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Former Rai CEO Fabrizio Salini – who prior to running the Italian pubcaster held top posts at Sky, Fox International Channels, and Discovery Italy – has joined Italy’s Minerva Pictures, which is stepping up its expansion from film into the realms of TV and streaming content.

The veteran TV exec will become a board member at Rome-based Minerva, the production, digital publishing and distribution company headed by Gianluca Curti. Minerva has been branching out into TV since 2019 when Santo Versace, who is the older brother of Gianni and Donatella Versace, decided to invest in the company, becoming chairman of its board.

Salini, besides joining the Minerva board, will be in charge of the company’s “business activities with broadcasters and streamers,” said Curti, who added that the exec has a mandate to explore opportunities that go beyond film, TV series and docs.

“Historically we’ve never entered the field of premium TV shows and formats,...

ViacomCBS International Studios and Italy’s expanding Minerva Pictures have teamed up on “Miss Fallaci Takes America, a high-profile TV series about the 1958 journey to the U.S. of iconic Italian journalist Oriana Fallaci.

The show, which is the first Italian original produced for Paramount Plus, will portray Fallaci’s early years in Hollywood before she became a legendary war correspondent known for her explosive personality, is set to be the first Paramount Plus Original set for the ViacomCBS-owned premium streaming service, following its Italian launch in 2022.

“What we loved the most was the fact that the story we are going to tell is based on Oriana’s early years which are probably the least known in her career,” said ViacomCBS International Studios (Vis) senior vice president Laura Abril who is head of Vis Emea and Asia, speaking at Rome’s Mia Market. “And how her charm as a...

When news broke the upcoming season of American Crime Story was going to be about the murder of famous designer Gianni Versace, we couldn't wait to see who was going to be part of it and play all the fashionable characters who played a role in the story. Édgar Ramírez is playing Gianni Versace, Penélope Cruz signed on to be Donatella Versace, Darren Criss is Andrew Cunanan, and Ricky Martin is starring as Antonio D'Amico, Versace's partner. RelatedHere's the Glittery Cast of The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story The 45-year-old Puerto Rican singer is playing Versace's longtime lover. The two met in 1982 and were in a relationship for more than a decade and until Versace's murder in 1997. D'Amico was actually the one who found Gianni's body after he was shot by Cunanan. In the Italian designer's will, he left Antonio a $31,000 monthly pension for life, plus the right...

Ryan Murphy is bring the harrowing 1997 murder of fashion icon Gianni Versace to the screen in the upcoming season of American Crime Story, and FX revealed the opening minutes of the premiere episode at the Television Critics Association press tour on Wednesday.

The first episode starts off with a title card that reads July 15, 1997, the morning of Versace's murder. The legendary fashion designer (played by Edgar Ramirez) wakes up in bed and walks out onto the balcony of his home in Miami Beach, Florida.

Meanwhile, serial killer Andrew Cunanan (played by Darren Criss) sits on the beach with a book featuring Versace on the cover, as he pulls a gun out of his backpack. Struggling with some internal conflict, Cunanan walks into the surf and screams at the sky.

In his home, Versace takes some morning medication, changes into a black shirt and some light pants, and heads out into the city, walking to a newsstand...

The 1997 murder of designer Gianni Versace was so shocking for his family that, years later, they were “still in pieces,” a family friend tells People.

“I met them several years and … it took several years for the pieces to settle and for the family to deal with the reality of what had happened — both personally and professionally,” the friend says.

Versace, 50, was returning home to his Miami mansion on the morning of July 15, 1997, when he encountered 27-year-old Andrew Cunanan, who had already killed at least four other people.

What happened between them is still unclear, but Cunanan almost immediately opened fire on Versace,...