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O.J. Simpson was once a national treasure but in 1994 the NFL player turned actor was accused of the brutal murder of his ex-wife Nicole Brown and her friend Ronald Lye Goldman. Coined the ‘the crime of the century,’ the trial gripped the media with ‘did he didn’t he’ phenomenon splashed across newspapers across the globe. Then on 10/03/1995 O.J. Simpson was shockingly acquitted putting an end to the sensational trial. The case made history and when O.J.’s troubles began to haunt him once more, he found himself liable during a civil trial.
Despite the coverage and column inches the O.J. case notched up, and despite the fact we all know how the story ends, there is still a great deal of uncertainty and intrigue surrounding the case. Monday night saw the culmination of such curiosity when BBC2 aired the much anticipated The People v. OJ Simpson: American Crime Story. The 10 part series is the latest retelling of the brutal case and the brain child of Scream Queens director Ryan Murphy and the show has cast some major players including Cuba Gooding Jr. as O.J., John Travolta and David Schwimmer as his defence lawyers, Robert Shapiro and Robert Kardashian, and Selma Blair as Kardashian’s ex-wife Kris Jenner.
Yet despite the A-list cast the series hasn’t been over dramatised. Murphy’s direction sees that the retelling stays remarkably close to actual events and the realist approach gives audiences a genuine feel for what went on outside the courtroom and behind closed doors rather than through a paparazzi lens.
For me it’s Ryan Murphy’s admirable bold choices and emphasis on restraint that make for a smooth and unnerving touch, rather than the casts acting skills which fall short from time to time. Erring on the side of clunky, John Travolta gives an unsettling performance for all the wrong reasons while David Schwimmer who I can only think of as ‘Ross Kardashian’ misses just slightly. It’s Cuba Gooding Jr. who reigns victorious as the ill-fated and angry O.J.
But what is most impressive is how in just one episode Murphy has got us gripped on a story we already know to be doomed. From the get-go you are in invested and excited by events you can already apprehend. The final scene sees O.J. flee, just as we always knew he would, and still it is enthralling and somehow thrilling. The people v O.J. Simpson will consume you, taking you right back to 1994 and that brutal killing that shook a nation.
The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story is on Monday’s at 9pm on BBC2.
