The heirs to the Gucci empire have taken umbrage with the depiction of the Gucci family in director Ridley Scott’s recent crime drama House of Gucci, even hinting at potential legal action. Releasing a statement regarding their dissatisfaction with the movie, the family have said they were wrongly portrayed as “ignorant,” paying particular attention to the portrayal of Patrizia Reggiani, played in the movie by Lady Gaga.

"The Gucci family reserve the right to take every initiative (necessary) to protect their name and image and those of their loved ones," said the statement, which was put out by Aldo Gucci's heirs. With regards to Reggiani, the issue lies with "a woman definitively convicted of ordering the murder of Maurizio Gucci” being depicted “as a victim" in both House of Gucci itself and in several statements made by various members of the all-star cast.

The statement continues, adding that Aldo Gucci, who is played by Al Pacino in House of Gucci and who was company chairman from 1953 to 1986, along with several other relatives were portrayed in the movie "as thugs, ignorant and insensitive to the world around them, attributing to the protagonists [and] events, a tone and an attitude that never belonged to them. This is extremely painful from a human point of view and an insult to the legacy on which the brand is built today."

House of Gucci has been wrought with criticism from the Gucci family for some time, with Patrizia Gucci, one of Maurizio Gucci's second cousins, having publicly denounced Ridley Scott's cinematic interpretation of events, describing them as being far from true to life. "We are truly disappointed," she told The Associated Press. "I speak on behalf of the family. (The filmmakers) are stealing the identity of a family to make a profit, to increase the income of the Hollywood system."

Director Ridley Scott has met some of this disapproval head on saying, "I don't engage with that," before referring to the various criminal acts associated with some of the Gucci members; "You have to remember that one Gucci was murdered and another [Aldo] went to jail for tax evasion, so you can't be talking to me about making a profit. As soon as you do that you become part of the public domain."

Based on the 2001 book "The House of Gucci: A Sensational Story of Murder, Madness, Glamour, and Greed by Sara Gay Forden", House of Gucci is inspired by the shocking true story of the family empire behind the Italian fashion house of Gucci. Spanning three decades of love, betrayal, decadence, revenge, and ultimately murder, we see what a name means, what it's worth, and how far a family will go for control.

Starring a stellar cast which includes Lady Gaga as Patrizia Reggiani, Adam Driver as Maurizio Gucci, Jared Leto as Paolo Gucci, Jeremy Irons as Rodolfo Gucci, Salma Hayek as Giuseppina Auriemma, and Al Pacino as Aldo Gucci, House of Gucci was released on November 24, 2021, and has since been met with mixed reviews from critics. This comes to us courtesy of ANSA.