House of Gucci opened over the Thanksgiving holiday with one of the best debuts for an adult drama in two years with a 5-day gross of over$21 million. Moviegoers seemed to enjoy what they saw as they graced the film with a “B+” CinemaScore and an audience score of 84% on Rotten Tomatoes. Critics were more mixed on the film at 61% and it appears that fashion designer and director, Tom Ford, is falling in the camp of those who didn’t quite like what director Ridley Scott had to offer in House of Gucci.
In a new essay for Air Mail, the fashion mogul aired out his grievances with House of Gucci as he felt the film missed the mark, despite strong performances from Lady Gaga (Patrizia Reggiani) and Jeremy Irons (Rodolfo Gucci). Here is what Tom Ford had to say:
“The shiny, ambitious, beautifully filmed and costumed tale of greed and murder is stunning by the sheer number of stars that have been cast. The movie rivals the nighttime soap ‘Dynasty’ for subtlety but does so with a much bigger budget. Directed by master filmmaker Ridley Scott and starring Lady Gaga, Adam Driver, Al Pacino, Jeremy Irons, Jared Leto, and Salma Hayek, 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. Was it a farce or a gripping tale of greed? I often laughed out loud, but was I supposed to?”
Ford was particularly confused by the performances of Al Pacino and Jared Leto, who play Aldo Gucci and Paolo Gucci, respectively. Ford said, “At times, when Al Pacino as Aldo Gucci, and Jared Leto, as Aldo’s son Paolo Gucci, were on screen, I was not completely sure that I wasn’t watching a ‘Saturday Night Live’ version of the tale.” Speaking on Leto more Ford said, “Leto’s brilliance as an actor is literally buried under latex prosthetics. Both performers are given license to be absolute hams — and not of the prosciutto variety. They must have had fun. Paolo, whom I met on several occasions, was indeed eccentric and did some wacky things, but his overall demeanor was certainly not like the crazed and seemingly mentally challenged character of Leto’s performance.”
Ford was a fast-rising designer in Milan back in 1995 when Maurizio Gucci (played by Adam Driver in the film) was shot and killed in a hit job ordered by his estranged wife Patrizia. Ford is actually played by Reeve Carney in a few scenes of the film and Ford took issue with the accuracy of a moment in the film where he’s feted by Maurizio. Ford said, “Maurizio had been bought out of the company by the time I assumed the position of creative director of Gucci and had my first hit collection. He certainly never toasted me after that show as he does in the film. Movies have a way of becoming truth in people’s minds, an alternate reality that in time obliterates the reality of what was.”
Ford isn’t just coming at this as a fashion designer because he’s also a filmmaker himself. Ford earned raves for 2009’s A Single Man and 2016’s Nocturnal Animals so he at least can speak on that process as well as some of the film’s accuracy because he has some kind of connection to the Gucci name. I’m sure it wasn’t easy for him to just view this as a film for entertainment. When ending his essay Ford said, “I was deeply sad for several days after watching ‘House of Gucci,’ a reaction that I think only those of us who knew the players and the play will feel. It was hard for me to see the humor and camp in something that was so bloody. In real life, none of it was camp. It was at times absurd, but ultimately it was tragic.”
What are your thoughts on Tom Ford’s House of Gucci opinions?