Danish filmmaker Bille August will direct a new movie about the life of the Italian fashion designer Gianni Versace, reports TV2.

Starring Antonio Banderos in the lead role, the film will tell the story of Versace’s rise to fame in the late 1970s all the way through to his sudden death in 1997, when he was murdered in Miami Beach, Florida.

Uplifting movie
“It will be a movie in a similar style to [the Johnny Cash biopic] ‘Walk the Line’,” Jesper Morthorst, the film’s co-producer from Svensk Filmindustri, told the magazine Variety.

“It will portray a genius who fights against his own demons, but it will be an uplifting and moving film rather than dark and tragic.”

Filmed in Italy
‘Versace’ has a budget of about 80 million kroner and filming is expected to begin at the end of the year in Italy.

In his long career, Bille August has directed several highly-acclaimed movies, including ‘Goodbye Bafana’ about Nelson Mandela and ‘House of Spirits’.

He is best known for ‘Pelle the Conqueror’, which won Denmark the 1988 Academy Award for ‘Best Film in a Foreign Language’.