No rest for Ridley Scott throughout the remainder of 2021, with the director staring down the barrel of two major theatrical releases in as many months. October sees the US première of his period epic The Last Duel, shown off last week with a glossy new preview, and now the same goes for his slated November title House of Gucci.
The new trailer bristles with avarice, glamour, intrigue – and the full gamut of Italian accents enacted by the predominantly American cast, which range from heavy-yet-plausible (Lady Gaga) to the Mario Bros-esque (Jared Leto). The explosive reaction on social media anticipates a film of such overreaching extravagance as to border on camp, and while that hasn’t historically been Scott’s purview, the subject matter could supersede his usual strait-lacedness.
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Signora Gaga leads the cast as Patrizia Reggiani, one-time wife to family head Maurizio Gucci (Adam Driver), now notorious for ordering his murder. Her ruthlessness and taste for the high life alienated the other members of la famiglia Gucci (Jeremy Irons and a newly corpulent Leto), ultimately creating a schism when she got her hooks into the heir apparent.
As the leaked photos from the set already suggested, no expense has been spared on the ’70s and ’80s set-dressing, from a visit to hedonist hideaway Studio 54 to the expectedly luxurious costuming, haute couture going so far over the top that the top vanishes from sight. It all befits the operatic acting style of Gaga herself, gunning for that acting Oscar she couldn’t manage to clinch during the A Star Is Born season, while Driver underplays things as her accommodating husband.
Though this film seems like the kind of starry, big-name selection that would have landed at the Toronto International Film Festival in a normal year, no fall festival debut has been set for the buzzed-about thriller, nonetheless a key point in 2021’s remaining movie calendar. Let the conversation begin as to whether the assorted accent work is good, bad, good-bad, or bad-good.
House of Gucci will come to cinemas in the US on 24 November, and then the UK on 26 November.
