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Kardashians Might Mess Up ‘American Crime Story,’ David Schwimmer Thought

By Nancy Bailey
Published on: 16:24 PST, Apr 22, 2016

David Schwimmer went into the task of playing Robert Kardashian in American Crime Story with a couple of handicaps. The first was the reality series label inextricably jammed up into the name of his character. The second was Ross Geller.

Schwimmer made a decision early on that he was going to set aside all the noise that went along with Kardashians and Jenners and Caitlyn and Rob and Kim and Kourtney and Khloe, and the rest of the Ks — Kanye too — and concentrate on his job.

According to a story in Huffington Post, Schwimmer, like all good actors, had to delve into his character’s reality. He had to find out who Robert Kardashian was as an individual; the man behind the noise.

“I was trying to not think too much about what the family name means today to people. I was really just trying to approach [the role] almost like a historian [figuring] out who the man was. What he was really like in person.”

Schwimmer noted that Robert Kardashian did not revel in the public eye as his offspring seem to.

“Very little is known about him. Or [very little is] on camera. Other than when he knows he’s on camera. So there’s very little public record of who he was as a person. [What it was like] sitting down with him, having dinner with him, going to a ball game with him.”

To solve this, Schwimmer reached out to the one person who knew Kardashian best: Kris Jenner.

“The one phone conversation that I had with Kris Jenner was really valuable. Just to hear from her, over the course of two hours, what kind of a guy he was and why she loved him.”

He added that Robert Kardashian was a man of faith.

“Kris was really, really generous with her time. It was really great to learn about how much a man of faith he was and how loyal and considerate he was. He was a very humble, very private person. Not at all seeking the limelight, that was inadvertent.”

But the Kardashian kids, Schwimmer admitted to People magazine, did not interest him in terms of insight for their father’s character.

“I wasn’t really interested or curious about talking to the kids because they were so young at the time.”

He was, however, concerned that the cloud of fame associated with the name would obliterate the story.

“Hopefully, people would return to watch not because it was some kind of indulgent, I don’t know… (laughs) Not just for fun. They’d realize, ‘Oh my gosh, this was a real guy going through a terrible ordeal and that these were two innocent real victims that were overshadowed by everything else going on in the trial at the time.’ It was a real challenge.”

At the same time, Schwimmer realized that he himself might be a distraction. The series Friends kicked off right around the same time that the O.J. Simpson case happened.

As happens so often with hit shows, the lead characters become inextricably linked with the actors playing them. In short, Schwimmer may be stuck forever with Ross Geller.

However, the nation strongly identifying with Ross may have worked to the O.J. Simpson story’s advantage. Through his recognizable features, Schwimmer’s Kardashian becomes “everyman.” We feel his betrayal. We understand his terrible dilemma. We are watching the process unfold all over again, and we know how it turns out, but we don’t want it to be true.

Schwimmer, in a New York Daily News article, said he thought Kardashian never truly recovered from the Simpson case.

“I think it changed him profoundly in probably every way.”

American Crime Story reveals this projected transformation, in Schwimmer’s skilled, understated way.

Rave reviews over Schwimmer’s performance prove he had nothing to worry about.

[Photo by Phil Mccarten/Invision/AP]

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