Sheree Loud, Pina Auriemma Open Up On Maurizio Gucci Murder On ‘Dateline’
Sheree Loud says that Patrizia Reggiani constantly put her lover down in an interview with “Dateline NBC.”
Maurizio Gucci, the new chairman of the board at Gucci, poses in the Gucci offices in New York, April 20, 1985.
Maurizio Gucci, the new chairman of the board at Gucci, poses in the Gucci offices in New York, April 20, 1985. Photo: Associated Press
As moviegoers soak in the drama and fashion of “House of Gucci,” some of the real-life players connected to the story are speaking out, including the former American girlfriend of Maurizio Gucci, who ran the iconic Italian fashion house until his murder in 1995.
Sheree Loud, who dated Gucci for five years before he ended his marriage with Patrizia Reggiani, explains in a Friday episode of “Dateline NBC” entitled “Murder in the House of Gucci" that Reggiani “was unkind” and “always” insulted Gucci.
“He said he didn’t love her anymore,” she said in her first broadcast interview. “He said he just had had enough.”
Reggiani set up Gucci’s murder in 1995, one year after their rocky divorce. He was gunned down by a hired hitman as he arrived for work at his Milan office in March of that year. Reggiani was then convicted of orchestrating the murder three years later and sentenced to 29 years in prison, 18 of which she served before her release in 2016. She’s played by Lady Gaga in “House of Gucci,” which hit theaters Thanksgiving week. Adam Driver plays her famous slain husband
Reggiani and Gucci’s infamous relationship was ridden with jealousy as Gucci was known to step out on the marriage with multiple mistresses, not just Loud. But Reggiani’s former confidante and psychic pal Pina Auriemma, who was convicted of helping her set up her ex-husband’s murder, explains that wasn’t the only reason for her rage. In an exclusive interview featured on Friday’s program, she claims that Reggiani wasn’t just jealous but bitter over losing the power of the Gucci name during the divorce.
“She was more sad and sorry about losing her name,” she explains.
She also said that she didn’t introduce her friend to the hitman and his accomplice with the intention of murder; rather, she claimed that she felt the men could make some money off her stubborn friend.
Auriemma was sentenced to 25 years while Benedetto Ceraulo, the hitman, was handed a life sentence. Orazio Cicala, the getaway driver, received 29 years behind bars.
Friday’s special comes on the heels of Gucci heirs expressing their disdain for “House of Gucci,” saying in a statement obtained by the Associated Press that the film is “anything but accurate.”
“The film’s production did not bother to consult the heirs before describing Aldo Gucci – president of the company for 30 years – and the members of the Gucci family as thugs who were ignorant and insensitive to the world around them, attributing entirely fabricated attitudes and conduct to the protagonists of the notorious events,” the family’s statement reads.
The Gucci heirs are no longer actively involved in Gucci fashion house as Maurizio Gucci sold his remaining stake to the Bahrain-based company in 1993. It is now owned by the French luxury goods company Kering.
“House of Gucci” director Ridley Scott reacted to criticisms of the Gucci family, calling their complaints “alarmingly insulting,” Insider reports. Last week, he hit back after Patrizia Gucci’, daughter of Paolo Gucci, told the Associated Press that filmmakers were “stealing the identity of a family to make a profit. ”
“You have to remember that one Gucci was murdered and another went to jail for tax evasion, so you can’t be talking to me about making a profit,” Scott told BBC Radio. “As soon as you do that, you become part of the public domain.”
“Murder in the House of Gucci” airs on NBC on Friday at 9 p.m. EST.
Tom Ford ‘often laughed out loud’ watching ‘House of Gucci,’ calls out some ‘absolute hams’
You knew Tom Ford’s movie review for the crime drama “House of Gucci” was going to be tough from the first line.
“I recently survived a screening of the two-hour-and-37-minute film that is ‘House of Gucci,’ " the fashion designer Ford wrote in an essay for the digital weekly newsletter Airmail.
Ford, the Gucci creative director from 1994 to 2004, had unique personal insight into director Ridley Scott’s true-life drama around the fashion dynasty starring Lady Gaga, Adam Driver, Al Pacino, Jeremy Irons, Jared Leto and Salma Hayek.
He admitted his “opinion is perhaps biased” working with many of the real-life players in the saga, including Maurizio Gucci, the slain fashion house head played by Driver.
Ford even appears in “House of Gucci” as a minor character played by Reeve Carney.
The multi-faceted designer is also a respected filmmaker, having directed “A Single Man” and “Nocturnal Animals.”
“The film is…well, I’m still not quite sure what it is exactly, but somehow I felt as though I had lived through a hurricane when I left the theater,” Ford opined on “House of Gucci.”
“Was it a farce or a gripping tale of greed? I often laughed out loud, but was I supposed to?”
‘House of Gucci’ fact check:Was Salma Hayek’s character a witch? Did Maurizio flee to Switzerland?
Review: Lady Gaga owns stylish and satirical ‘House of Gucci’ with high-heeled star swagger
Both Gaga and Driver took high praise from Ford. Leto and Pacino lead the actors in a cast that seem to be competing “to see who can chew up the most scenery,” he wrote.
Here are Ford’s main performance takeaways:
Adam Driver as Maurizio Gucci: Driver “gives a subtle and nuanced performance. He is the calm in the eye of the storm that swirls around him.”
Lady Gaga as Patrizia Reggiani: Greater praise as “the true star of the film… It is her film, and she steals the show.” Ford wrote that in the “over-the-top portrayal” Gaga’s “accent migrates occasionally from Milan to Moscow. But who cares? Her performance is spot-on.”
Al Pacino, as Aldo Gucci, and Jared Leto, as Aldo’s son Paolo Gucci: Ford stitches up these performances, saying, when the actors are onscreen, “I was not completely sure that I wasn’t watching a ‘Saturday Night Live’ version of the tale.”
“Leto’s brilliance as an actor is literally buried under latex prosthetics,” Ford wrote. “Both performers are given license to be absolute hams—and not of the prosciutto variety.”
Jeremy Irons as Rodolfo Gucci: Irons is “terrific and gives a far more restrained and layered performance than his on-screen relatives.” Even in praise, it was another swipe at the “ham” actors.
Salma Hayek as psychic Pina Auriemma: Hayek is “great, as always” but Ford called her role “under-utilized.” Ford pointed out that the casting of Hayek “is particularly inspired given that her husband (François-Henri Pinault) is the current owner of Gucci, a fact which will be lost on the mainstream audience.”
Can Lady Gaga (‘House of Gucci’) break Oscar curse for New York Film Critics Circle winners?
On Friday, December 3, Lady Gaga was announced as the New York Film Critics Circle Awards winner for Best Actress for her performance in “House of Gucci.” She plays Patrizia Reggiani, the real-life woman who was convicted of murdering her ex-husband Maurizio Gucci. NYFCC is one of the most prominent critics groups in the country, so does this boost Gaga’s chances for an Oscar nomination?
The Gotham critics’ choice winner hasn’t been nominated at the Oscars for the last three years in a row. NYFCC picks Regina Hall (“Support the Girls,” 2018), Lupita Nyong’o (“Us,” 2019), and Sidney Flanigan (“Never Rarely Sometimes Always,” 2020) were snubbed by the actors branch of the academy.
Prior to this losing streak, eight of the nine NYFCC Best Actress winners went on to receive Oscar nominations: Meryl Streep (“Julie and Julia,” 2009), Annette Bening (“The Kids Are All Right,” 2010), Streep again (“The Iron Lady,” 2011), Cate Blanchett (“Blue Jasmine,” 2013), Marion Cotillard (“Two Days, One Night,” 2014), Saoirse Ronan (“Brooklyn,” 2015), Isabelle Huppert (“Elle,” 2016), and Ronan again (“Lady Bird,” 2017). Of those, Streep (for “Iron Lady”) and Blanchett ended up winning the Oscar. The lone winner left off the Oscar dance card: Rachel Weisz (“The Deep Blue Sea”) in 2012.
SEE2021 New York Film Critics Circle winners
The good news for Gaga is that she plays a meaty, scenery-chewing role that Oscar voters often gravitate towards, in a studio film that’s already getting a major awards push. When NYFCC is out of sync with Oscars, it’s usually because the critics choose a less prominent indie, which often have a tougher time building momentum against big-budget studio awards campaigns. That won’t be a problem for Gaga, and the singer-actress is already a known quantity to the Oscars, who nominated her for Best Actress and Best Original Song for “A Star is Born” three years ago, with her winning the latter.
So do you think Gaga is looking good for another acting nomination from the Oscars?
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