Casting Lab: Characters or Caricatures?

[cpcathy]

I don't see Shapiro when I look at Travolta, I see Travolta. That said, I think he's doing a great job as a character. I don't know what the real Shapiro was like, so I can't say if Travolta is acting exactly like Shapiro. I notice throughout his career Travolta has great success when he immerses himself in an interesting character, whether it be Barbarino, Vincent Vega or Tony Manero. No matter what you or I think of his personal life, his basic likeability is really shining through in this role.

[charmed1]

Sterling Brown is hot as hell in this role. Just his walk is bordering on Denzel in "Devil in a Blue Dress." Darden was never that sexy. He always looked like he was on the verge of having a nervous breakdown. Maybe understandably so.

And I agree with mostly everyone else in that Courtney is playing the hell out of his Cochran role. I've always loved him as an actor. Love his wife just a teeny bit more but still.

Edited February 18, 2016 by charmed1

[MyPeopleAreNordic]

Travolta is 62 today. I don’t think anyone would expect him to maintain his SNF dancing figure.

Of course not. But by Hollywood standards he's overweight. (Normal people standards not so much, especially given his age.)

Helen Miren, for example, wouldn't be getting roles if she was carrying around as much extra weight. Somehow Travolta's managed to escape the fact that being overweight usually leads to roles drying up in Hollywood. They particularly dry up for women if they're overweight.

(I'm not trying to attack Travolta and his weight personally, just pointing out that there's definitely a different standard to which men are held than women in Hollywood. And it takes me out of the story to see a guy heavier than Shapiro playing Shapiro.)

Edited February 19, 2016 by MyPeopleAreNordic

[ennui]

Travolta's managed to escape the fact that being overweight usually leads to roles drying up in Hollywood.

 

I wouldn’t say he’s escaped … I can’t recall any recent major productions featuring Travolta, and now he’s working in television, which is a step down in American entertainment. I think roles have dried up.

I saw a quote today from David Schwimmer that Robert Kardashian was the only person in this scenario that didn’t have anything to gain. Fair enough, I hadn’t thought of it that way.

I have a feeling that none of these actors are going to benefit professionally from being in this production.

[lovinbob]

The only question I have is whether Terry could pull off the anger and rage OJ has exhibited. I have only seen him act in comedies, so I don't know what kind of range he has.

I do think Terry Crews could have pulled it off. Comedically, he does anger well, and I don't doubt he could turn it around and be scary. But as you point out, he is also wonderfully charming.

 

On the Previously home page, I just saw a photo for The Blacklist, featuring Harry Lennix. I think he could have been a good choice for OJ. Harry Lennix IMDB

[GHScorpiosRule]

Since I'm not sure when he's going to air, based on the previews of upcoming episodes, I saw the glimpse of the actor who's going to play Fred Goldman and he looks just like him! So, based on that alone, so far, I'm pleased. Here's hoping he'll be able to tap into Fred Goldman's grief and rage.

[helenamonster]

Since I'm not sure when he's going to air, based on the previews of upcoming episodes, I saw the glimpse of the actor who's going to play Fred Goldman and he looks just like him! So, based on that alone, so far, I'm pleased. Here's hoping he'll be able to tap into Fred Goldman's grief and rage.

 

I'm pretty sure I've only seen the actor on The Sopranos (that's the only thing I can remember him from, anyway) so I can vouch that he can play rage very well. He didn't do it super often (and was a minor character only seen in flashbacks) but there's one scene where he cuts off a guy's finger that's very effective. I realize it's a different kind rage he'll be portraying here but he is capable of it.

[ElDosEquis]

"fred goldman" is right on.....The real FG was intolerable...

[VanillaBeanne]

Yep, he got the grief and rage down pat. Goldman comes across as very sympathetic In that scene. Same cannot be said for Faye resnick, Judge Ito and Shapiro. Shapiro playing the race card - not because he believes it but to get a favorable plea. Just ugh.

[Umbelina]

I kind of love Fred Goldman, actor, and the real person.  He didn't stop until he at least got OJ in the civil trial.

 

I had my doubts about the actress playing Faye, but damn, she nailed that sleazy bitch.

[GHScorpiosRule]

Not really disagreeing, but the observation that the show is about the circus that surrounded OJ raises the interesting possibility that they cast a "lightweight" in the OJ part deliberately. Put an actor with a truly charismatic presence in that role and he might shift the balance in an unhelpful way.

 

I disagree. If only because this series as a star-studded cast with actors who aren't light-weights.  I've already listed who I thought would have been a better choice (for me) to play OJ (Morris Chestnut), and I think getting the casting right for him, is just as important. But that's just how I feel.

[Cccharley]

I've been watching and i think that Courtney Vance is simply incredible. Perfect. He may get a nomination. Best of all the casting. Not big on Schwimmer. I did watch the trial. I'm old!

[Chaos Theory]

I have a feeling that none of these actors are going to benefit professionally from being in this production.

If Ryan Murphy likes any of them he will use them in his other projects. He LOVES Sarah Paulson and uses her in everything.

[VCRTracking]

Watching the series sometimes I can't help remembering what was happening with three of the actors in 1994 when the whole thing went down. David Schwimmer was beginning his first season of Friends, John Travolta made his big comeback with Pulp Fiction and Nathan Lane was the voice of Timon in the giant hit Disney movie The Lion King.

Edited February 26, 2016 by VCRTracking

[Special K]

I feel bad about this, but I kind of hate the actor playing Lance Ito, just because I kind of hate Lance Ito.

[Cccharley]

I agree about Goldman. Incredible resemblance

[wanderingstar]

I am totally out of step with everyone because I am simply loving Cuba Gooding, Jr. in the role of OJ.

I have never cared for David Schwimmer, but he's totally win me over in the role of Robert Kardashian.

Finally, I am thrilled to see Courtney B. Vance as Johnnie Cochran because a) he is mesmerizing in the role and b) I have loved his work since he played Abe Carver on Law & Order: Criminal Intent.

[Samwil]

I would have liked Blair Underwood in the OJ role.  Handsome, with the charm, and more of OJ's stature.  Did I say handsome?

 

Robert Shapiro came off as such a strange man, I am loving John Travolta's take on him.  Just saw an interview with JT and CBV, and thankfully JT's face wasn't as tightly pulled as Shapiro's.  

 

I am loving this show!!

[Umbelina]

He would have been great in this role, put a couple of 2" lifts in his shoes and he would have even been the right height.  He has the looks, voice, and the charm, and he can act.

 

I feel sad for Cuba, but he is just all wrong for this role physically.

[VCRTracking]

I feel bad about this, but I kind of hate the actor playing Lance Ito, just because I kind of hate Lance Ito.

 

I love Kenneth Choi as one of Jordan Belfort's bros/salesmen in The Wolf of Wall Street.

[MyPeopleAreNordic]

It just feels lazy to me that they haven't done what little would be required to at least make Cuba look taller. Cuba has worked with Tom Cruise, so he could probably tell everyone how to do it himself. He needs some lifts;to stand on a box when shooting a scene with Kardashian, etc; lower the chairs of the actors next to him at the defense table; and to have actors shorter than him cast in roles like policemen, etc that could be played by almost anyone. It just feels like the show didn't care enough to bother to do any of these relatively easy fixes that are done for short actors all of the time.

[Umbelina]

I agree.  It wouldn't be that hard.  Hell, even the extras towered over him in the club scene.  His chair could be higher at the defense table.  Hell, lifts in his shoes would help, anything.  But, he's lost his voice, and his looks, and though his acting is good, he just doesn't have that charisma or threatening power, or charm, or the intimidating SIZE.

 

He does OK in solo rage/anger scenes, but his blubbering is also not working for me.  I know he's giving it his all, it's not his fault, he is just horribly miscast.

[cpcathy]

Whenever I see Cuba, I can't help but think of the SNL that he hosted, and the sketch where he and Will Ferrell were playing actors in a Jesus television movie that, well, just went awry. "Hey, Jesus....what's up?"

[qtpye]

I agree.  It wouldn't be that hard.  Hell, even the extras towered over him in the club scene.  His chair could be higher at the defense table.  Hell, lifts in his shoes would help, anything.  But, he's lost his voice, and his looks, and though his acting is good, he just doesn't have that charisma or threatening power, or charm, or the intimidating SIZE.

 

 

Yeah, I in the club scene, I thought they resurrected Gary Coleman to play OJ.  Everyone else towered above him. 

 

Also, I never need to see Cuba and David Schwimmer grind up on one girl ever again (not that I needed to see it once).

 

My theory is they went with Cuba, because they wanted to go for a dark comedy and not make OJ as scary and menacing as he was.  Otherwise, I have no idea why they did not cast one of the many African American actors in Hollywood that would be much more suited to this role.

[Chaos Theory]

I think Cuba is the only one who is horribly miscast. The actor himself is doing fine but OJ was....uhhhhh a big scary black man. He isn't. plus didn't OJ get off because his hand was too big for that tiny little glove? That scene is gonna be humorous.

There were other black actors to play the roll but I guess it was a judgement call. I am not sure if it ruins the story for me but it does skew the optics.

Edited February 29, 2016 by Chaos Theory

[Pete Martell]

I imagine Connie Britton was cast because they thought she could play the campy, slurry aspects of Faye Resnick, but she barely sounded like her to me and she looked nothing like her. I realize this isn't a documentary, but I wish they'd tried to find someone else. I guess Murphy likes to cast people if he's worked with them before, but she is one of the people, along with Travolta and Cuba, who stuck out like a sore thumb for me. 

[smiley13]

I think Connie did a great job as Faye.

[Eolivet]

My theory is they went with Cuba, because they wanted to go for a dark comedy and not make OJ as scary and menacing as he was.  Otherwise, I have no idea why they did not cast one of the many African American actors in Hollywood that would be much more suited to this role.

 

See, my theory is they cast Gooding to throw everybody off intentionally. I think they wanted a guy where everyone would look at him in sort of a sense of disbelief, like "That guy couldn't have done that!" (which I feel sort of mirrors the real trial). Because they can't recreate exactly the atmosphere of 1994 and the American public's feeling towards OJ, they'll get an actor that I feel is mainly known for affable roles. I think there was an article earlier about how Gooding, Travolta and Schwimmer were staples of mid-90s culture, and seeing their faces brings back that feeling.

 

I actually like Gooding because I feel like I can't tell if he's playing OJ as innocent or guilty. It allows me to sort of slip into the 1994 mindset I was likely too young to understand at the time. That feeling of not knowing if exactly what you see is the correct impression when you look at someone.

 

If they cast either an unknown or a more serious actor (or even a bigger actor), I think the tendency is to just remember the facts of the case (which made it clear that OJ was guilty). But I feel like casting someone where something is just off, even physically, makes it more of a story than a recreation. I also think Gooding is a decent actor and what he lacks in stature, he makes up for in ability.

 

So, even having people question Gooding as OJ (which the producers had to know would happen, as they had eyes) may be by design, because it's still a kind of disbelief. "No way -- not that guy. Really?" I don't know...I think it's effective.

[GHScorpiosRule]

I know there's no point in whining about it, but Morris Chestnut was on The Daily Show last night and I'm struck again as to WHY he wasn't cast as OJ.  He's well known, has the height, the voice, the charisma. He SO could have played a believable OJ.

 

Okay, I'll shut up now.

[BoogieBurns]

Morris Chestnut was on The Daily Show last night and I'm struck again as to WHY he wasn't cast as OJ.

 

I had the same thought last night.

[Dejana]

Morris Chestnut already has a TV series this season, Rosewood on FOX. For OJ, they probably did just go with the biggest star who was available at the time.

[GHScorpiosRule]

Morris Chestnut already has a TV series this season, Rosewood on FOX. For OJ, they probably did just go with the biggest star who was available at the time.

 

I know, but how far back did they start casting for this mini-series? That's what I want to know. Because as far as I know, Cuba was totally off my radar, but Morris was most recently on the now cancelled Legends.

 

But, like I said, it's all moot now. 

[Umbelina]

You know, I get the feeling, and don't have much to back that up other than that long interview with Cuba about this part...

 

Anyway, I think this might have been more of a Hollywood thing.  You have this really nice actor, an actor with talent, and he wasted it on shit projects for so long that by the time he woke up and realized what he'd done it was too damn late.  He desperately wanted to really act again, not just take any roll he could get for money.  He finally woke up, quit screwing around, and wanted to do some real acting again.

 

He had the talent, once, long ago, and I keep feeling like this was producers/directors giving the has been another chance, because they liked him, and possibly because they got him cheap.

 

What I will never understand is the almost deliberate way they did nothing at all to adjust to his height, cast smaller extras, lower the damn casket so he didn't look like he needed a booster step to lean over it, give him a taller chair at the defense table, put lifts in his shoes, just something!  We know it can be done, and has been done for years in Hollywood, so why abandon every single one of those techniques THIS time?  Meryl Streep isn't over 6 feet tall either, but we believed it in her Julia Childe movie.  Argh.

 

Maybe if his height was less in our faces, his raspy voice and not nearly handsome enough looks would be easier to overlook?  I do personally know a couple of people who stopped watching, specifically because they absolutely could not buy Cuba as OJ.  Some comments I heard?

 

"He's not handsome enough."

"He doesn't have that deep/booming/commanding voice."

"He's a m*****, he doesn't look scary at all."

"OJ was huge, his head was so big...this guy, nah."

"It just lost me, I couldn't believe that guy as OJ, so why watch it at all?"

"Part of the whole thing was this big guy beating this skinny woman.  This guy?  She might have been able to take him."

"HE killed two desperate people, including a young in shape guy?  In what universe?"

 

etc.

 

It's a problem.  I'm sticking with it, but I understand those comments.

Edited March 1, 2016 by Umbelina

[GHScorpiosRule]

Yeah. One of the first things I said was that they could have used lifts to at least make Cuba taller; that I wasn't expecting someone to look like OJ, like Kingsley resembled the real life Gandhi; but that I did want and expect the actor to be able to express and be able to portray the presence and menace of OJ.  Which, unfortunately, Cuba doesn't manage to do to my satisfaction.

 

But I'm finding the show so compelling (who'dathunk?) that I'm sticking.

[Umbelina]

I'd really like to see side by side videos of OJ and Cuba during the "Absolutely, 100% not guilty!" speeches.  I know they are out there, but I can't find them.  I'm talking about the time OJ pleaded in front of Ito.

[GHScorpiosRule]

I'd really like to see side by side videos of OJ and Cuba during the "Absolutely, 100% not guilty!" speeches.  I know they are out there, but I can't find them.  I'm talking about the time OJ pleaded in front of Ito.

 

They didn't show it, and I really, really wanted to see: The "depressed-Idon'tcarewhathappenstome" OJ at the arraignment. You know, the stance/behavior that had the authorities put him on a suicide watch? And then, when we saw him at the Prelim, we got the "Absolutely 100% Not Guilty!"

[biakbiak]

I know, but how far back did they start casting for this mini-series? That's what I want to know. Because as far as I know, Cuba was totally off my radar, but Morris was most recently on the now cancelled Legends.

 

But, like I said, it's all moot now.

Cuba was cast in December of 2014, he and Sarah were the first two people cast so I think he was most likely theor first choice.

[Umbelina]

Interesting, and it could explain some things, maybe Cuba had the "name" for them at the time, not realizing they would get some other names to help sell this project?

 

Anyway, I wish Cuba the best, but there is no way in hell he is or was right for this part.  I'm able to overlook his ahem, shortcomings, for the most part, but I do think it hurts the project.  They could have made so many easy adjustments, but they didn't bother.  For example, I think RK is well cast, and Shapiro, and the fact that these two actors tower over Cuba could have been mitigated somewhat, and/or I'd just accept it.  Extras towering over him, tippy toes to bend into the coffin, the lack of a taller chair at the witness table?  Yeah, not so much.  Just stupid, help the guy out.

[Umbelina]

Anyone notice the camera angle on Cuba when he was angry at Darden sitting on the bench?  It really worked, Cuba does angry and volatile well, and having him appear to be towering over Darden really helped.  More of that please.

[Joimiaroxeu]

Re Cuba Gooding, I think he's doing fine acting-wise but as many others have said, he doesn't work physically. I might have gone with someone like Billy Brown from How to Get Away With Murder (that's an actual moment from the show; probably NSFW even though it did appear on broadcast network TV in primetime) but he's probably not a big enough name yet. Plus there might have been a scheduling conflict. Whatever, he's tall and has more of an athletic-looking body.

[kassa]

This show has drawn me back through links to real-time articles/videos from the trial, and I have to say that Paulson's wig is soooooo very much more becoming than Clark's hair.  I mean, I remembered her hair, because it was so strikingly bad that it was a thing at the time... but seeing pictures of it now?  It really WAS that bad.

 

Paulson is glammed up x10 in comparison.  

[helenamonster]

She should have borrowed the wig Tina Fey used on Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt when she was playing Clark.

[smiley13]

It has been said quite a few times already, but Mr Vance is knocking it out of the park playing Johnnie Cochran.

 

Of all of the cast, he has impressed me the most.

[charmed1]

It has been said quite a few times already, but Mr Vance is knocking it out of the park playing Johnnie Cochran.

Of all of the cast, he has impressed me the most.

It can't be said enough. Courtney put his entire foot in this role.

[33kaitykaity]

Here was the perfect OJ.  6-4 even.  Keith Hamilton Cobb.  

 

 

[Dejana]

Here was the perfect OJ. 6-4 even. Keith Hamilton Cobb.

Oooh, I loved him in soaps! Daytime has a lot of pretty boys, but he was a talented one. How is he 54 now? Time flies!

[Joimiaroxeu]

Oh yes, Keith Hamilton Cobb would've been great. He would've had the physical presence plus the acting range. Wonder what happened to him? I guess he's still doing local theater but he seems to have dropped off Hollywood's TV and movie radar.

[tribeca]

Carl Douglas.  The actor doesn't act or look like the man I have seen in interviews .

[Emme]

I think LL Cool J would have been good casting for OJ.

[Simon Boccanegra]

I don't think my favorites in the casting/acting depart that much from the standard line: Clark, Darden, Cochran, Goldman, Bailey. I think David Schwimmer is absolutely perfect for this show's version of Robert Kardashian, a loyal subject whose decency, obsequiousness, and naïveté are all tied up together. I don't know if this would be my reaction to the real Kardashian, but I find it hard to feel contempt for the Schwimmer version. He is reminding me why he was a breakout star on Friends in its first season. He still has a nice light touch at comedy that this very serious show is able to use sometimes ("That's not true...that's not true...okay, that's true").  

 

Travolta's Shapiro reminds me of his pseudo-Clinton in Primary Colors, a highly acclaimed performance I admired but couldn't consider "great acting." Both times it seemed to me he worked hard on a detailed impersonation, but it never stopped feeling like a detailed impersonation. Instead of an actor disappearing into the role, it was as if I were watching a really long sketch. In both performances, I feel he's hit the bullseye, but the dart has bounced off without penetrating.  

 

The show is surviving Gooding. He's not phoning it in, and and he is fitfully tapping into Simpson's narcissism and childishness, but that's all. He's just wrong, physically and often tonally. If he had qualifications for this beyond being a famous name, black, and best remembered for winning an Oscar for playing a football phenom in this story's mid-1990s era, I'm missing them.  

Edited March 13, 2016 by Simon Boccanegra