Actually, Ryan Murphy Thinks Donatella Versace Is Excited for His Show About Her Family

Donatella Versace has made it very clear that American Crime Story’s second iteration, focused on the murder of Gianni Versace, was not authorized; ipso facto, the show isn’t either. But Ryan Murphy thinks she’s still excited about it.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, Murphy suggested that Versace has supported the show behind the scenes during an interview at the premiere. He claims she sent Penelope Cruz a “very large arrangement of flowers” in honor of Cruz’s appearance at the Golden Globes. That must mean something, right? Murphy thinks so, and hopes she tunes in and sees herself onscreen:

“I don’t know if she is going to watch the show, but if she did, I think she would see that we treat her and her family with respect and kindness, and she really is sort of a feminist role model in my book because she had to step into an impossible situation, which she did with grace and understanding.”

Murphy suspects Donatella’s just hedging her bets. If it’s bad, she’ll be mad. But it won’t be bad:

“Of course I feel if your family is ever portrayed in something, it’s natural to sort of have a ‘Well, let’s wait and see what happens’ [attitude]. But I think that [Donatella Versace] really loves Penelope and knows that Penelope would never do anything to represent her in a negative light.”

Cruz confirmed receipt of the flowers, saying it was “very nice” for her to receive them.

“It really made me smile; it made me happy to get these flowers,” said Cruz. And it probably made Donatella Versace happy to send them, riiiight? FX Productions also stands by the notion that Orth’s book was “authenticated” and non-fiction, so everyone is shoring up their position before the show is released. We’ll see how many flowers Donatella Versace sends out after everyone starts tweeting about it.