Jeremy Irons Interview: House of Gucci

Ridley Scott’s House of Gucci features an all-star cast including Lady Gaga, Adam Driver, Jeremy Irons, Jared Leto, Salma Hayek, and Al Pacino – to name a few. The biopic tells the true story of the murder of Maurizio Gucci (Driver) by his wife Patrizia (Gaga). The film comes to theaters on November 24.

Jeremy Irons plays Rodolfo Gucci, the youngest son of the Gucci family. He spoke to Screen Rant about working with the film’s incredible cast, the film’s fashion, and the family drama at the heart of House of Gucci.

Screen Rant: This movie is so much fun.

Jeremy Irons: It is fun. Ridley, I think he’s made a wonderful film. Because Gucci, I don’t know how you feel about Gucci, but Gucci has an edge of vulgarity about it. I mean, it’s sort of blingy, isn’t it? Blingy design. 

And I thought Ridley had, with the cast, developed that sort of slightly blingy feel to the whole film, which I thought was wonderful. Great music. And when I watched it, I was very struck by the strength of the performances, that they were slightly larger than life. I mean, Jared is slightly larger than life, Lady Gaga can’t help but being slightly larger than life because she is. And outrageous. And Adam, as ever, straight as a die. Lovely actor.

I can’t imagine filming those scenes with Jared Leto, because he’s such this kind of empathetic character, but then he’s just kind of funny. 

Jeremy Irons: He surprised me a lot. I didn’t know what he was going to come up with. So as an actor, you have to be pretty fleet of foot to deal with that. A wonderful performance, I thought.

I think you win best dressed in the film, wouldn’t you say?

Jeremy Irons: I don’t know. I thought Lady G was pretty good. I thought Adam was pretty good.

Janty Yates is the designer. She’s fantastic. And she knew the feel, and I knew the feel we needed to get for this fairly conventional Italian father. But thank you, I’m glad you liked them.

Did you take anything from the set?

Jeremy Irons: Oh, I didn’t. Actually, I’m not a Gucci man, and I have too many clothes. I have too many clothes because I never throw out anything, you see. And so there’s no room in my wardrobe for anything.

This is such a fascinating family. Was there anything you learned along the way about Rodolfo or anybody in the family that you found particularly outrageous or fascinating?

Jeremy Irons: No, I mean, watching a family implode, one knows the tensions for team families. I mean, that’s a subject which is covered in a lot of drama, a lot of books. So there were no surprises, although one was interested in the particularities of it. And Italian families are not like English families. The same tensions are there, but maybe they’re wilder in Italy. And that interested me.

And I thought Ridley had that in the way he’s made the film. It’s quite a long film, but it really moves and has great energy to it, both in the way it’s shot and the way the actors play. And I think that’s great for an audience. I think they’re going to have a fantastic time at this movie.

There’s this moment where Maurizio has to be convinced to work for Gucci. And it made me wonder, was there ever a role you really had to be convinced to do, and then we’re so glad you did it?

Jeremy Irons: Oh yeah, a lot. Well, Claus Von Bulow [in Reversal of Fortune], I had to be heavily convinced to do it.

And then Lolita, to make that movie, I fought against doing that for a long time before Glenn Close explained to me that if I didn’t do it, someone else would, so it’ll be made anyway. So I thought, “Oh, well, all right then, let’s tell this story.” But I knew, of course, Lolita’s story you couldn’t make now, because we’re all too correct for that.

I was almost hoping you’d say Scar, so I’d have a really organic way to bring up Scar because I just love him so much.

Jeremy Irons: Oh, you wanted organic. I’m sorry. I should have tried to get you a lead-in.

No, Scar, I mean, I’d never made an animated feature before. And I was fascinated to learn the process and to discover how much freedom you get. I always thought you had to fit your lines into a mouth that was moving already on the screen, but no, it all came from the work we did in the studio on the lines, and how we characterized him. And then having got that characterization, the artists, the animators drew him.

Now I’m curious what your Lady Gaga fan meter was before coming into this movie. Do you have a favorite song of hers? Is she on any of your playlists?

Jeremy Irons: I’m sure she is. When I came onto this movie, I’d just seen her sing at the inauguration, which moved me to tears. I thought her performance was wonderful. It was so well placed and passionate and sincere. I thought, she’s a great artist.

And of course, I’d loved her in the movies she made. But I was curious to see how she’d be because she brings a lot with her. But when you’re sitting down and playing, she’s just like another actress. She’s immersed, concentrated, funny, ordinary, and immensely grounded.

About The Author

Ash Crossan
(218 Articles Published)

Ash Crossan is a Lead Content Producer & Host for Screen Rant. With nearly a decade of experience under her belt, Ash joined Screen Rant in 2021 as a lead interviewer. Based in Los Angeles, Ash is a fan of all things Star Wars, Marvel, DC, 90s Nickelodeon and rom-coms. Follow Ash on Twitter: @AshCrossan.

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