In a taut clip from the new FX miniseries on the O.J. Simpson trial, Johnnie Cochran — who was such a suave, controlled presence in the public eye — erupts in full-blown anger.

"Choose a side!" yells the famous defense attorney, who's played by Detroit native Courtney B. Vance.

Suddenly, we're plunged back into 1995, when America did just that. Everyone, it seemed, was staring at the courtroom proceedings on a TV screen, riveted by a tragedy that would expose a huge racial divide and begin the rise of true crime and reality shows as entertainment of the future.

Debuting at 10 p.m. Tuesday, FX's "The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story" goes behind the closed doors of a saga that still resonates in ways large and small, from the differing reactions of white and black communities to the former football star's eventual acquittal to the celebrity culture that fueled the case's notoriety.

An all-star cast re-creates moments burned in the minds of those who followed the initial news of the 1994 murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman, the slow-speed Bronco chase of former football star/rental-car pitchman/sometimes actor Simpson, and the trial that was part soap opera, part indictment of how the criminal justice system treats people of color.

Cuba Gooding Jr. plays Simpson. John Travolta is defense attorney Robert Shapiro. Sarah Paulson is prosecutor Marcia Clark. David Schwimmer is the Juice's close friend, Robert Kardashian, while Southfield's own Selma Blair is Kardashian's then-wife Kris (who would go on to manage her daughters's Kardashian empire).

And Vance, always an actor's actor, is Cochran, the architect of Simpson's defense and the person who, more than anyone else involved, took charge of what happened in the courtroom and approached the trial like a high-stakes chess match.

“He said, 'I’m here to win.' He was all about winning the war, and he realized this was a war and it was going to be a long, protracted one," says Vance of the late Cochran, whom he briefly met once  at an event.

"He had the long range goal in mind. Always the eye was on the prize so he was not going to be deterred from that prize.”

Based on the book "The Run of His Life: The People v. O.J. Simpson" by CNN legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin, the FX drama was written by Scott Alexander and Larry Karaszewski ("Ed Wood," "Big Eyes") and directed by Ryan Murphy, the small-screen maestro behind such hits as "Glee" and the "American Horror Story" anthology.

Murphy's touch with staging gripping emotions is visible in the miniseries during moments like the one where Kardashian begs Simpson not to commit suicide in "Kimmie's" bedroom. The connection to Kim Kardashian West is bound to fascinate millennial viewers.

But there was also scrupulous attention paid to re-creating certain iconic scenes accurately.

“The glove!” says Vance, referring to the sequences surrounding Simpson's glove-trying demonstration — the one that led to Cochran's "If it doesn't fit, you must acquit" refrain to the jury.

“There was a video maven lady and her job was to make sure that everybody saw (from the original footage), 'This is how you held your head. This is where the glove was. This shows your hand was like that.' "

Yet in capturing Cochran, Vance never tried to mimic the attorney's body language or expressions. He went internal, working to understand what made Cochran tick and why he so overwhelmed the efforts of prosecutors Clark and Christopher Darden (Sterling K. Brown) with his strategy.

The approach worked. Vance recalls how, after he did one sequence on camera, Toobin approached him afterward to tell him Cochran "did it just like that."

Vance says the script explores fascinating avenues like Cochran's strained relationship with Darden.

"The two of them knew each other well. Chris Darden was like, 'I really respect you. Thank you so much for being a mentor. I’m hoping that during this time we can really help each other and be Kumbaya,' " says Vance. "(Cochran) was like, 'Oh no. I have nothing to do with you now. I’m here to win. I’m not here to be your friend.' ”

Vance downplays the importance of his own opinion of the Simpson verdict, which he isn't sharing anyway.

“Nobody cares what I think and I’m not going to say. ... We’re going to try to show behind the scenes what happened to add a little truth, to give the audience more of an understanding of what happened, of why, potentially, it went down the way it went down. But in terms of what I think and whether I think he was guilty or not, or what Ryan Murphy thinks or John Travolta thinks, that’s not important.”

From Detroit to Harvard and Yale

Vance, 55, was born in Detroit to a family that encouraged him to focus on education. The Detroit Country Day School alum has degrees from Harvard University and the Yale School of Drama.

He describes how his father, who worked for Chrysler, and his mother, a librarian, made it clear that moving away from Detroit and into larger career arenas was the expected path to success.

Vance has made his mark on both coasts with his stage, film and television work. His first of three Tony nominations came in 1987 for August Wilson's "Fences." He won a Tony in 2013 for his performance alongside Tom Hanks in "Lucky Guy."

He's appeared in numerous movies including "Dangerous Minds" with Michelle Pfeiffer, and "Space Cowboys" with Clint Eastwood. In the holiday favorite "The Preacher's Wife," he was the stern minister husband of Whitney Houston who learns a lesson in love from angel Denzel Washington.

On television, Vance has co-starred on NBC's "Law & Order: Criminal Intent" and appeared in the HBO movie "Tuskegee Airmen,"  and a TV remake of "12 Angry Men." In his personal life, he's married to Oscar-nominated actress Angela Bassett. They're the parents of a twin daughter and son and co-authors of a book about their relationship called "Friends: A Love Story."

Vance is a familiar presence in projects that carry political and social relevance. Last year, he made a big impression and sparked calls for an Emmy nomination with his guest role on an episode of  ABC's "Scandal."

In it, he played a grieving father who sits in a lawn chair by his dead son's body and refuses to move out of the street until someone addresses why the police killed his son.

”The reaction was so strong about #BlackLivesMatter, from fathers and sons and mothers and daughters," says Vance of the episode. "It’s about people."

So is "The People v. O.J. Simpson," adds Vance.

"Ultimately, this is about people's lives. Nicole Brown Simpson and Ron Goldman's lives were snuffed out. … Ultimately, all of our lives were affected, because we had to try to unravel the mess.”

Vance expects the miniseries to be as interesting to younger viewers new to the details as it is to those who lived through it.

"It is absolutely Shakespearean. It is absolutely Grecian (tragedy). It’s monumental. And it is a piece of American folklore and history," says Vance.

"We’ve got to cut it down to size because it's still absolutely affecting us today.”



10 p.m. Tue.


Read or Share this story: