House of Gucci: everything we know

If you have a social media account, chances are you’ve seen the photo. Lady Gaga shared it on Instagram, and it’s since reached over four million likes. There’s so much to unpack about it. Adam Driver's woolly jumper and aviator glasses; Lady Gaga's statement necklaces and bright white fur hat. And that's all before the snowy, mountainous landscape of the Italian Alps behind them.

It’s like viewing a sumptuous painting, seeing new details each time, with the personal feel of a photo-album picture.

The photo is a first look into Ridley Scott’s new film House of Gucci, a biopic crime drama about the murder of Maurizio Gucci – heir to the Gucci empire – in 1995. In 1997, the killer was caught: a hitman, hired by Gucci’s ex-wife Patrizia Reggiani. They were married for 10 years from 1972, and then endured a lengthy divorce battle (Adam Driver is dream casting, then, considering his recent role in Noah Baumbach’s Marriage Story).

And it was a bizarrely messy separation: complete with corporate jealousy, a young lover, a complicit psychic, a sour voicemail, and even a brain tumour. As if all that wasn’t enough, Reggiani hired a hitman to kill Gucci and succeeded. Labelled the ‘Black Widow’ by the Italian press, she was sentenced to 29 years in prison.

The film has been in Development Hell for years: attracting Martin Scorsese and Wong Kar-wai as well as Leonardo DiCaprio, Angelina Jolie and Margot Robbie.

Ridley Scott now takes the reins. He's a great choice considering his 2017 film All the Money in the World, starring the late Christopher Plummer, which focused on the similarly affluent Getty family scandal. Lady Gaga is a fascinating choice for Reggiani, following her Oscar-nominated performance in A Star is Born. Al Pacino, Jared Leto, Jeremy Irons, Call My Agent’s Camille Cottin and Home’s Youssef Kerkour are also starring.

Considering the surreal story and stupendous cast, that photo could just be the start of something spectacular.