Cuba Gooding Channels O.J. Simpson On 'American Crime Story' Set In L.A. –– 10 New Shocking Shots From Filming
May 22 2015, Published 9:54 a.m. ET
Cuba Gooding Jr. was snapped filming American Crime Story: The People V OJ Simpson in Encino, Calif. Wednesday, playing the lead role of the disgraced athlete/actor.
A shirtless Gooding showed off his abs in a pair of blue boxers while filming the miniseries about the "Trial of the Century."
Crew members surrounded the actor, who also played a football player in 1996's Jerry Maguire, a year after the actual legal proceedings occurred.
The Selma star peeks inside a black SUV on the sunny spring day.
Gooding didn't get a ringing endorsement from the man he's playing, Simpson's pal Norman Pardo told The National ENQUIRER.
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According to Pardo, "O.J. was left with his mouth open when they picked Cuba; He said, 'Why would they choose somebody like that to play me?'"
Simpson would have preferred Denzel Washington get the role, according to his friend.
One sticking point was that Washington, at 6-foot-1, towers over the 5-foot-10 Gooding, Pardo said.
Gooding, Pardo said, "makes for a good comedian, but not a serious-looking football player -- he's just too small for the job."
The eagerly-anticpated film also features John Travolta as Simpson attorney Robert Shapiro, David Schwimmer as Simpson confidante Robert Kardashian, and Selma Blair as Kardashian's ex-wife Kris Jenner.
The Ryan Murphy-created production is slated to air on FX next year.