To prepare for his role as O.J. Simpson’s attorney Robert Kardashian in the upcoming FX series “American Crime Story,” David Schwimmer said he spent more than two hours on the phone with Kardashian’s ex-wife Kris Jenner.
Schwimmer, a Northwestern University alumnus who co-founded the Lookingglass Theatre Company, told The Hollywood Reporter he learned from Jenner “how much a man of faith Robert was, how he prayed at every meal and before every big business meeting and how he was this very compassionate, generous guy.” Kardashian died of cancer in 2003.
“The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story,” which premieres Feb. 2, will explore the case against Simpson, who was acquitted in 1995 of killing his ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ron Goldman, who grew up in Buffalo Grove. Cuba Gooding Jr. plays Simpson; John Travolta portrays his attorney Robert Shapiro; and Sarah Paulson plays prosecutor Marcia Clark.
The story is based on Jeffrey Toobin’s 1996 book “The Run of his Life” but the show’s writers told The Hollywood Reporter they took some liberties with the material.
In one scene, Kardashian’s daughters turn on the TV and chant “Kar-dash-i-an” when they see their father reading Simpson’s suicide note. In another, Kardashian lectures his children that “fame is fleeting. It’s hollow. It means nothing at all without a virtuous heart.”
“(Writer) Larry (Karaszewski) and I love irony, and we thought what if we just heightened this idea that by watching him on the TV that one day inadvertently creates the Kardashian empire,” writer Scott Alexander told The Hollywood Reporter. “(Robert) would be rolling over in his grave.”
Schwimmer, 49, said producers of the E! show “Keeping Up With the Kardashians” asked if he wanted to talk to Kardashian’s daughters to prep for the role.
Said Schwimmer: “I didn’t feel that was necessary. And they wanted to do it on camera.”
