Larry Karaszewski: Hi, I’m Larry Karaszewski, nominated tonight for the THE PEOPLE v. O.J.
SIMPSON, American Crime Story with my partner, Scott Alexander. Film Courage: Larry, obviously
this is not your first story about [someone’s public and private life], you’ve done films
on filmmaker Ed Wood and Larry Flynt, as well. What attracted you to this story? Larry Karaszewski:
This story, it’s funny, because it’s the first time [writing partner] Scott and I’ve
have ever written television and we basically do movies and we would have never done this
story as a movie, because as a 2-hour package it would have just been telling people what
they already knew about the O.J. Simpson trial. Whereas all the offshoots of it, all of the
themes we could discover inside the piece, whether it’s gender politics or class relations
or birth of the infotainment culture, you know. And sort of the black problems with
the Los Angeles Police Department. And so there was so much we could do with this story
that 10 hours felt like the proper medium for this story. Film Courage: Were you in
Los Angeles during the whole [O.J. Simpson] trial and the Bronco [car] chase? Larry Karaszewski:
Absolutely. I remember exactly where I was when the Bronco chase happened. I think we
all remember where we were during the Bronco chase. We were writing a script for Disney
at the time. And it was before cellphones and all of those things. And as everyone is
leaving the building, there was a janitor downstairs with a little black-and-white television
and it was like “O.J. Simpson is being chased!” And the entire building all circled around
the janitor’s closet and watched the Bronco chase [on television] in his closet. Film
Courage: Do you remember the day that the verdict came out and how the feeling around
the City [of Los Angeles]? Larry Karaszewski: Absolutely. Film Courage: So how did this
[writing] opportunity come to you? Larry Karaszewski: One of the producers on the project, named
Brad Simpson, was in a used bookstore and he saw Jeffrey Toobin’s book [The Run of
His Life - The People v. O. J. Simpson]. And there was this little idea in Brad’s head
like “Maybe I should take a look at this? Maybe it’s time to revisit the O.J. Simpson
trial?” And he read the book and it’s a terrific book. Jeffrey is also nominated
tonight. And the great thing about this particular award show is they give the person who wrote
the book an award, as well as the person who adapted it.
It was one of those things where we were looking for a long time what would be the thing [project]
we would do for television. Scott and I are usually very deliberate about our decision
about the kind of projects we take. And in a second we were like “Yes!” in the room
there. We want to take on Tobin’s book. Film Courage: So from that time that you met
with [producer Brad Simpson] how much time has passed since you got the show on the air?
Larry Karaszewski: It was a very long time. We didn’t treat it like traditional television.
We really developed it and researched it and so it was about three years until it got on
the air and now about a year since it’s been on the air. Film Courage: When you wrote
the beginning episode, did you have other people look at it [the script] for a tone
and making sure that whatever your own bias was or your [writing] partner’s bias was
not put in to the writing? Larry Karaszewski: I would say we definitely had other people
take a look at it, but we have our own tone, so I don’t actually think it was about us
taking our take away from it. We were never coming right out and saying whether he did
or didn’t do it. But there is so much evidence that sort of point in that direction. We were
just presenting the case in a very unusual, satiric, comedic tone but the tricky thing
in this was two innocent people died, so you never wanted that to be any source of humor.
But there was an absurdity that was the O.J. Simpson trial and having The Kardashians be
a part of it and things like that. So we were always conscious of trying to keep our tone
and we always had great advice and some co-writers with us all the time to keep us honest. It
was very important to us to tell the truth and do it in an very entertaining way. Film
Courage: I know all of the legal team became their own celebrity from it [the trial], Judge
Ito included. How much research did you do [beforehand] on let’s say [prosecuting attorney]
Marcia Clark or whomever? Larry Karaszewski: We did an insane amount of research. I mean
there is Jeffrey Toobin’s book but every single person involved in the trial wrote
at least one, maybe two books, sometimes three books. There is thousands and thousands of
court transcripts. There are hours of court TV so it was really just the most intense
research project we ever had. Even the jurors wrote books. Film Courage: So when you write
a screenplay do you think that it’s finished after two drafts? How critical are you of
your own work or your partner’s work?Larry Karaszewski: Well, we’re very critical of
our own work because by the time it gets to even first draft, that’s probably actually
number ten for us. We’ve gone through it so many times. So we generally prefer the
earlier drafts because they are kind of the most pure, but we’ve been in this business
a long time so we do whatever it takes to get it on the air. Film Courage: What book
can you recommend to some of the viewers on screenwriting structure or adaption, anything?
Larry Karaszewski: I don’t really know? Certainly in the old days I would read something
like Syd Field, but I have no idea if that would actually be something in today’s climate.
I’d recommend a book that we wrote which was about our screenplay for MAN ON THE MOON,
the Jim Carrey movie about Andy Kaufman. We not only include the screenplay but we include
a very in-depth, how things change for the screen and young screenwriters can really
look at that book and understand how a script changes from when you write it until it makes
it on the screen. Film Courage: And lastly, what film impacted you in terms of a true
crime movie, like an Errol Morris film say THE THIN BLUE LINE, different films in a similar
genre to what you’ve done here? Larry Karaszewski: I mean as a young man I saw the black and
white version of IN COLD BLOOD, Richard Brooks’ version of that. And that definitely had a
gigantic effect on me, it terrified me. So that was the first thing that came to mind.
Certainly David Fincher’s ZODIAC is an extraordinary film, because it’s about not solving the
crime and it’s about how unsettling that is. The fact that no matter how horrific true
crime stories tend to be, at the end there is some kind of closure and ZODIAC is about
not getting that closure. And what that does to a person. How it tears you apart. So it’s
a very interesting film. Film Courage: Great! Thank you very much. I appreciate your time.
Larry Karaszewski: Thank you!