....Our family has an identity, privacy. We can talk about everything. But there is a borderline that cannot be crossed."

Frustrated by the intrusive narrative, so too are the family by Scott's casting decisions. Taking to the screen as Aldo Gucci, Al Pacino takes on the role as the expert salesman who went on to open Gucci stores in Rome and New York, broadening the brand’s reach and introducing a VIP clientele.

“My grandfather was a very handsome man, like all the Guccis, and very tall, blue eyes, and very elegant. 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,” Patrizia Gucci said.

In a similar vein, Paolo Gucci the son of Aldo, is played by none other than Gucci partisan himself and friend of Alessandro Michele, Jared Leto, depicted with unkempt hair and lilac suit, far from Patrizia’s memories of him. “Horrible, horrible. I still feel offended,’’ she said.

Patrizia Gucci also reached out to Ridley Scott’s wife, Giannina Facio, to discuss the film's intentions, but to no avail. It comes as Facio previously met with members of the Gucci family back in the 2000s to discuss another project that was to have focused on the roles of Patrizia Gucci's father, Paolo, and grandfather Aldo on expanding the brand empire further into the luxury market. 

Despite the unrest among the Gucci dynasty, the film is scheduled for release in November later this year. While paparazzi pictures and memes satiate our hunger for the seven-month wait in the meantime, the world waits eagerly – or not so for the fashion family – to see Ridley Scott’s next cinematic masterpiece.