Ridley Scott Calls Gucci Family’s Outrage ‘Alarmingly Insulting’: ‘You Should Be So F*cking Lucky’

The Gucci family is not too happy with Ridley Scott’s “House of Gucci.” The heirs of Aldo Gucci put out a statement this week calling Scott’s film “an insult to the legacy on which the brand is built today.” Even before the film was released in theaters, Guccio Gucci’s great-grandchild Patrizia Gucci came forward to denounce the project on behalf of her family. Patrizia called out the casting of Al Pacino as Aldo Gucci, saying, “My grandfather was a very handsome man, like all the Guccis, and very tall, blue eyes and very elegant. He is being played by Al Pacino, who is not very tall already, and this photo shows him as fat, short, with sideburns, really ugly. Shameful, because he doesn’t resemble him at all.”

Speaking to Total Film magazine, Scott called the Gucci family’s response to his casting “alarmingly insulting.” The director reminded the Gucci family that Aldo is being played by Al Pacino, an Oscar winner and one of the most iconic actors of all time.

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“The people that were writing from the family to us at the onset were alarmingly insulting, saying that Al Pacino did not represent physically Aldo Gucci in any shape or form,” Scott said. “And yet, frankly, how could they be better represented than by Al Pacino? Excuse me! You probably have the best actors in the world, you should be so fucking lucky.”

Patrizia Gucci also took issue with the casting of Jared Leto as Paolo Gucci. She condemned set photos revealing Leto’s “unkempt hair and a lilac corduroy suit” as Paolo. “Horrible, horrible,” she said. “I still feel offended.”

“I think a lot of it is comedic,” Scott told Total Film about Leto’s performance. “Certainly for the first two acts. Jared Leto, there’s not a lot of information about [his character] Paolo, but there are pictures of Paolo and that’s exactly what Paolo looks like. We found the pictures and Jared did what he did and dressed the way Paolo dressed. There’s not a lot of Paolo on camera talking. And so that had to be, to a certain extent, imagined, but clearly Paolo was a very colorful and flamboyant man.”

“The flamboyance of Paolo was quite nicely captured,” Scott added. “And how could that be offensive? We paid attention to not getting too overt if we can avoid it.”

“House of Gucci” is now playing in theaters nationwide.

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