Holy Schmidt! Max Greenfield Is Nearly Unrecognizable In ‘The Assassination Of Gianni Versace’

Never underestimate the power of a mustache. While they’re often used as a joke when it comes to disguises, some of them truly do get the job done. Especially the one Max Greenfield grew for his role as Ronnie in The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story.

In a blink-and-you’ll-miss-him moment, he appeared for a few brief seconds in the first episode of the series when the police busted into his hotel room on a search for Andrew Cunanan (Darren Criss). But the second episode gives us so much more of Ronnie, and if you don’t recognize him at first, you aren’t alone. You’d think that after six whole seasons of New Girl, we would all be able to spot the man we now affectionately know as Schmidt, but with his hair trimmed up top and grown in over his upper lip, this is a whole new man we’re dealing with.

Greenfield sinks into the character, in his walk and his posture, and his cutoff jean shorts and half-unbuttoned shirt (what would Schmidt think?!), as he puffs on cigarettes and reluctantly strikes up a friendship with Cunanan. It took me two whole scenes of dialogue before I realized who I was watching. He keeps Ronnie casual, ambivalent, and a little chatty at times but nice enough, throughout an episode that not only sets the scene of Miami in the ’90s, but establishes the structure of the storytelling and episodes to come.

Not that this is the first time Greenfield has stepped away from the clean-cut, nice guy roles we so often see him in to work with Ryan Murphy: he also made our eyes widen in 2015’s American Horror Story: Hotel, with a bit of an appearance transformation there as well. And while the hair and the mustache and the clothes all add to the compelling character he brings to the screen for Versace, not everyone is a big fan. As he explained to Ellen earlier this month, his daughter was “just furious” about the mustache. With New Girl‘s seventh and final season airing this spring, it will be interesting to see if Greenfield reteams with Murphy for future projects, and if so, his daughter, and audiences, should plan to brace themselves.

Where to watch The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story