The People v. O. J. Simpson: American Crime Story

{| class="article-table mw-collapsible" {| class="wikitable"  The People v. O. J. Simpson: American Crime Story From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The People v. O. J. Simpson: American Crime Story is the first season of the FX true crime anthology television series American Crime Story. The season, which debuted on February 2, 2016, revolves around the O. J. Simpson murder case and is based on Jeffrey Toobin's book The Run of His Life: The People v. O. J. Simpson (1997).

The season received critical acclaim, with praise for most of the performances (particularly Paulson, Vance, Brown and Travolta), directing and writing. For the 68th Primetime Emmy Awards, the season received 22 Primetime Emmy Award nominations, in 13 categories, winning nine, including Outstanding Limited Series, the highest after Game of Thrones that year, which won 12 awards. It also won the Golden Globe Awards for Best Miniseries or Television Film and Best Actress – Miniseries or Television Film for Sarah Paulson.

Main

 * Sterling K. Brown as Christopher Darden
 * Kenneth Choi as Judge Lance Ito
 * Christian Clemenson as William Hodgman
 * Cuba Gooding Jr. as O. J. Simpson
 * Bruce Greenwood as Gil Garcetti
 * Nathan Lane as F. Lee Bailey
 * Sarah Paulson as Marcia Clark
 * David Schwimmer as Robert Kardashian
 * John Travolta as Robert Shapiro
 * Courtney B. Vance as Johnnie Cochran

Recurring

 * Keesha Sharp as Sylvia Dale Cochran
 * Chris Bauer as Det. Tom Lange
 * Angel Parker as Shawn Chapman
 * Selma Blair as Kris Jenner
 * Jordana Brewster as Denise Brown
 * Connie Britton as Faye Resnick
 * Garrett M. Brown as Lou Brown
 * Chris Conner as Jeffrey Toobin
 * Kelly Dowdle as Nicole Brown Simpson
 * Asia Monet Ray as Sydney Simpson
 * Ariel D. King as Arnelle Simpson
 * Tye White as Jason Simpson
 * Bonita Friedericy as Patti Goldman
 * Dale Godboldo as Carl E. Douglas
 * Jessica Blair Herman as Kim Goldman
 * Jeris Poindexter as Watson Calhoun
 * Jenna Willis as Tanya Brown
 * Kelsey Griswold as Dominique Brown
 * Susan Beaubian as Amanda Cooley
 * Mary Anne McGarry as Juditha Brown
 * Roslyn Gentle as The Demon
 * P.L Brown as Easter Island
 * Christopher Boyer as Santa Claus
 * Cocoa Brown as Jeanette Harris
 * Diana Daves as Golden Girl
 * Virginia Louise Smith as Francine Florio-Bunten
 * Noree Victoria as Tracy
 * Cassius M. Willis as Michael Knox
 * China Shavers as Shirley Simpson
 * Isabella Balbi as Kourtney Kardashian
 * Morgan Bastin as Khloe Kardashian
 * Nicolas Bechtel as Rob Kardashian
 * Veronica Galvez as Kim Kardashian
 * Valeri Ross as Eunice Simpson
 * Michael Graham as Deputy OJ
 * Rio Hackford as Pat McKenna
 * Jun Hee Lee as Dennis Fung
 * Ehsan Shahidi as Justin Simpson
 * Hudson West as Travis Clark
 * Caleb Foote as Eli
 * David Bickford as Michael Baden
 * Angela Elayne Gibbs as Barbara Cochran
 * Stephanie McVay as Linda
 * Paul Kim Jr. as Henry Lee
 * Frances Gray as Beatrice Wilson
 * Millette Pauley as Brenda Moran
 * Finn Sweeney as Trevor Clark
 * Evan Handler as Alan Dershowitz
 * Larry King as himself
 * Jake Koeppl as Ron Goldman
 * Cheryl Ladd as Linell Shapiro
 * Billy Magnussen as Kato Kaelin
 * Rob Morrow as Barry Scheck
 * Robert Morse as Dominick Dunne
 * Michael McGrady as Det. Phillip Vannatter
 * Steven Pasquale as Det. Mark Fuhrman
 * Leonard Roberts as Dennis Schatzman
 * Joseph Siravo as Fred Goldman
 * Malcolm-Jamal Warner as Al Cowlings

Guest

 * Marguerite Moreau as Laura McKinny
 * Angie Patterson as Paula Barbieri
 * Kwame Patterson as Michael Darden
 * Romy Rosemont as Jill Shively
 * Duane Shepard Sr. as Mr. Darden
 * Beau Wirick as Allan Park
 * Ken Lerner as Howard Weitzman

Archive footage/audio

 * O.J. Simpson
 * Nicole Brown Simpson
 * Bill Clinton
 * Barbara Walters
 * Rodney King
 * Penny Daniels

Development
On October 7, 2014, it was announced that FX had ordered a 10-episode season of American Crime Story, developed by Scott Alexander and Larry Karaszewski, and executive produced by Alexander and Karaszewski, as well as Ryan Murphy and Brad Falchuk. Murphy also directed the pilot episode. Other executive producers are Nina Jacobson and Brad Simpson. Co-executive producers are Anthony Hemingway and D. V. DeVincentis. All 10 episodes were expected to be written by Alexander and Karaszewski. The series was previously in development at Fox but since moved to the company's sibling cable network FX. Murphy and others wanted to create an unbiased account of the trial by doing “certain takes guilty, certain takes innocent” according to Cuba Gooding Jr so that they would have a “plethora of emotions to play with”.

Casting
Cuba Gooding Jr. and Sarah Paulson were the first to be cast as Simpson and Marcia Clark, respectively. Subsequently, David Schwimmer was cast as Robert Kardashian. In January 2015, it was reported that John Travolta had joined the cast as Robert Shapiro; he would also serve as producer. In February 2015, Courtney B. Vance joined the series as Johnnie Cochran. In March 2015, it was announced that Connie Britton would co-star as Faye Resnick. April 2015 saw the casting of Sterling K. Brown as Christopher Darden, Jordana Brewster as Denise Brown, and Kenneth Choi as Judge Lance Ito. In May 2015, it was confirmed Selma Blair would be portraying Kris Kardashian Jenner. In July 2015, it was announced Nathan Lane had joined the cast as F. Lee Bailey.

Filming
Principal photography began on May 14, 2015, in Los Angeles, California.

Promotion
In October 2015, FX released its first promotional trailer for The People v. O. J. Simpson, showing an Akita dog whining, walking from its residence onto a sidewalk to bark, then walking back to its residence, leaving behind bloody paw prints. Later that month another teaser was released, wherein the first actual footage of Travolta as Shapiro was shown. In the teaser, Shapiro is about to ask Simpson (whose face is unseen) if he is responsible for the murder of Simpson's ex-wife. In the next short teaser that was released, Simpson (again unseen) is taking a lie detector test.

In November, two new teasers were released. The first shows Simpson writing his attempted suicide letter, while a voice-over by Gooding, Jr. narrates. The second shows the police chasing Simpson's white Ford Bronco, while dozens of fans cheer for him.

The first full trailer was released in December, along with a poster for the season. The trailer included Simpson sitting in the childhood bedroom of Kim Kardashian and contemplating suicide while Robert Kardashian tries to stop him.

Reviews
The People v. O.J. Simpson received acclaim from critics. The review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes gave the season an approval rating of 97%, based on 89 reviews, with an average rating of 8.74/10. The site's critical consensus read, "The People v. O. J. Simpson: American Crime Story brings top-shelf writing, directing, and acting to bear on a still-topical story while shedding further light on the facts—and provoking passionate responses along the way." On Metacritic, the season has a score of 90 out of 100, based on 45 critics, indicating "universal acclaim."

Many critics singled out many cast members for the performances, particularly Paulson and Vance. Dan Feinberg of The Hollywood Reporter praised the performances of Paulson and Vance, writing: "As Clark's discomfort grows, Paulson's collection of tics seem more and more human, [...] Vance's Cochran is sometimes hilarious, but he has a dynamic range such that he's occasionally introspective and always intelligent as well." Brian Lowry of Variety praised the casting of the smaller roles, particularly Connie Britton as Faye Resnick and Nathan Lane as F. Lee Bailey.

Travolta and Gooding's respective portrayals of Shapiro and Simpson were met with mixed reviews by critics. Brian Lowry of Variety called Travolta "awful" in the role, adding: "Yes, Shapiro spoke in stiff, measured tones, but the actor's overly mannered line readings turn the attorney into a buffoon, in sharp contrast to the more nuanced portrayals around him." Nicole Jones of Vanity Fair called his performance "campy and calculated." Dan Feinberg of The Hollywood Reporter also criticized his performance, calling it "a mesmerizingly bad performance from the eyebrows down." He also wrote that "His unnecessary accent varies by episode, and Travolta's laser intensity feels arch and almost kabuki at times, turning Shapiro into a terrifying character from the next American Horror Story installment, rather than a part of this ensemble."

Maureen Ryan of Vanity Fair, conversely, became more impressed with Travolta as the season progressed: "I started in the realm of puzzled disbelief, arrived at amusement, and ultimately traveled to a place of sincere appreciation. You simply can't take your eyes off Travolta, and that is a form of enchantment." Elisabeth Garber-Paul of Rolling Stone also called it "arguably [Travolta's] best performance since Tarantino brought him back from the dead." Robert Bianco of USA Today wrote that Travolta's was the show's "broadest performance."

Dave Schilling of The Guardian panned Gooding's performance, writing: "his whiny, gravely voice sounds absolutely nothing like the real O. J. Simpson's deep, commanding tones." Michael Starr of New York Post also was highly critical of Gooding's performance, saying that he "portrays Simpson as a hollow, sad-sack cipher who speaks in a high-pitched whine and sleepwalks in a fog he never shakes after being arrested for the brutal double murder of ex-wife Nicole Brown and Ron Goldman. He's a forgettable, annoying presence in what should be a showcase role for Gooding—who, to be fair, is reciting lines written for him, so he can only do so much with the material."

On the other hand, Joe McGovern was more positive on Gooding's performance, writing that his casting "takes a risk and pulls it off." Elisabeth Garber-Paul of Rolling Stone described his performance as "an unnervingly believable take on a potential psychopath with teetering sanity." Nick Venable of Cinema Blend also opined that Gooding's turn as Simpson "could indeed get him on a shortlist of Emmy nominees."

In spite of the mixed reviews for their performances, Gooding and Travolta received Emmy nominations. Travolta was also nominated as one of the producers of the show in the Outstanding Limited Series category, which he ultimately won. Gooding's nomination was criticized by some reviewers.

Reaction from individuals involved
Mark Fuhrman, who is portrayed by Steven Pasquale, refused to watch the series and called his portrayal untruthful. In an interview with New York Post, he said, "The last 20 years, I have watched the facts dismissed by the media, journalists and the public simply because it does not fit within the politically correct narrative. At this late date, FX is attempting to establish a historical artifact with this series without reaching out to any prosecution sources. In a time when Americans read less and less and investigative journalism is on vacation, it is sad that this movie will be the historical word on this infamous trial. After all, it was 'based on a true story.'"

Marcia Clark praised the series and called Sarah Paulson's portrayal of her "phenomenal." During an interview on The Wendy Williams Show, Clark admitted that she watched the series with friends "to keep me from jumping off the balcony", and that she was emotionally unable to watch the series' recreation of Fuhrman's testimony. Clark also said her sons were only able to watch the first episode. Clark went to the Emmys with Sarah Paulson, who won that night for her performance.

The families of Brown and Goldman expressed anger at the show. Nicole Brown's sister, Tanya Brown, lashed out at the cast members for what she saw as a lack of consultation with the families. Ron Goldman's father, Fred Goldman, had numerous criticisms of the series even though they were portrayed sympathetically. He felt that there was not enough material about Ron, who is only depicted on the show as a corpse even though the Goldmans on the show mentioned his modeling career and his work on children with cerebral palsy. He expressed concern that the generations of people who were too young to understand the events at the time would consider everything to be accurate. Goldman's family also criticized the series for not depicting the murders, as they believe that Goldman died trying to save Brown from her attacker and that he was the man who eyewitnesses heard shouting that night. Goldman's sister, Kim, criticized the series for sympathetic portrayals of Simpson and Kardashian (despite Kardashian in real life admitting to having had actual doubts about Simpson's innocence and eventually severing his ties with him).