It was the trial of the century when football great O.J. Simpson was accused of murdering his ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ronald Goldman.
On Tuesday, FX is premiering The People v O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story, a limited series that goes behind the scenes of the trial for a riveting look at both the prosecution and defense legal teams as they battle to convict or acquit O.J. Simpson, beginning with the events immediately following the June 13, 1994, double homicide.
“When the case was over, [the trial material] was put away,” says John Travolta, who plays O.J.’s attorney Robert Shapiro. “This is the first time that things that were not allowed to be talked about [in court] are being brought up.”
Based on the book The Run of His Life: The People v. O.J. Simpson by Jeffrey Toobin, the 10-episode series investigates how overconfidence on the part of the prosecution, the sharpness of the defense team and the bad blood between the LAPD and the African-American community led the jury to a not guilty verdict because they felt they had reasonable doubt.
The players taking on the real-life roles also include Cuba Gooding Jr. as O.J., Sarah Paulson as Marcia Clark, David Schwimmer as Robert Kardashian, Courtney B. Vance as Johnnie Cochran, Sterling Brown as Christopher Darden, Nathan Lane as F. Lee Bailey, Kenneth Choi as Judge Lance Ito, Christian Clemenson as Bill Hodgman and Bruce Greenwood as Gil Garcetti.
At a press day for The People v O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story, Travolta talked about where he was during the Bronco chase and how memorable it was, how he developed his portrayal of defense attorney Robert Shapiro, his feelings about playing a real-life person, and more.
Had you ever met O.J.?
No. You would’ve thought it, wouldn’t you?
Have you encountered Robert Shapiro at any point in your time in Hollywood?
No. You would think I would have, but I have a different legal team. I knew a lot of people who knew him and that helped because I could ask questions. But he did write a letter to me at one point, very thrilled that I was going to portray him. I hope he still will be, I don’t know.
What fascinated you about him as you started to try him on a little bit?
I think his ego. I think I’ve been around enough of his type of man in the legal world and in the show business world—producers and studio heads. But there was enough of the kind of person I understood, where I felt like I could get an angle on it that would work.
Is there a particular scene or sequence that you’re really looking forward to seeing?
Yes. There’s one in Episode 7, where I actually blackmail Robert Kardashian, which was the most despicable moment I’ve ever had in my acting career. I can’t believe that the character actually leverages him to try to settle, to convince the team to settle. It was such a strange day to play that and I want to see how that came out.
Do you remember where you were when the Bronco chase was going down?
Yeah. We had just won the Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival for Pulp Fiction. My dad was on a chair in the living room in Northern California watching TV, and he said, “Johnny, you’re not going to believe this.” And I was pulled right into the scenario.
When this was going down, you were in this transition state, this halcyon state of reinvention from Pulp Fiction, what was that like?
Well, I think I was at a point where I had felt I’d done well in my career, but I never imagined that one project could give me that kind of second career, where I was offered the A scripts again and the Oscar-contender scripts. There aren’t many examples of that in the history of cinema, so I was very honored and privileged that I had that little niche.
Is Robert Shapiro also a game-changing role given the landscape and how prestigious TV is right now?
Well, TV is definitely prestigious and it’s 10 hours of a character, not two, so those elements could balance out to be a game-changer in a lot of ways. All an actor wants is the opportunity to play the best roles. That’s really what they’re looking for, nothing else.
How was it different playing this character as opposed to Primary Colors, where you played a variation on Bill Clinton? How did you approach playing a well-known real person without fictionalizing it?
It was a similar approach because I felt like Primary Colors was a very thinly veiled interpretation of Clinton, and [director] Mike Nichols wanted us not to admit that we were playing it. I looked like Clinton, I’m speaking like him, I’m walking like him, I’m behaving like him. We’re taking the direct dialogue from his speeches. I’m playing him, man, so let me play him, so I had a very similar approach. We’re building the character from physical attributes and vocal attributes and really enjoying that process, which is my favorite thing to do.
Do you feel some pressure in portraying a real-life person?
I do, but from my own personal viewpoint of this, this is how I honestly feel. If I get it right enough, I can invite you in to a true story because there are a good majority of people that will be so familiar with the case and the character that unless I convince you, just like with Primary Colors, that I am that person, you won’t be as easily invited. So you have to do just enough to say, “Look, this is the game we’re playing, we’re playing this scenario, come along and go for this ride.”
Were you surprised or shocked by the theatrics of this trial?
I was more surprised by the theatrics behind the scenes than the actual trial. We were amazed, every new episode we couldn’t believe it. When those [LAPD detective] Mark Fuhrman [Steven Pasquale] tapes came up, we couldn’t believe what we were reading.
Not to be unkind to Mr. Shapiro, but there’s a theatrical element to him and his demeanor and the way he carried himself. Talk about making that work for your performance without veering into a camp kind of a territory.
All you have to do is watch the videos of him. I was doing only what I observed him to do. I didn’t do any more than what he was, and he was delicious to watch because he was doing exactly what I would have. I’m good at taking on characteristics of people physically, whether it’s from dance, or just many years of being an actor, but that’s where I excel, so watching him is like, “Oh, wow! This is interesting. This will be something to do to make this authentic.” But I wasn’t really doing anything different than you can find on the videos.
The People v O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story premieres Tuesday, February 2 at 10 p.m. on FX.
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