The Hitman's Wife's Bodyguard star Salma Hayek has joined director Ridley Scott's upcoming biographical crime drama, House of Gucci. Hayek joins an all-star ensemble cast that includes the likes of Lady Gaga, Adam Driver Al Pacino, Jeremy Irons, and Jared Leto.
"So happy to have my good buddy Salma join our wonderful cast," said producer Giannina Scott of Salma Hayek's involvement. "I've been talking with her about this Gucci project for 20 years. Now it's happening and she is a part of it. Rid and I are thrilled."
House of Gucci sees Lady Gaga return to the big screen for the first time since her Oscar nominated performance in Bradley Cooper's Awards-darling A Star is Born back in 2018. House of Gucci finds the singer and actress starring as Patrizia Reggiani, the ex-wife of Maurizio Gucci (Adam Driver), who was tried and convicted of orchestrating the fashion icon's assassination on the steps of his office in 1995. The trial quickly became a media sensation, revealing that after 12 years of marriage and two children, Gucci had decided to leave Reggiani for another woman.
During this time, Patrizia Reggiani was diagnosed with a brain tumor, which her children blamed for her actions and assassination plan. Reggiani was dubbed the "Black Widow" by the press and was sentenced to 29 years, although her sentence was reduced after a successful appeal on the grounds that her brain tumor had affected her behavior. Reggiani went on to serve 18 years in jail before being let out in 2016.
Hayek has signed on to play Patrizia's friend, self-proclaimed clairvoyant, and self-styled sorcerer, Giuseppina "Pina" Auriemma, who was sentenced to 25 years for allegedly having organised the killing for a fee of around ৶,000.
House of Gucci is just one of several big projects currently in the pipeline for Salma Hayek, with the actress also due to star in comedy sequel The Hitman's Wife's Bodyguard alongside Ryan Reynolds and Samuel L. Jackson and join the Marvel Cinematic Universe as Ajax in director Chlo҃ Zhao's Eternals.
House of Gucci comes courtesy of MGM and Gladiator director Ridley Scott, with the movie set to be based on the book The House of Gucci: A Sensational Story of Murder, Madness, Glamour, and Greed by Sara Gay Forden. The adaptation is being scripted by Roberto Bentivegna and will be produced by Scott with Scott Free Productions, Giannina Scott, and Kevin Walsh.
The project is something that both Ridley and Giannina Scott have wanted to make for some time, with the producer describing the project as "a labor of love for both Ridley and me. The story is so epic, the stakes so high and the characters so richly drawn that we were determined to get it to the big screen. To say we are thrilled to be teaming with Mike De Luca and his brilliant film group at MGM is an understatement. We can't wait to see this come to life next year."
House of Gucci is scheduled to be released in the United States on November 24, 2021, by United Artists Releasing. This news comes to us courtesy of Deadline.