Jon Jon Briones, Ricky Martin and Edgar Ramirez on ‘Versace’ roles

(First of two parts)

LOS ANGELES—“‘Versace’ miniseries is the first great show of 2018,” New York Post critic Robert Rorke raved about FX Networks’ “The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story.” Rorke added, “The performances of the leads are outstanding, but special mention must be made of (Darren) Criss, who beautifully captures (Andrew) Cunanan’s ability to tell the biggest lies anyone has ever heard and literally charm the pants off anyone he sets his sights on.”

Rorke went so far as to say that Jon Jon Briones, who plays the Fil-Am Cunanan’s father, could be a “future Emmy winner.” Here’s from Rorke’s review: “And we get a ringside seat at the twisted Cunanan home in San Diego, where Andrew’s con-man father, Pete (future Emmy winner Jon Jon Briones), sold the family home from under his wife and four children before fleeing the country on an embezzlement charge.”

Praise for the entire cast is typified in Variety’s review by Sonia Saraiya: “ … An impeccable Penélope Cruz as Donatella Versace and a strong performance from singer Ricky Martin as Versace’s boyfriend Antonio D’Amico … (Edgar) Ramírez, Cruz and Martin are so compelling together … It’s worth noting that practically every performer in ‘American Crime Story’ is stunning … ”

“The Assassination … ” is creator Ryan Murphy’s Season 2 installment of his “American Crime Story” anthology series, which debuted with the critically lauded “The People v. O.J. Simpson.”

Based in part on “Vulgar Favors,” Maureen Orth’s intensively researched nonfiction bestseller on Cunanan’s crime spree, “The Assassination … ” tells the story in reverse. Ryan directed the premiere episode, which begins with Cunanan fatally shooting Versace (Edgar) in Miami in 1997.

Ryan then narrates backward, “Memento-style,” the journeys that Cunanan and the famous Italian designer went through before their tragic encounter on the marble steps in front of the latter’s mansion in South Beach. Other directors of the nine-episode series include actor Matt Bomer.

Jon Jon Briones

Jon Jon Briones as Modesto “Pete” Cunanan in “The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story” — FX Networks

Jon Jon, in an e-mail from New York as he was busy packing on the day after his successful “Miss Saigon” run on Broadway ended, wrote, “I had a wonderful experience working on ‘The Assassination of Gianni Versace’ with fantastic writing from Tom Rob Smith, inspiring direction by Matt Bomer (Episode 8) and Dan Minahan (Episode 9), with Matt, Ryan (Murphy), Nina Jacobson and Brad Simpson (producers) giving their confidence in me. I felt very fortunate to be given this opportunity.”

It seems Jon Jon’s fellow Fil-Am, Darren, plus Ryan, Matt and Nina were so impressed with the Quezon City-born actor that they watched him as The Engineer when they were all in New York.

Jon Jon shared, “A couple of weeks before they saw ‘Miss Saigon,’ Brad Simpson wrote me an e-mail saying they were very happy with my finished episodes and that I will be very pleased when I see them. Brad also mentioned that everyone wanted to see me in ‘Miss Saigon.’

“A week or so later, I got text messages from Matt and Darren saying they’re all, including Ryan Murphy, coming to the show. I’ve never met Ryan before that. I was so excited to finally be in the same room with him. They came to a Saturday show, and they all loved it. I was humbled that they all came to see the show.”

In May last year, we visited the Miami set of “The Assassination …” which was filming in Casa Casuarina, Versace’s lavish villa where he was gunned down by Cunanan after his usual morning routine of buying coffee and magazines in a nearby restaurant. We wrote about our on-set interviews with Darren, Penelope and Ryan in previous columns.

In this column, we feature Ricky Martin and Edgar Ramirez, whom we interviewed in a room right beside the entrance to the mansion that continues to draw gawkers and tourists.

Ricky Martin

Ricky Martin as Antonio D’Amico —Ruben V. Nepales

Ricky, who acted in a TV series in Latin America and in the US soap series, “General Hospital,” talked about how he prepared to portray real-life figure Antonio D’Amico, Versace’s longtime partner, who rushed to the front of the house when he heard the gunshots.

“The amount of research that we’ve done and, of course, by the production company and Ryan, has helped me so much,” the Puerto Rican singer-actor said. “Ryan tapped into the big story, what’s known and what’s not known. I feel confident that I’m going to do justice to what Antonio D’Amico went through. There’s a lot of highs and lows in this character … a lot of sadness.

“But at the same time, you have the love and connection between Antonio and Gianni that was magical—to be able to live for 15 years together, in an era where that relationship was forbidden in many aspects, that nothing stopped them is something that I definitely want to talk about.

“It’s a big challenge for me as an actor. The confidence that I got from spending years on Broadway was very important, but television is different. And to be able to maintain the pain for long hours is something that I’ve been dying to do for a long time.”

Ricky shared that shooting in the actual villa of Versace helped him as an actor. “It’s a luxury to be able to walk into a room that helps you to find your emotion. I don’t want to sound cheesy, but I’m being really honest when the first scenes that I shot here were when I actually found Versace dead in front of the house. I got here at 5 o’clock in the morning. I just started working on my emotions, but when I actually walked into that area, it hit me in my chest. I started crying hysterically. I swear I could feel it.

“I went with my gut, and it helped me so much to reach a level of sadness before I heard ‘Action!’ All I had to do was touch the walls, because it was so vibrant.”

(Conclusion on Sunday)

E-mail [email protected]. Follow him at https://twitter.com/nepalesruben.