Gucci Family Is Furious At Adam Driver And Ridley Scott
The heirs of Aldo Gucci, who reigned as the chairman of the fashion house from 1953 to 1986, have issued a scathing statement against House of Gucci, Adam Driver, and Ridley Scott.
Since its release last month, Ridley Scott’s House of Gucci has been garnering majorly positive reviews from critics for its cast performances, especially that of Lady Gaga as Patrizia Reggiani, Adam Driver as Maurizio Gucci, Jared Leto as Paolo Gucci, and Al Pacino as Aldo Gucci. But not everyone is happy with how the film has depicted the chaotic history of the renowned Italian fashion brand. The heirs of Aldo Gucci, who reigned as the chairman of the fashion house from 1953 to 1986, have issued a scathing statement against director Ridley Scott for tarnishing the name of Gucci by making a film which is “an insult to the legacy.”
As reported by Italian news agency ANSA (via Variety), the Gucci family members have highlighted in their statement that they are “a bit disconcerted” by the inaccurate portrayal of Aldo Gucci and other members of the family in Ridley Scott’s House of Gucci. They have claimed that they were not consulted before Scott blatantly went ahead and described Aldo as well as other members of the Gucci family as “thugs, ignorant and insensitive to the world around them.” The allegedly faulty depiction only serves to attribute such negative characteristics to the real-life individuals that they never had in the first place. “This is extremely painful from a human point of view and an insult to the legacy on which the brand is built today,” the statement against House of Gucci further adds.
House of Gucci depicts the early years of the fashion house and how Patrizia Reggiani dreamt of annexing its expansive empire via her husband Maurizio Gucci (played by Adam Driver). In the film, she even manipulated his uncle, Aldo, and his son, Paolo to get her hands on their shares in the company. But Maurizio, who once saw his wife as his guiding angel, eventually grew tired of her and separated from Patrizia. After he rebuffed her multiple attempts at reconciliation, an enraged Patrizia hired a hitman to shoot down her husband in broad daylight.
The statement also highlights how wrongfully House of Gucci portrays Patrizia Reggiani. While it does include that she was convicted in 1998 for getting her ex-husband, Maurizio Gucci (Adam Driver) killed, the storyline depicts her as “a victim trying to survive in a male and male chauvinist corporate culture.” The statement clarifies that it is an erroneous representation of the Gucci brand as even in the 1980s it was “an inclusive company.” Positions such as the president of Gucci America, the head of Global PR and communications, and a member of the board of directors of the Gucci America company were held by women.
The statement calls out the makers of House of Gucci for using the memory of the brand’s ancestors to “stage a spectacle that is untrue and which does not do justice to its protagonists.” The statement concludes with the Aldo Gucci heirs underlining that they reserve the right to take every action to “protect the name, image and dignity of themselves and their loved ones,”
Previously, Patrizia Gucci, the great-grandchild of Guccio Gucci, had also accused House of Gucci of “stealing the identity of a family to make a profit.” At the time, Scott had established that he will not engage with such comments as everyone associated with the Gucci family has to remember that one Gucci was murdered for money and one went to jail for tax evasion, “so you can’t be talking to me about making a profit” because their actions made them eligible for public scrutiny. It remains to be seen whether the Gucci family plans on filing a suit against Scott as, according to Deadline, no legal action has been directed at Ridley Scott, his production company Scott Free Shingle, and Universal Pictures. At least, not as of this writing.
