THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, January 31, 1995 TAG: 9501310040
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E2 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: LARRY BONKO
LENGTH: Medium: 71 lines
IF YOU are O.J. Simpson, or one of his lawyers, you don't want the jury in the double murder case near a TV set tonight at 8 when Fox airs a made-for-TV movie about Simpson's abusive relationship with his former wife, Nicole Brown Simpson.
It wouldn't surprise me if Judge Lance Ito ordered all the TV sets in the vicinity of where the jury is sequestered to be rounded up and put under lock and key tonight. Suppose a juror flipped on ``The Fox Tuesday Night Movie: The O.J. Simpson Story'' and saw Bobby Hosea as Simpson tossing punches at his wife, played by Jessica Tuck.
Think of the impact that would have on a juror. It's one thing to sit in a jury box in a courtroom and listen to attorneys droning on about spousal abuse and obsessive-compulsive behavior. It's another thing to see episodes of wife beating and stalking played out on a TV screen in living color.
The scenes in ``The O.J. Simpson Story'' make quite an impression. Having previewed the film immediately after hearing the prosecution's opening statements in the Los Angeles trial, it was as if I were watching prosecutor Marcia Clark's words spring to life.
In one scene, Tuck as Nicole calls police after she is beaten by Simpson in a bedroom, and then she is filmed outside the couple's home, screaming, ``He's going to kill me! He's going to kill me!'' It's shocking business.
Fox wisely held back on airing ``The O.J. Simpson Story'' until after a jury was selected and ordered not to watch or read anything connected with the case. Some will argue that the film should not be aired now or ever, that it exploits a tragedy for ratings.
The film's writer, Stephen Harrigan, said it is not an exploitative screenplay but rather a bold and objective treatment of events that are public record. ``We attempted to handle the subject with restraint,'' he said in a telephone interview.
While much of the film is inspired by the well-documented events of last summer, Harrigan admits that he used his imagination to fill in the gaps.
``While the broad outlines of the case are well known, there are instances when I used dramatic license,'' he said.
One such instance was when Harrigan recreated the famous pursuit of Simpson in the white Ford Bronco with Simpson's friend Al Cowlings (David Roberson) at the wheel. In the film, we see Simpson in the back of the Bronco, clutching prayer beads and a family portrait, and at times holding a pistol to his chin.
``Why don't you let me take you home, Juice?'' Cowlings asks his longtime friend. Simpson threatens suicide. Fact or fiction?
Fiction, for the most part. Harrigan admits that he never discussed those events with Cowlings, who has yet to speak in public about the trip in the Bronco. ``He's buttoned up tight,'' said the writer.
Also fictionalized, said Harrigan, is the last conversation that Simpson has with his ex-wife. In the film, that happens shortly before they attend their daughter's recital. ``I can't live with you. It's over,'' Nicole says to Simpson, who is pictured in the Fox film as a man who won't let Nicole be free even after the divorce is final.
During the film, you'll get to see Nicole Brown Simpson say over and over again to her former husband, ``I'm afraid of you.''
You'll also hear her tell police that she fears O.J. Simpson will kill her one day. It's the kind of dialogue that sends chills through Simpson's team of defense lawyers. ILLUSTRATION: Photo
BRIAN McLAUGHLIN/Fox
Bobby Hosea and Jessica Tuck star in ``The O.J. Simpson Story''
tonight at 8 on Fox.
by CNB