Ryan Murphy’s next small screen endeavor, following the famous O.J. Simpson murder trial, is coming together much faster than we thought. FX’s American Crime Story: The People v. O.J. Simpson has already cast some unexpected actors in Sarah Paulson and Cuba Gooding, Jr, and this week the show signed on a famous comedic actor to play Robert Kardashian. Friends actor David Schwimmer has joined the show.
The first season of Ryan Murphy’s new anthology series will take place during the famed O.J. Simpson trial and will be framed around the courtroom, and will be told through the perspectives of the lawyers, so David Schwimmer’s role should be a fairly large one in American Crime Story. For those of you not in the know about Robert Kardashian, he is the famous father of Kim, Kourtney and the gang, and he befriended Simpson long before his friend was ever accused of murdering his wife, Nicole Simpson Brown. Later, he was part of O.J. Simpson’s extensive trial team. Last I checked, Schwimmer’s not Armenian, but I don’t expect this to be a Exodus-level problem.
Surprisingly, the gig should prove to be Schwimmer’s largest TV role since Friends ended its epic run back in 2004. In the time since, the actor has appeared in movies, including John Carter and the Madagascar franchise films. He’s also taken small TV roles, including appearances on 30 Rock and Web Therapy--which stars his former Friends co-star Lisa Kudrow. American Crime Story: The People v. O.J. Simpson should give him a chance to really flex his acting muscles.
FX picked up American Crime Story to series back in October and has been steadily moving forward since then. As noted prior, Cuba Gooding, Jr. has joined the cast. He’s set to play O.J. Simpson himself, which is about the strangest casting I could imagine, although I don’t know who else would fit the bill. Then Paulson is signed on to play prosecutor Marcia Clark.
The anthology series will be comprised of 10 episodes and while FX hasn’t announced an official date for the series yet, per Deadline, with casting well underway, we should be seeing the new drama sooner rather than later.
It’s hard to tell whether or not another anthology series will work out for Ryan Murphy, but he’s been working hard to make the anthology series a more regular thing. Murphy also has an anthology series called Scream Queens set to hit the schedule in the fall of 2015 over at Fox. We’ll keep you posted as the prolific producer’s latest shows move forward.
