Al Pacino calls Lady Gaga a 'great actress' in new film 'House of Gucci'

By Cameron Harrison & Angeline Jane Bernabe

The cast of the highly anticipated film "House of Gucci" dished about what it was like retelling the scandalous story of the famous Gucci family.

In an interview airing Wednesday with "Good Morning America," the star-studded cast spoke about the movie's opera-size emotions, all based on actual events.

"The film is very fun," said actor Jared Leto, who plays Italian businessman and fashion designer Paolo Gucci, who in the 1980s famously launched his own business using the Gucci name without telling his father, Aldo Gucci, played by actor Al Pacino.

"It's obviously about a very serious and dysfunctional family," he added. "But at the same time, the characters have a lot of life. And a lotta, lotta, lotta joy, lotta laughter."

The film's director, Ridley Scott, fuses a world-famous fashion brand with family business intrigue, the latter of which is reminiscent of the hit HBO show "Succession."

At the center of the film's plot is Patrizia Reggiani, an Italian socialite who was infamously convicted of hiring a hitman to kill her ex-husband, Italian fashion heir Maurizio Gucci, in the mid-1990s.

"That's what's attractive about him," actor Adam Driver, who plays Maurizio Gucci, said about his character. "He follows his heart. And then, eventually he kind of becomes his own person -- at least in his mind. And that's kind of his downfall."

In the movie, Reggiani, played by actress and pop star Lady Gaga, weds and connives with Driver's Maurizio Gucci to oust Pacino's Aldo Gucci -- only to face rejection and to seek revenge.

Gaga told "GMA" that she "partook in a romance with Patrizia that I could not get out of."

"She found Maurizio Gucci not looking to marry rich," Gaga said. "But she found him and she fell in love with him. It was, you know, 50% love and then 50% what it could be. And she led with her love."

In an earlier interview with "GMA," Gaga spoke about the steps she took to embody Reggiani in the film and why she chose not to meet with her while preparing for the role.

"I didn't want to meet her because I could tell very quickly that this woman wanted to be glorified for this murder, and she wanted to be remembered as this criminal," Gaga said.

"I didn't want to collude with something that I don't believe in," she added. "You know, she did have her husband murdered."

Instead, Gaga worked at mastering Reggiani's accent for six months and then filmed for three and a half months, staying in character the entire time.

"She's a great actress," Pacino said of Gaga's performance. "And that's all there is to it."

"House of Gucci" hits theaters Nov. 24.