Lady Gaga won't be playing Donatella Versace in American Crime Story

Poker Face singer Lady Gaga has dropped out of director Ryan Murphy's upcoming American Crime Story drama, because she's too busy.

Murphy announced his American Horror Story leading lady was his first choice for the upcoming show, in which she was pegged to portray Donatella Versace, but it now appears the casting was a little too ambitious.

"She's very busy this next year," Murphy told a small group of reporters at the FX network's Television Critics Association press day on Thursday (12Jan17). "She's doing the Super Bowl and then she’s doing (movie musical) A Star Is Born and I believe that she's going on tour.

"When you're going to do a show like Versace, it’s a five-month commitment; it’s a very big show, we’re shooting it all over the world. So I just don’t think with her schedule... I knew that it would never had worked. But I would love to work with her on something in the future."

Gaga picked up a 2016 Golden Globe for her performance in Murphy's American Horror Story: Hotel.

The third season of the writer/director's American Crime Story will focus on the 1997 murder of Donatella's brother, Gianni Versace, and will air sometime in 2018.

It will be based on Maureen Orth's book Vulgar Favors: Andrew Cunanan, Gianni Versace, and the Largest Failed Manhunt in U.S. History. Versace was murdered on the steps of his Miami mansion by serial killer Andrew Cunanan, who killed himself eight days later.

Meanwhile, Gaga is preparing to headline the Super Bowl halftime spectacular in Houston, Texas next month (Feb17).