Cuba M. Gooding Jr. plays OJ Simpson in a new series based on the life and trial of the controversial NFl player
Cuba M. Gooding Jr. is an American actor. He gained his breakthrough role as Tre Styles in Boyz n the Hood. He would go on to appear in A Few Good Men, The Tuskegee Airmen, Outbreak and Jerry Maguire for which he won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. He gained attention for his roles as Carl Brashear in Men of Honor and in Michael Bay’s WWII epic Pearl Harbor as Doris Miller. His other notable films include As Good as It Gets American Gangster, lee Daniels’ The Butler and Selma, where he played the civil rights attorney Fred Gray.
In 2016, he portrayed O.J. Simpson in the FX drama series The People v. O. J. Simpson: American Crime Story and co-starred in the sixth season of the FX anthology series American Horror Story, subtitled Roanoke.
Did you have any reservations about taking on the role of OJ Simpson, such a big character from modern historyIJ Everyone has an opinion and remembers where they were during that car chase. That’s a fairly daunting task as an actor.
I was offered a movie two weeks prior to getting the call from my agents about this project, about the life of OJ Simpson and I passed on it. But when this came in, I knew it was a good idea as it was by Ryan Murphy. Moreover, the movie was an indie one by a person who had money and wanted to prove his (OJ’s) innocence and I thought you have already given me your agenda and who is going to see this thingIJ But I knew when Ryan was involved for the show, even if I’m the villain or I’m the hero, this would be that opportunity.
How did your view of the trial change as you played OJIJ
It changed every day with every research, every book, every new script that I got. It was an emotional rollercoaster. The day we shot the funeral scene and OJ kissed Nicole’s (Brown), corpse and we broke for lunch, I wept in my trailer. I was looking at myself in the mirror and saying, “What are you doingIJ Why are you so emotionalIJ” And I think it’s because of my guilt. Because when that verdict came out: not guilty, I jumped up, I was yelling and screaming because the man tried to do another Black man wrong. And I never grieved for those two families (of victims Ronald Goldman and Nicole Brown) and their loss. And it all hit me on that day in that scene where the Goldmans and the Browns, their children are gone. And if you believe he did it or not that was something that I personally didn’t care about but I just felt the guilt about that.
You can’t say if you thought OJ Simpson was guilty or not when you played himIJ
It’s so funny, because even when I would hear these facts about the definitive — is he guilty or not guilty, that turned me off because I didn’t want to focus too much on that. I wanted to stay in that neutral frame of mind. I really did. Acting is tricking yourself into believing something. When you see an actor cry, he has to really get there emotionally and it’s almost like hypnosis. So, some stuff you can’t avoid. But the theme of my research was to try to stay in that neutral place.
I played (presidential candidate) Ben Carson (in 2009 TV movie Gifted Hands: The Ben Carson Story), about his life and right when he started running for president every reporter would say, “Are you a Republican or a DemocratIJ” And I’d say the following: “My mom thinks I’m a Democrat, my father thinks I’m a Republican.” I like to keep it that way. In other words, my political beliefs are what they are and I don’t need you to take that into the theatre when you watch my performance. I think again, as an actor, it’s my job, for you to get lost in the truth of what you’re seeing. Even my physical being is influencing you in a way where I wish it wouldn’t. I wish the character was neutral.
Can you talk about studying OJ’s mannerismsIJ Also, it’s important that you gain our sympathy with this performance, which you do.
I didn’t concern myself as much with doing an impersonation of a famous character. My job is to find the truth to the character’s emotional core. And if I’m truthful to that emotion you’ll experience what that character experienced in your narrative, through that journey. One reporter said that this is heavy subject matter and there are light moments (in the show) and whether it was a definite attempt to be humorousIJ My thing is this– life is stranger than fiction.
The humour is a release valve for the tensionIJ
Yeah, absolutely.
Is there one thing that helped you inhabit OJIJ What did you doIJ
Act! Every day I stepped into his role I felt such a connection to his life that I didn’t think I would. I have kids, I have a daughter who is 10. My daughter had a dance recital on a Saturday... now, before the bodies were discovered people said OJ was mad at Nicole because he went to his daughter’s dance recital and there wasn’t a seat for him and then he got on a plane and went on his trip to Chicago and I will tell you one other fact before I finish this story. I play a little ice hockey — I’m a huge ice hockey geek, a fanatic and the (Chicago) Blackhawks are playing at home and I had tickets to go on Sunday, so I wrapped on a Friday, woke up Saturday, went to my daughter’s dance recital and Sara (Kapfer, his wife) had some confusion with my ticket so I had to sit by myself but I don’t care. I love my wife and kids. And that night when I got on a plane and flew to Chicago to watch the Blackhawks game and when I got to my hotel I realised, “Oh gosh! I did exactly what he did!” So I told Ryan (Murphy) this story and he says, “You know what we shot last nightIJ The murder scene…” So I did exactly what happened that day. So those weird connections with my life and OJ’s life took me a month to get out of this mentality. When I finished this role I felt like I got my ass kicked. Emotionally, I was a wreck.
Can you talk about how this series speaks to today’s generation and the Ferguson generationIJ
It speaks volumes. When I shot episodes 5, 7 and 9, I thought, I don’t know if people are ready for this stuff. You’ll see. This is the first time I’m talking about the series and I’m so paranoid talking about giving something away! But there are aspects of those three episodes specifically that moved me to my core: hatred, anger, frustration, grief — I was just so upset.
Because it resonates todayIJ
People can get caught up in a religion and justify their actions of violence. It’s why we do what we do as actors — we want you to watch me punch my boss in the face and then leave that theatre and go find your boss and give him a hug and say, “You know, I punched you in the face today” in a cathartic way. And walk on. If you can do that with my performance then God sent me here for a reason, so that I can release the frustrations. I love the movie Straight Outta Compton when they depicted the advocacy groups crashing the albums over the F..k tha Police song and if you look at it now, thank God that song was there! Because there might have been police officers who did not have that emotional outlet through that music. I think that we as a people are frustrated, we’re scared, we’re told not to be fearful today and yet something’s gotta give. We as entertainers can only say: let us project your fears and frustrations.
True crime as a genre is having a moment now. Did you watch anything to get a feel of itIJ Do you watch any crime showsIJ
I watch a lot. True Detectives first season was the best I’ve seen years. You watch as an actor, you even go to plays or hear music or you go to a museum and think you want to be moved and inspired to be better at what you do.
What do you think is the appeal of things like this, events that actually happened but we’re watching a dramatisation that people are connecting withIJ
Again, that sense of wonderment where you want to know what really happened behind the curtain.
This trial started in 1994 and you did Jerry Maguire around then.
I did Jerry Maguire in 1996. The trial had just finished and then I got that role. So it was after.
How has fame changed since then and how do you deal with itIJ
Cell phones have changed our lives immeasurably. But I think this trial helped make everybody, no matter how small, a celebrity. The birth of reality TV and what not was the thing that made people feel that they can do something violent or dark against society and yet still become a celebrity and be praised.
How would OJ respond to this series, do you thinkIJ
I don’t know. listen, I have relatives who have been incarcerated and when they’re in there, their mindset is survivalistic, twisted, broken. So you ask me how a man in that condition would enjoy this pieceIJ
Do you think the trial would have played out differently nowIJ With Twitter and social media do you think the trial would have been differentIJ
Of course, yes. It’s like anything that you see when you look back in time and think, why did they do that, they could have done this. That’s because you know now what they didn’t know. And that was the genesis of reality TV. If the jurors or the judge, if the prosecution knew that much, it would have been very different today. I wonder how many more trials have been televised since thenIJ
How does it feel playing OJ Simpson who is performing to police, to a courtroomIJ It is a dual performance for you as OJ.
That’s what a celebrity is. I just did a performance (in an interview) and I’m doing one now. You accept as an actor that your life is on a stage when you’re that public a figure. A dual performance. I love that movie Tropic Thunder where Robert (Downey Jr), says, “I’m the dude, playing a dude, disguised as another dude!” It’s exactly that. It’s what we live for. It’s hard to make this statement because, how many times have you seen an actor play twinsIJ Or play the positive and the negative of himselfIJ And we actors go, that’s kind of cheap! Because we know that’s what we do, that’s what we live for (and enjoy playing as actors).
When you were a kid what celebrities did you admireIJ
My oldest son Spencer was named after Spencer Tracy. Just the way, how natural he was. I could have called him Marlon (Brando) though! It was just the way that these actors moved on screen where they didn’t care that there was a camera. You just didn’t care. You just did things that you didn’t think about. Then, as I really started to formulate my plan of attack in high school of what I’m going to do as a professional actor was more about following the course of Kevin Costner and Clint Eastwood and Sylvester Stallone, these actors who are writing, directing and acting. That to me was like the end game and it still is.
Is there any real crime you would like to see in the next season from Ryan MurphyIJ
I don’t know. I keep trying to pull it out of him. I’ve thrown suggestions to him.
American Crime Story airs in India on Star World and Star World HD every Monday-Friday, 10 PM