New Ryan Murphy biopic series slammed as ‘inaccurate’ by late designer’s family

The family of the late fashion designer Halston have slammed Ryan Murphy’s upcoming Netflix biopic series as an “inaccurate, fictionalised account”.

The series stars Ewan McGregor as the Studio 54 Icon Roy “Halston” Frowick. A synopsis released by Netflix said Halston, which will be released on Friday (14 May), will follow the fashion designer as “he leverages his single, invested name into a worldwide fashion empire that’s synonymous with luxury, sex, status and fame”.

But the Halston Archives and Family claimed in a statement released on Monday (10 May) they were not consulted on the upcoming five-part series. The statement declared the Netflix series to be an “inaccurate, fictionalised account” of the “famed” designer’s life. The Archives added it “remains the only definitive and comprehensive source on the man and his legacy as the personally appointed custodian of his private papers and effects”.

But the Halston Archives failed to specify what the alleged ‘inaccuracies’ or fictionalisations in the series were.

The statement also said the Archives will be partnering with non-profit institutions to create fashion scholarships for rising designers. To support the scholarships, the Archives said it will be creating new products “based on original artwork”, but it did not disclose if this would be by Haltson.

McGregor is joined in Halston by Rory Culkin, Rebecca Dayan, Krysta Rodriguez and Vera Farmiga. The straight Scottish actor recently defended his casting as Haltson – who was gay – saying Halston’s sexuality was “just one part of who he was”. He argued, if the series centred around Halston’s sexuality more, then “maybe it’s right that gay actors should play that role”.

“But in this case — and I don’t want to sound like I’m worming out of this, because it’s something I did think a lot about — I suppose ultimately I felt like it was just one part of who he was,” McGregor said.

But Ryan Murphy, who wrote and executive produced Halton, said in a Vogue interview that McGregor was the “only choice” for the role.