tca 2018

Ricky Martin ‘Peed a Little Bit’ When He Heard Penelope Cruz Was Playing Donatella in FX’s Versace

Photo: Jeff Daly/FX

Just like you, when Ricky Martin heard that Ryan Murphy was making the second installment of American Crime Story about the murder of Gianni Versace, his first question was: “Who’s going to play Donatella?” “He told me, ‘No one knows, but it’s Penelope [Cruz],” Martin said at the TCA panel for FX on Friday. “And I peed a little bit.”

Love was in the air, too, when Murphy cast Ricky Martin to play Antonio D’Amico, Versace’s partner of 15 years, in part because Édgar Ramírez, who plays the titular late designer, is close friends with Martin. “You were probably the first person I told that I was doing Gianni,” Ramírez said to Martin. The pair made plans to have dinner together to celebrate the role when Martin got the call from Murphy. “I received a phone call from Ryan that said, We need to meet. I’m like, Okay, when and where? I’ll be there. Édgar is who I’m having dinner with tonight, so clearly something is in the air.” At dinner, Ramírez astutely guessed: “You’re going to be Antonio, I’m sure.”

“They were all my first choices,” Ryan Murphy said. “I did not know they were friends. Darren [Criss] was the first person we cast. And then we cast Édgar and then we cast Penelope and I’ve worked with Ricky before and love him. I took him out to the Tower Bar and Grill. I really think he was texting with Edgar under the table.”

“I know Edgar. My brother, I love him,” Martin said to Murphy at dinner, to which he says the showrunner replied, “That’s what I needed to hear. You’ve got the part.”

Ricky Martin ‘Peed a Little’ About Penelope Cruz’s Casting