Academy Award-winning actor Cuba Gooding Jr. (Jerry Maguire, American Gangster) will play football star-turned-murder defendant O.J. Simpson in the first installment of Ryan Murphy’s new anthology miniseries for FX, “American Crime Story: The People v. O.J. Simpson.” Emmy Award and Golden Globe Award-nominated actress Sarah Paulson (What Women Want, Down With Love) is also attached to portray prosecutor Marcia Clark.
Murphy developed “American Crime Series” to focus each season on a different true crime story which made headlines and captivated the imagination of the public. He will direct the first installment, which is based on the book “The Run of His Life: The People v. O.J. Simpson” by Jeffrey Toobin, the first two hours of which are adapted by Scott Alexander and Larry Karaszweski (Ed Wood, The People vs. Larry Flynt, Big Eyes).
Told from the perspective of the lawyers that explores the chaotic behind-the-scenes dealings and maneuvering on both sides of the court, the series reveals how a combination of prosecution confidence, defense wiliness, and the LAPD’s history with the city’s African-American community gave a jury what it needed: reasonable doubt.
Murphy, the Emmy and Golden Globe award-winning writer/producer and director of the hit series “Glee,” “Nip/Tuck” and “American Horror Story,” executive produces alongside Nina Jacobson, Brad Simpson, Brad Falchuk, Scott Alexander, Larry Karaszewski and Dante Di Loreto.
Production begins early next year in Los Angeles with FXP and Fox 21 Television Studios, the companies responsible for the long-running hit series “Sons of Anarchy” on the network, producing.
(Photo Credit: Brian To / PNP / WENN.com)
