EXCLUSIVE: Ridley Scott has committed to direct a film about the tumultuous Gucci family fashion dynasty and the murder of the grandson of founder Guccio Gucci. Lady Gaga is attached to star as Patrizia Reggiani, the ex-wife of Maurizio Gucci, who was tried and convicted of orchestrating her ex-husband’s assassination on the steps of his office in 1995. She served 18 years before being let out of jail in 2016.

It is the first project Lady Gaga has attached herself to since her Best Actress nomination in a breakout turn opposite Bradley Cooper in A Star Is Born. She won an Oscar for writing the song Shallow, one of a number of hits on the soundtrack. The combination of actress and director is already starting to draw interest but the first stop will be Fox/Disney, where Scott Free has its first look, and where Scott will next direct The Last Duel, with Matt Damon, Adam Driver, Jodie Comer and Ben Affleck in a coproduction between Scott Free and Pearl Street.

The Gucci murder tale is scripted by Roberto Bentivegna, based on the Sara Gay Forden book The House of Gucci: A Sensational Story of Murder, Madness, Glamour, and Greed. Scott plans to move quickly to direct the film after he first helms The Last Duel. He will produce the Gucci saga with Giannina Scott, and Scott Free Productions.

It was Giannina Scott who fashioned the into a compelling drama that is framed around the rise of a family business that denigrated into squabbles over control of the business and greed, at a time when Gucci was being corporatized, and the brand’s relevance restored by CEO Domenico De Sole and creative director Tom Ford.

Maurizio had two daughters with Patrizia Reggiani, but he left her for another woman. She’d had a brain tumor removed, and her children blamed it for her actions; the media took a darker view of her during a sensationalized affair, depicting her as a hot blooded woman scorned and dubbing her Black Widow. She was originally drew a sentence of 29 years.

Giannina Scott, the actress/producer best remembered onscreen for playing the wife of Maximus (Russell Crowe) in the Scott-directed Gladiator, has produced with him a number of passion projects that include the Peter Landesman-directed Will Smith-starrer Concussion, as well as the Liam Neeson-starrer Mark Felt: The Man Who Brought Down The White House, also directed by Landesman. She originally brought the project to Scott. They have been companions since meeting on his film White Squall and they married in 2015. She also co-produced Matchstick Men and producer on Tristan & Isolde.

Scott most recently covered the inner workings of the super rich when he helmed All The Money In The World, about the Getty kidnap drama that won an Oscar nomination for Christopher Plummer as patriarch J. Paul Getty.

Lady Gaga is repped by CAA and Grubman Shire; Scott is WME.

The Hollywood Reporter has learned that MGM is acquiring Ridley Scott’s Gucci — a true crime drama about the murder of fashion trailblazer Maurizio Gucci — and is in negotiations for Lady Gaga to star. The studio beat out Netflix and at least one other streamer for the project about the machinations behind the fabled fashion house. MGM won out partly because it offered the opportunity for a theatrical release, a key appeal for Scott, according to sources.

Gaga would star as Patrizia Reggiani, Gucci’s ex-wife who was convicted of orchestrating his hit after he had an affair. The script by Roberto Bentivegna is based on The House of Gucci: A Sensational Story of Murder, Madness, Glamour, and Greed, written by Sara Gay Forden and published by William Morrow in 2001. The book used the murder to delve into the complex yet dishy family history, filled with infighting, corporate intrigue and gobs of money. Maurizio Gucci was the grandson of Guccio Gucci and ran the company in a declining period in the 1980s after wresting it out of an uncle’s hands.

"This project has long been a labor of love for both Ridley and me," says Giannina Scott, who will produce with husband Ridley via the couple's Scott Free banner. "The story is so epic, the stakes so high and the characters so richly drawn that we were determined to get it to the big screen. To say we are thrilled to be teaming with Mike De Luca and his brilliant film group at MGM is an understatement. We can’t wait to see this come to life next year."

Scott was in the middle of shooting The Last Duel, a drama set in the Middle Ages with Ben Affleck, Matt Damon and Adam Driver, but that movie is on hold due to the coronavirus pandemic. The plan is for Scott to restart work on that when Hollywood and the world returns to work, and then dive into Gucci after.

MGM is so ready to wear Gucci that it has set a Nov. 24, 2021, release date. "Nothing typifies bold, audacious originality more than a film by Ridley Scott," says De Luca in a statement. "All of us at MGM are incredibly excited to be in business with Ridley, Giannina, Kevin and the whole team at Scott Free.”

"Nothing typifies bold, audacious originality more than a film by Ridley Scott," says De Luca in a statement.