OJ: COURT ON CAMERA!
Glamour, race, a Kardashian... and a superstar sportsman. More than 100 million people tuned in to OJ Simpson’s murder trial – and a star-studded dramatisation brings it back to life
17 AMERICAN CRIME STORY: THE PEOPLE V OJ SIMPSON
From the moment police followed superstar sportsman OJ Simpson down the Los Angeles freeway in his white Ford Bronco as he tried to evade arrest for the murder of his ex-wife and her friend in June 1994, this story has been an international obsession. It has traces of everything that makes a scandal scintillating: a glamorous, rich leading man, a tale of crime and passion, a racial element that couldn’t be ignored, and even the Kardashians.
Often forgotten, though, are the victims of the crime; Nicole Brown and Ronald Goldman, who were brutally stabbed to death outside her home. This compelling 10-part series, which won a clutch of awards, still doesn’t put them at the centre,
but it makes the whole thing more real. It focuses on the high profile eight-month trial, one of the first cases to be broadcast live on US television.
It ended with the acquittal of Simpson (played by Cuba Gooding Jr) in front of 100 million viewers.
A pivotal moment came with the revelation that one of the chief investigators was racist and the verdict partly split the country on racial lines. ‘When I finished this role I was a wreck,’ admitted Gooding Jr. ‘It moved me to grief, hatred, anger and frustration. ‘The day we filmed the funeral scene, I wept. I was thinking, “Why are you so upset?” And I think it’s because of my guilt. When that not guilty verdict came in I jumped up, I was yelling, “F*** the man who tried to do another black man wrong”, and I never grieved for those two families and their loss.’
Simpson had amassed the best lawyers money could buy. John Travolta is the wily defence team leader, Robert Shapiro. Friends star David Schwimmer plays Simpson’s close friend and lawyer Robert Kardashian, who battled with his own belief in Simpson.
On the other side, Sarah Paulson won an Emmy for her incredible performance as chief prosecutor Marcia Clark, who was pilloried for losing the case and for daring to be a strong woman. Netflix drama