US & Canada: Broadway – Jon Jon Briones to join ‘Versace’ story
Jon Jon Briones (Photo by Jesse Dittmar)
.
‘I am familiar with the event but I didn’t know much about it except for the fact that Andrew Cunanan was part Filipino. I was actually still in Germany doing ‘Miss Saigon’ when it happened.
..
LOS ANGELES – We were excited to find out that our very own Jon Jon Briones, who is doing The Engineer in Broadway’s “Miss Saigon,” will be joining Fil-Am Darren Criss in FX’s “The Assassination Of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story.”
Helmed by award-winning writer-director-producer Ryan Murphy, the “Versace” story will feature Jon Jon as Modesto Cunanan, the father of serial killer Andrew Cunanan, who is portrayed by Darren.
Other Fil-Ams joining the stellar cast which includes Edgar Ramirez (Gianni Versace), Ricky Martin (Antonio D’Amico), and Penelope Cruz (Donatella Versace), include Jon Jon’s daughter Isa Briones (who will portray Elena Cunanan, the sister of Andrew) and Carlin James (who will play Christopher Cunanan, the brother of Andrew).
The “Versace” story is the second season of the FX true crime anthology television series American Crime Story (ACS) and it will premiere on Jan. 17, 2018. It will consist of a total of 10 episodes. It will explore the murder of designer Gianni Versace by serial killer Andrew Cunanan, based on Maureen Orth’s book “Vulgar Favors: Andrew Cunanan, Gianni Versace, And The Largest Failed Manhunt In U.S. History.”
Jon Jon, who was nominated for the Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actor in a Musical for playing The Engineer role and won the Whatsonstage.com Award for Best Actor in a Musical, revealed to us how he got the part.
“I like this story, although it might be a little long,” he said. “Darren Criss and the writer, Tom Rob Smith, both talked about me to each other. They both saw me in ‘Miss Saigon’ London and both agreed that I might be right for the part. Apparently, Tom mentioned it first during a dinner towards the beginning of shooting and he brought my name up. Darren was like ‘OMG yes, we have to push for that!’ I then met Darren at the Tony Awards and he gave me a heads up on the project. He told me to tell my agent to keep an eye out for this role. At the same time, he was constantly bringing my name up on set to the producers. I then got an email from my agent that ACS wanted me to audition for the role of Modesto Cunanan. The audition was in LA and I am still in New York City doing ‘Miss Saigon’ so I taped myself instead. I submitted the audition and the rest is history.”
.
(From Left): Darren Criss, Isa Briones and Carlin James (Photos by Sthanlee B. Mirador)The 52-year-old actor said he was familiar with the Andrew Cunanan case. “I am familiar with the event but I didn’t know much about it except for the fact that Andrew Cunanan was part Filipino. I was actually still in Germany doing ‘Miss Saigon’ when it happened.”
.
Unfortunately, he revealed, they don’t need to shoot in the Philippines. “We didn’t shoot in the Philippines but they recreated the house of Modesto Cunanan in Baliuag, Bulacan in a sound studio at the FOX lot,” he disclosed.
He said he is done filming all his scenes. “I’m in the last two episodes. I filmed for a total of two weeks for the two episodes I’m in. I had to fly back and forth between LA and New York a few times so I can do some of the shows on Broadway and then return to continue filming.”
He added that he did a lot of research on Modesto Cunanan. “I researched as much as I could,” he told us. “There was not much information out there on Modesto Cunanan. But my director for episode 8, Matt Bomer, gave me his book entitled ‘Vulgar Favors’ by Maureen Orth which helped me a lot. The whole show is based on that book by Miss Orth. Also, one of the executive producers-directors of the show, Dan Minahan gave me a copy of all the previous episode’s scripts to help me get a feel for the show. And it helped a lot.”
Jon Jon pointed out, “I’ve done a lot of TV roles before but this is definitely the biggest one. The writing is just so good!”
.
Courtesy: The Manila Bulletin| By: Janet Nepales | Published
NOTE : All photographs, news, editorials, opinions, information, data, others have been taken from the Internet ..aseanews.net | [email protected] |
For comments, Email to :
Zhubiz Chezmiz | [email protected] | – Contributor
