INQUISITR.COM / Entertainment

‘The People Vs O.J. Simpson’ Creators Dish On Series Finale

By Nancy Bailey
Published on: 17:46 PST, Apr 5, 2016

Sarah Paulson thought that even though everyone knew the verdict, 10 hours of The People Vs O.J. Simpson didn’t cover it and there was much more of the story to tell.

Paulson, who played prosecutor Marcia Clark, told People that the series was “riveting,” but that it could have made a multi-season series.

“When we were shooting it, I kept saying, ‘Why aren’t we doing this for 5 years? Why don’t we just slow everything down? But no one seemed to share that idea. When we reached the finale, I was not ready to be done playing Marcia at all.”

Creators Scott Alexander and Larry Karaszewski admit to having underestimated the renewed and voracious public appetite for facts about the trial and the material still being spread among various entertainment outlets.

“One of the bigger surprises is the rebirth of the O.J. cottage industry, which we totally did not predict,” Karaszewski said in an article from The Daily Beast.

“The Esquire Network is doing twelve straight hours on it, the ESPN documentary [O.J.: Made in America] is six hours on it, Martin Sheen is coming out with a show [called O.J. Is Innocent]—there’s all this stuff that’s come back because the public seems so hungry for more information.”

One of their goals, Karaszewski said, was to “give dignity back to these people who’ve spent twenty years living with shame or being made caricatures of. They’d become people that Tina Fey would make fun of, or show up on Seinfeld as a comedic bit.”

He added that it was because of how the public viewed them on the mid-nineties, one-dimensional court T.V.

“It was really about trying to get under their skin, so you understand why Marcia changed her hair—and not only that, you feel so heartbroken by it, and by the reactions to it.”

Alexander said that being a Robert Altman movie, it conjured up images of an ensemble.

“..Like in Robert Altman’s Nashville, there isn’t one lead character. That’s probably what made the trial feel that way, because everyone did. Kato Kaelin thought he was the star of his own show. Faye Resnick thought she was the star of her own show. That’s how the whole infotainment complex began!”

Karaszewski said there were still things about the case that mystified him, one being that he still doesn’t understand how Johnnie was allowed to redecorate the house.

“It’s crazy! Ito was there, he signed off on something… but that will remain a mystery until my dying breath. It was no longer a crime scene, and it was up to the family to do what they wanted with it…”

Alexander chimed in. “Legally, the only thing they could have done was decide not to come. I mean, they clearly got manipulated.”

Inevitably, the gloves come up, said Karaszewski.

“Sometimes I look at the tape and say, ‘Of course they fit him!’ And other times you look at it and you’re like, ‘Oh, they don’t fit him.’ It is a Rorschach test—you see what you want to see. If you want to believe he’s the murderer and that they fit, you can look at it that way. But if you want to believe he’s innocent and the gloves are not his…”

But Alexander added that both the executive producers of the People vs. O.J. Simpson aren’t convinced of Simpson’s innocence. On the contrary.

“I think it seems pretty obvious. The evidence is pretty compelling.”

In spite of this, Paulson said the story still played out as it really happened.

“The outcome of the case is still the outcome of the case. Even though it’s a Ryan Murphy show, we aren’t going to get a reworked ending. It is what it is.”

[Photo by Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP]

Share this article: ‘The People Vs O.J. Simpson’ Creators Dish On Series Finale
Sarah Paulson
More from Inquisitr