Here’s your first look at veteran actress Gina Gershon’s eye-popping transformation into Donatella Versace.
Gershon, who normally sports dark hair, plays the world-renowned fashion queen in Lifetime’s upcoming movie, “House of Versace,” which details Donatella’s fall and rise following the shocking 1997 murder of her beloved brother, iconic designer Gianni Versace — gunned down outside his Miami mansion by crazed serial killer Andrew Cunanan.
“Surprisingly enough we’ve never met, though we have a lot of mutual friends,” Gershon told The Post about her new TV alter ego. “I’ve played people [on-screen] before who are still living and I’ve always met them . . . but I’m kind of glad I never met Donatella,” she said.
“She’s certainly a larger-than-life character.”
And, yes, Gershon says she spent a lot of time in the makeup chair while undergoing her transformation into Donatella. That included a blond wig (parted and long on both sides like Donatella’s), pouty lips (created by cotton stuffed under her upper lips), smoky eyes (but no contact lenses) and lots of eye shadow.
(The movie’s make-up artist, Kathy Kelso, told The Post that she did not use any prostethics, but “reshaped” Gershon’s nose and bone structure “using highlight and shadow and with different intensity for every stage of [Donatella’s] life.”)
“She goes through an evolution — she physically changes, as we all know, through the years and it was important to be as truthful about that as possible,” Gershon says diplomatically.
“It’s movie magic — a little tape and glue,” she says. “Her physicality is so different from mine; the way she stands and walks and speaks.
“It was a good exercise in concentration for me in trying to maintain that truthfulness.”
The movie, airing Oct. 5, is based on the book “House of Versace: The Untold Story of Genius, Murder, and Survival.” It mostly chronicles Donatella’s life after Gianni’s murder when — thrust into the spotlight as Versace’s head designer — she spirals into drug abuse and near bankruptcy before her family closes ranks and, ultimately, helps pull her out of her emotional and physical maelstrom.
The “House of Versace” cast includes Enrico Colantoni (“Veronica Mars”) as Gianni Versace, Raquel Welch as Donatella’s Aunt Lucia and Colm Feore as her brother, Santo.
“What I appreciate about this script — of course it’s Lifetime, and they tend to do ‘redemption’ stories — is that it’s focused more on Donatella’s family and what they all went through when Gianni died,” Gershon says.
“It’s more of a personal story and not as broad as everyone thinks it will be. It’s such a compelling story about Donatella getting out from under her brother’s shadow — and, because of that shadow, also finding her own voice.
“I really have a lot of respect for her, not just because I’m playing her . . . but for what she went through, how she got herself out of it and really became her own person and found her own voice,” Gershon says.
“She went down a tricky path.”
As for Donatella’s Italian accent — famously spoofed on “Saturday Night Live” by Maya Rudolph — Gershon says she studied videos of her subject, in addition to working with a dialect coach.
“I watched and tried to get her tonality and clean up it a little bit, much to my dismay,” she says. “If it were up to me, I would have just used subtitles . . . but Lifetime said, ‘No, we have to let our viewers know what she’s saying.’ ”