By Linda Deutsch
The Associated Press
Six years ago this summer, O.J. Simpson was a defendant in the most-watched murder case in American history. Viewers sat glued to their TV sets as the saga unfolded in what television news correspondents would dub the Trial of the Century.
Now, a TV miniseries is reproducing the experience and exposing audiences to what they didn’t see during the yearlong trial: behind-the-scenes battles and strategy sessions by the defense ‘‘dream team’’ which won Simpson’s acquittal.
It will air on CBS in November – unless O.J. Simpson is able to stop it.
Simpson sent his lawyers to court this month seeking a preliminary injunction to halt production on ‘‘American Tragedy.’’ So far, his 11th-hour legal bid has been futile. A judge refused to issue an injunction, saying he’d look at the script and revisit the matter.
With luck, production will be completed by the time Simpson’s suit gets back to court on Sept. 6.
What is this movie, and why does Simpson want to shut it down?
A visit to the soundstage in North Hollywood is an adventure in déjà vu. Actors bear an eerie resemblance to Marcia Clark, Robert Shapiro and Superior Court Judge Lance Ito, among others. The courtroom where the case was tried has been duplicated in every detail, including floral arrangements that often decorated the judge’s bench.
The guiding hand behind the production is Lawrence Schiller, who wrote the book ‘‘American Tragedy’’ with James Willwerth based on information from his ‘‘mole’’ on the defense team, lawyer Robert Kardashian.
Schiller is directing from a script written by Pulitzer Prize-winner Norman Mailer, and he has assembled a top-notch cast headed by Ving Rhames as Johnnie Cochran Jr., Christopher Plummer as F. Lee Bailey and Ron Silver as Robert Shapiro.
Schiller, who collaborated with Simpson on a jailhouse book, ‘‘I Want to Tell You,’’ recently directed another miniseries from his book ‘‘Perfect Murder, Perfect Town,’’ a recounting of the Jon Benet Ramsey murder case.
‘‘American Tragedy: The Uncensored Story of the Simpson Defense,’’ published in 1996, was controversial from the start: Lawyers felt it invaded Simpson’s attorney-client privilege of confidentiality. Eight members of the defense filed affidavits last week saying they had been misled into giving interviews to Schiller. But the author’s lawyers pointed out that no one took legal action until the miniseries was nearly completed.
Schiller says neither Simpson nor anyone else was promised prior approval on the book or script. Cochran and Shapiro have met with the actors portraying them, he said.
‘‘This story isn’t about O.J. Simpson. It’s about the lawyers,’’ Schiller said in an interview. ‘‘The public doesn’t know what took place behind closed doors, how the defense dealt with the evidence, how they pushed the envelope in the court system. To me, that is more interesting than anything else.’’
Although a Simpson ‘‘body double’’ sits at the counsel table during filming of court sessions, his is not a speaking role.
If the movie adheres to the book, it will not take a position on whether Simpson was truly innocent of the murders of his ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and her friend Ronald Goldman. Simpson was acquitted in criminal court and later found liable in civil court.
‘‘This thing about the search for the truth is laughable,’’ said Bruno Kirby, who plays attorney Barry Scheck. ‘‘In a courtroom, it’s about winning. Both sides are there to win ... I hope this (movie) makes people look at the system and see that it needs work.’’