The story of O.J. Simpson’s life was inherently cinematic — what began as fodder for a triumphant sports activities biopic abruptly grew to become one thing a lot darker and complicated as Simpson slid from fame to infamy following the killings of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman.
It’s little surprise then that Simpson’s many-chaptered life — his soccer profession, performing forays, homicide trial, acquittal, civil legal responsibility judgment, sports activities memorabilia theft conviction and eventually, his loss of life Wednesday — has spawned an entire ecosystem of media.
Much of it rests firmly within the doubtful realm of the lurid and sensational, from the broadly panned horror film that posits Brown Simpson was murdered by a serial killer to Simpson’s personal hypothetical confessional ebook, “If I Did It.” The Simpson case is ubiquitous in popular culture, too, with direct portrayals in numerous TV exhibits like “The Simpsons” (no relation), a name-check in Jay-Z’s “The Story of O.J.” and a direct throughline to the Kardashians’ actuality tv and enterprise empires. Norman Mailer, the Pulitzer Prize winner convicted of stabbing his personal spouse, even tailored the case right into a tv film, “American Tragedy.”
You will not discover any of these on this record. Here, as an alternative, The Associated Press has collected 10 documentaries, tv exhibits, books and podcasts exploring Simpson’s life and affect with key insights.
This record is not ordered, however in the event you solely have the urge for food for one piece of media, put aside roughly eight hours for this definitive documentary. Directed by Ezra Edelman for ESPN Films, the five-part challenge aired on ABC and ESPN covers the so-called trial of the century in express particulars, but it surely takes three elements simply to get there. “O.J.: Made in America” contextualizes Simpson’s life, profession and notoriety with race relations within the U.S. It grew to become the longest film to win an Oscar when it received greatest documentary in 2017, the place Edelman devoted his statuette to Brown Simpson, Goldman, their households and the victims of police brutality.
“O.J.: Made in America” is streaming on ESPN+ and is out there for buy on different on-line platforms.
Another installment of ESPN Films’ “30 for 30,” the Brett Morgen-directed 2010 documentary clocks in a lot shorter, at lower than an hour. The documentary takes its title from the date of the slow-speed Ford Bronco chase, but it surely does not rehash it. Instead, “June 17th, 1994” captures that day by means of the lens of the opposite sports activities occasions occurring that day, together with Arnold Palmer’s closing U.S. Open spherical and the beginning of the World Cup. In rating it as the very best “30 for 30” in 2014, Rolling Stone journal mentioned it exhibits “how viewers process television, and how the media struggles to make sense of events that have no clear outcome.”
“June 17th, 1994” is streaming on ESPN+.
Directed by George Romero — sure, he of the “Night of the Living Dead” movies and a zombie film godfather — this 1974 documentary follows Simpson as an up-and-coming Buffalo Bills working again. As the one entry on this record produced earlier than Simpson’s descent into notoriety, it is an untainted glimpse into Simpson’s adolescence and early fame.
“O.J. Simpson: Juice on the Loose” is not out there to stream on conventional platforms, however will be discovered on the Internet Archive.
The first installment of Ryan Murphy’s “American Crime Story” anthology sequence, the FX miniseries aired the identical yr as “O.J.: Made in America,” making 2016 a banner yr for reigniting dialog across the case — and reigniting the movie star of key characters. The 10-episode present centered on the trial itself, casting Cuba Gooding Jr. as Simpson, Courtney B. Vance as Johnnie Cochran, John Travolta as Robert Shapiro and David Schwimmer as Robert Kardashian.
“The People v. O.J. Simpson” is streaming on Hulu.
FX’s “The People v. O.J. Simpson” was tailored from Jeffrey Toobin’s 1996 ebook in regards to the trial. Toobin, a lawyer, was a New Yorker workers author who extensively lined the trial that catapulted him into one of the high-profile authorized analysts. The New York Times bestseller is commonly praised as probably the most complete ebook about Simpson’s trial.
More details about the place to search out “The Run of His Life: The People v. O.J. Simpson” will be discovered on the Penguin Random House website.
It appears as if almost each individual tangentially related to the Simpson trial put out a ebook about it in some unspecified time in the future. Quality varies, however one price testing is from Marcia Clark, the lead prosecutor on the case who attracted criticism for her efficiency and wound up quitting regulation after the trial. She was paid $4 million for her 2016 memoir and has since pivoted to writing fiction and even co-created a TV present.
More details about the place to search out “Without A Doubt,” written with Teresa Carpenter, will be discovered on Clark’s website.
Written by the Goldman household with William and Marilyn Hoffer, the ebook was initially printed in 1997. The Goldmans have remained vocal about what they deem a miscarriage of justice within the a long time since Simpson’s acquittal, with their lawyer saying Thursday that Simpson “died without penance.” The description opens with: “This book is not about OJ. Simpson or his ‘Dream Team.’ This book is not another rehash of the ‘Trial of the Century.’” Instead, it is the Goldmans’ story.
More details about the place to search out “His Name Is Ron” will be discovered on the Penguin Random House website.
The solely novel on this record comes from the journalist and crime author Dominick Dunne — it is fiction, certain, but it surely’s additionally “a novel in the form of memoir,” because it’s subtitled. Dunne lined the Simpson trial for Vanity Fair and, within the ebook, mixes characters from his personal creativeness — like reporter Gus Bailey from his earlier books — with real-life figures, just like the Goldmans and journalists like Harvey Levin and AP’s personal Linda Deutsch. It’s thinly fictionalized, however past recounting the trial, the 1997 novel provides a hazy reckoning with the alienating glitz and dirt of the Los Angeles of its time.
More details about the place to search out “Another City, Not My Own” will be discovered on the Penguin Random House website.
Over the course of 10 episodes, Kim Goldman displays on her brother’s killing and sits down with legal professionals, investigators, witnesses and jurors to get “answers to questions that have been haunting her since the trial,” in keeping with the podcast description. The 2019 podcast covers all the things from the civil case to home violence to the ever-haunting specter of grief. “Confronting” is an anthology, with the second season specializing in the Columbine faculty taking pictures.
“Confronting: O.J. Simpson” is produced by Wondery.
Perhaps probably the most irritating entry on this record as a result of its Simpson sequence nonetheless stays unfinished, however “You’re Wrong About” — a podcast devoted to upending typical narratives — has produced hours and hours of episodes in regards to the Simpson case. If you are on the lookout for a deep dive that dispels fashionable myths in regards to the case, it is a good hear. The Simpson episodes are hosted by Sarah Marshall and Michael Hobbes, the latter of whom has since left the present.
“You’re Wrong About” is out there on most podcast platforms.
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