“The Trial of the Century” was what they called the O.J. Simpson court case back in 1995. “The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story,” a 10-week series debuting Tuesday on FX, may go down as the TV event of the year.
Based on the Jeffrey Toobin book “The Run of His Life,” the show re-creates the nation-captivating story: the discovery of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman’s bodies on June 13, 1994; O.J. Simpson’s attempted escape from the LAPD in a white Ford Bronco; wild courtroom moments (“If it doesn’t fit, you must acquit”); and the shocking “not guilty” verdict.
The Post spoke to actors playing the key roles — from Simpson to prosecutor Marcia Clark and even the Kardashian progenitors — about how they got under the skin of some of the most memorable true-crime figures ever on TV.
Selma Blair as Kris Jenner, friend of Nicole Brown Simpson
“She offered to lend me her clothes from the 1990s. She still has them,” Blair says. “I would have liked to wear them, but we had a costume designer.”
Still, the two got close. “[Jenner] was wonderful. I didn’t expect that,” says the “Legally Blonde” actress. “I spent Christmas Eve at her house. I really, really enjoy her and Khloé. I consider [Jenner] a friend.”
Understanding Kris’ friendships was key to playing her. “She really was Nicole’s best friend. For Kris, it was a horrifying, sad and unexpected time. She said, ‘At the funeral, we didn’t know what to think,’ ” Blair explains. “It was really painful that the alleged killer was going to be represented by their children’s father in court . . . She talked about going to Nicole’s house after [the murder], to get things for [Brown Simpson’s] kids to have because they were staying with their grandparents.
“I think she was a wealthy housewife who … went to Spago for lunch and wore great clothes,” says Blair. “She and Nicole are probably what ‘The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills’ is based on now.”
Sarah Paulson as chief prosecutor Marcia Clark
What people remember most about Clark are her hairstyles — those crazy kinky curls, that smooth shag — and very ’90s fashion sense. Paulson was up for the challenge.
“The first time I met her, Marcia did say to me, ‘I’m sorry about the hair. And the blazers — I’m sorry about the blazers,’ ” Paulson told Entertainment Weekly.
The actress tells The Post, “Meeting [Clark], to me, was like meeting the president. I spent so much time having such an intimate relationship with her in my mind, in terms of creating … this real, flesh-and-blood person.”
Paulson delved into very specific little details of the prosecutor’s life — like what perfume Clark wore during the trial — so she could imitate them.
“I read Marcia’s book [‘Without a Doubt’]. I watched every interview I could find. I watched the long speech she gave at the Press Association when her book was coming out, just to watch her talk,” she says. “Every time we would shoot, particularly courtroom things, I would rewatch her.”
Getting so into Clark’s head also gave Paulson an unexpected sense of moral obligation.
“In the show, [she] has a 3-year-old and a 5-year-old who are now in their 20s and grown men — who didn’t know what their mother was going through at the time. Who are going to have to relive this whole thing,” the actress says. “So I felt a very big responsibility.”
David Schwimmer as defense attorney and Simpson’s personal friend Robert Kardashian
“He was a man of great faith. I didn’t know he was such a religious man,” says the “Friends” actor. “I think that informed a lot of his choices.”
In a prescient moment of the show, Kardashian tells his kids that it’s more important to be a good person than lose yourself in the pursuit of fame.
Courtney B. Vance as defense attorney Johnnie Cochran
For Vance, the biggest surprise about Cochran was the difference between the litigator’s winning professional bravado and his tortured personal life.
“In a lot of the show, [we’re] looking at the lawyers’ lives behind the scenes,” the actor says. “All of them, their paths were very human. I had no idea about Cochran’s extramarital carryings-on. That’s life.”
According to the Toobin book, Cochran, who died of a brain tumor in 2005, led a double life for 10 years, cheating on wife Barbara with legal secretary Patricia Sikora. Barbara eventually divorced him, but in a key scene from the show, Cochran is seen buying her silence with the proceeds from the sale of an apartment building so that she doesn’t speak to the Los Angeles Times about his record of domestic violence against her.
John Travolta as defense attorney Robert Shapiro
“There were so many people I knew who were similar to Robert Shapiro — lawyers, agents, studio heads, producers. Executive types that I had witnessed with my own eyes for 45 years,” the actor explains.
His big take-away? Even Shapiro, who still practices law in Los Angeles, was fueled by fame. “People in the limelight who love the limelight,” Travolta says. “I had so much fame early that I quickly got over it. I had enough for a lifetime. That didn’t stop me from observing those who couldn’t get enough of it. So it was fun to play. These guys by their nature are entertaining because there’s an eccentricity about them — whether it’s audacious or shrewd or crafty.”
Travolta also praises the way Shapiro masterminded the trial. “[He] was brilliant at knowing who the experts were, whether it’s F. Lee Bailey or Johnnie Cochran, and how to play them.”
Cuba Gooding Jr. as defendant O.J. Simpson
“I didn’t reach out to [Simpson’s] kids. I didn’t reach out to him. I didn’t want a definitive opinion of his guilt or innocence,” the actor says.
But those who knew Simpson were eager to talk. “There are people in the [movie] business that knew him. People that worked in some of the bars and restaurants in his neighborhood. Some of those people reached out to me,” Gooding recalls. “There was this one guy, I guess [Robert] Kardashian was friends with him, and he became [something like Kardashian’s] therapist. [Kardashian] would just talk on [this guy’s] answering machine: ‘You won’t believe what happened to me.’ And the guy saved all the tapes. He has 20 of them!
“He asked me, ‘What should I do with them?’ How should I know?”
Gooding also told the Daily Beast that making the show led to a change of heart. “When that verdict came out [in 1995] not guilty, . . . I was yelling and screaming [with joy] . . . It all hit me [on set] with that scene, the Goldmans, the Browns — their children are gone. If you believed he did it or not, that was something that I personally didn’t care about. I felt guilty about that.”
Sterling K. Brown as prosecuting attorney Christopher Darden
Some actors met with the people they portray in the show, and others chose not to. Brown was the only one snubbed — aggressively — by his real-life counterpart.
“I did a Yelp search and found he was in private practice in Culver City,” says the actor, best known for his roles on TV shows like “Army Wives” and “Person of Interest.”
“From his voice mail, I could tell I had reached his cellphone. He left me a message: What the f - - k and who is this? I texted him and said I would love to have a cup of coffee with him. He didn’t want to have anything to do with this. After walking a few miles in his shoes, I wouldn’t be eager to relive that part of my life.”
Besides losing the case, Darden became a bit of a joke in some legal circles.
“Toobin didn’t think Darden was a very good lawyer,” Brown says. “What I learned [from Darden’s book ‘In Contempt’] was . . . how naive Darden and Marcia Clark were. They thought the jury [would be] able to come to a logical conclusion that O.J. was guilty. They didn’t understand the [racial] unrest. The verdict should have been about the murder of two innocent people, but it was an indictment of the LAPD.”