*Oscar winner Cuba Gooding, Jr. revealed to Larry King that it took him a month to recover from the emotional breakdown he had while portraying O.J Simpson in FX’s “American Crime Story.”
Gooding appeared on King’s Emmy-nominated series “Larry King Now,” to discuss the role, and whether or not he wants to meet the disgraced ex-NFL player.
Cuba told Larry King that the darkness he felt playing Simpson was similar to what Heath Ledger experienced while filming “The Dark Knight.”
“I remember Heath Ledger said after he played the Joker character that it was just a darkness he couldn’t shake and I always thought that was kind of BS. I was like you’re an actor, you’re supposed to go in and out, but it’s true Larry. I’m telling you.”
Gooding, Jr. was left stunned after he read OJ’s framed suicide note while preparing for the role. He recalls doing research and asking,:
“Can I get the real suicide note?’ and they go, ‘That is real, sir,’ and I go, ‘No, no, no. This one has a happy face in it,’ and he goes, ‘He put a happy face in the O in OJ.’ And I was like are you kidding me? Yeah. Stuff like that blew me away.”
The overwhelming production took its toll on the actor, and he explained to King why he had a nervous breakdown while portraying O.J. Simpson. One scene in particular rattled Cuba, in which he (O.J.) kisses his wife’s corpse after her funeral service.
“I felt such extreme guilt because I remember celebrating the ‘not guilty’ verdict because I didn’t care if he did it or not. I didn’t want another black man to be railroaded, okay?” He adds, “So here I was in that moment realizing I never grieved for those families. I could celebrate that, but I can’t take into consideration the Goldman family, the Brown’s and it just hit me.”
Peep the clip below, and watch the full episode here.
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