HOUSE OF GUCCI, based on the book titled “The House of Gucci: A Sensational Story of Murder, Madness, Glamour, and Greed,” tells the real-life, tragic story behind the iconic fashion brand.

The star-studded cast, directed by Ridley Scott, includes Adam Driver, Jared Leto, Jeremy Irons, Salma Hayek, Al Pacino, and Lady Gaga as Patrizia Reggiani

Desde Hollywood attended a recent virtual press conference and you can read below some of the most interesting things that the singer and actress had to share.

On working with Ridley Scott.

“Ridley was so empowering for all of us. As a woman. I felt empowered to speak my mind. He’s legendary in his process.”

On turning to the animal kingdom for inspiration.

“Earlier in her life, I was a cat, like a house cat. In the middle of the film… I was a fox. And so I studied the way foxes hunt, and they’re actually quite playful when they hunt. And then I studied panthers for the end. I watched lots of videos about the way that panthers hunt. And they’re sort of seductive… they sort of seduce and then they pounce.”

On the story being more simple greed.

“She did not marry him for his money. She not only loved Maurizio, but she loved what he meant and the way that he empowered her within the family business. And when that was taken from her… she reacted in a way that most women don’t — most women don’t have their husbands murdered. And yet I do believe in that system, with this sort of systemic oppression, that this happened because she was simply too hurt. Patrizia got away with a lot and it went on for a long period of time until the illusion of her being able to matter in this family was shattered. As an Italian-American woman I would never insert myself in business with men — and that was on her. She really tried.”

On how the real life tragedy affected her personally.

“I drove by where Maurizio was shot and I want to say this movie is very fun — and it’s also about the loss of a life. I drove by and I had a pit in my stomach and felt pain. I feel she ‘died’ at the end. When you have killed somebody, you killed yourself. She was of a particular class when she met Maurizio but I also think she never quite made it. She was never as shiny as the Guccis. But she was trying to matter.”

HOUSE OF GUCCI is now playing exclusively in theaters.

When Patrizia Reggiani, an outsider from humble beginnings, marries into the Gucci family, her unbridled ambition begins to unravel the family legacy and triggers a reckless spiral of betrayal, decadence, revenge — and ultimately murder.