OJ Simpson wanted to star in an upcoming movie project which points to him being innocent of brutally killing his wife and her lover .
OJ, who’d acted in several Hollywood movies, made it clear to the director of his desire to star in or narrate The Juice, which raises questions about whether he killed his wife Nicole Brown Simpson . Lead actress Charlotte Kirk detailed how OJ backed the controversial film, which has been hit by production delays over budgets and casting for a decade.
OJ offered his services while in prison hoping it would be a "legacy" project and help his efforts to clear his name as being the murderer in the court of public opinion. He was found not guilty at “The Trial Of The Century” in 1995, before a civil court found him responsible for the deaths of Nicole and Ron Goldman, awarding the families damages totaling $34 million.
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Charlotte revealed the NFL icon’s delight about key cell phone records potentially demonstrating his innocence - even though they were not mentioned in his criminal LA trial. Charlotte filmed her scenes for the part movie, part documentary alongside Boris Kodjoe, who played the running back, in 2015.
Speaking exclusively while promoting her new action thriller movie Duchess, Charlotte expects controversy when The Juice lands next year. Charlotte revealed: "When OJ knew there was a film about exploring this, he absolutely loved it.
“And he read the script and he loved it. He wanted to narrate it or he wanted to be in it.” The Naked Gun actor even attempted to provide Charlotte with his tips on playing his late wife.
“It was incredible. I was meant to go and see OJ and sit in prison with him. He wanted me to see him in prison when he was there to discuss his wife. He was all for it. And I was happy to learn more about his side, because from my little knowledge of the case then was he had been found not guilty.
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”I was 19-years-old and didn’t grasp the gravity of how enormous this story was and its impact in the US. On reflection If I had known about all of that, it would have scared the hell out of me and put enormous pressure on me then.
“I felt I had a responsibility in this role playing a real life person and victim, wife and mother. I was very young when the case happened.” However the travel, timings and logistic issues around the English actress’ filming schedule meant the meet never happened. OJ was unable to participate in the project as filming took place before his release from prison on October 1, 2017.
Director Joshua Newton’s movie addresses many issues including attorney Douglas McCann’s claim during Simpson's 1995 criminal trial that the star's phone records confirmed OJ was innocent Charlotte said: "McCann was a lawyer that was trying to get phone records from Verizon, which they never gave him, that showed that OJ was innocent because Nicole Brown Simpson was on her phone at the time. OJ was on his way to the airport.
"That shows he was on his way to the airport and she was not dead then but was still alive on the phone. Verizon to this day never released those phone records.”
Charlotte expects the film - released on the 20th anniversary of the trial - to generate headlines. The actress, who hails from Kent, feels that the project will raise unusual questions about the infamous crime.
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"I would never state OJ is innocent. I will never say that. But this project just opens your mind and kind of explores what happened, instead of people saying he did it. People forget that he was acquitted in criminal court. So it may open people's minds up to actually, maybe he didn't do it.
“That's really what it's about, exploring that. It is a movie, but the phone records are facts. At the very least it puts doubts in the minds of people who feel he was guilty. DNA samples were tampered with. There are lots of things that we raise questions in that script.
“We were developing this before the OJ TV show (The People Versus OJ Simpson), but it took the director two years of research and then time to write the script. “ Charlotte insists director Joshua handpicked her to play Nicole after seeing her in a London theatrical production.
“He said ‘you remind of Nicole Brown Simpson’. I didn’t know how controversial this matter was. I chose the role based on the script, not the genre or how commercial it would be.
“I just felt I could portray Nicole in a truthful light. Not growing up around the case hoped me. I was not biased and looked at her with a fresh pair of eyes.”
Charlotte spoke exclusively to promote her own joint created action thriller Duchess, which opens in cinemas this weekend worldwide and US fans via VOD and digital platforms. It’s on Apple ’s top 10 pre-orders. Charlotte is making waves with her new movie release Duchess about a small-time crook, who seeks revenge on gangsters who left her for dead in a diamond trafficking crime.
In recent months her intense, powerful, physical and emotional acting skills have seen linked to be the next James Bond girl. Charlotte feels getting noticed in Hollywood means pursuing her own path.
”Being an actor, if you're not a household name, for me, failure isn't an option. I'm going to knock that door down. And right now, maybe certain studios aren't calling me because I'm not a household name yet. Hence why I am producing, writing and doing my own things, because I want to be making the movies that I want to make. Also good roles, even if you are a huge A-lister, are really hard to find and that's why the Nicole Kidmans of this world create their own films and have their own production companies.
“Very good female led films are few and far between. That's why I surround myself with great writers and producers to create those, because scripts are hard to find, good scripts are hard to find, but then good scripts with a female character that's even more hard to find.
"Audiences are desensitized day because there's so much content and they've seen it all, right? The blood, the horror, the action, they've seen it a million times. So my philosophy for all my projects and mainly Duchess, you have to hit the audience around the head and go - hey, look at my content, because it's outrageous. And you have to be outrageous and different and just be wow, I haven't seen this before.
"So the industry and the audience have to look at it. They have to stop and look at the trailer and go, wow, this is interesting. I have to see this movie because this is something that is interesting and not seen before.”
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