Former NFL star O.J. Simpson’s infamous murder trial was one of the cultural touchstones of the mid-’90s, so it’s no surprise that the “Trial of the Century” is being dramatized in an upcoming television series for FX. Still, the all-star cast that series has attracted is impressive, and a new series of photos from the project offers the first peek at Oscar-winning actor Cuba Gooding Jr. as Simpson.
Filming on American Crime Story: The People V. O.J. Simpson is currently underway in Los Angeles, and EW.com has debuted a set of official images from the limited series featuring Gooding, John Travolta, David Schwimmer, and the rest of the cast as some of the most prominent figures in the highly controversial case.
The series is based on Jeffrey Toobin’s 1996 book about the trial titled The Run of His Life: The People v. O.J. Simpson, which explored the nuances of the case from the perspective of the attorneys, gleaned from Toobin’s own reporting on the trial while writing for The New Yorker magazine. Toobin’s tome explored the way in which Simpson’s defense team shaped the perception of the evidence and exploited some of the biggest issues polarizing popular culture and American society in order to create a sense of reasonable doubt in the case against their celebrity client.
Along with Gooding as Simpson, the FX series features John Travolta as defense attorney Robert Shapiro, David Schwimmer as defense attorney Robert Kardashian, Sarah Paulson as prosecutor Marcia Clark, Billy Magnussen as Kato Kaelin, and Courtney B. Vance as Johnnie Cochran.
The first episode of American Crime Story: The People v. O.J. Simpson will be directed by Emmy-winning producer and director Ryan Murphy (American Horror Story, The Normal Heart, Glee), who will also serve as one of the executive producers on the series. The series was written by Scott Alexander and Larry Karaszewski (Big Eyes, The People v. Larry Flynt).
The premiere date for the series has not been announced yet. You can see more of the cast photos on EW.com.
