On April 11, 2024, NFL athlete, actor, and celebrity OJ Simpson passed away at age 76 from cancer. The football player was once regarded as one of the greatest running backs of all time. However, his professional success was overshadowed by his trial and controversial acquittal for the murders of his former wife, Nicole Brown, and her friend, Ron Goldman, in 1994. Despite being acquitted 30 years ago, there was a faction who believed that Simpson was guilty of murdering his wife and her friend.
Now, a film is being made that imagines Simpson as possibly innocent. It would be titled The Juice (previously titled Nicole & O.J.). The project will be helmed by Joshua Newton. Newton is an award-winning British filmmaker who has directed the late two-time Academy Award nominee Roy Scheider (Jaws, The French Connection, All That Jazz) in his final movie, Justice / Vengeance.
The director spent two years extensively researching OJ Simpson before writing his screenplay for the film, which is now in pre-production. In his upcoming film The Juice, the character of Simpson will be portrayed by Boris Kodjoe, who is best known for his roles as Kelby in the 2002 film Brown Sugar, the sports-courier agent Damon Carter on the Showtime drama series Soul Food, Dr. Will Campbell on CBS’s Code Black and a recurring character on FOX’s The Last Man on Earth. While the role of Kodjoe is indeed crucial in the movie, the main character of the film is supposedly Douglas McCann, an attorney who represented OJ Simpson in a civil case from 2000 and went down a conspiratorial rabbit hole believing that Simpson was innocent of the 1994 murders.
While the so far disclosed cast seems promising, Newton had some different plans regarding his film’s cast. He wanted to cast Owen Wilson in the role of Simpson, but the actor denied it.
Why did Owen Wilson reject the role of O.J. Simpson in the film?
Owen Wilson is an acclaimed actor popularly known for his collaboration with filmmaker Wes Anderson. With whom he has shared writing and acting credits on the films Bottle Rocket (1996), Rushmore (1998), and The Royal Tenenbaums (2001), the latter of which received nominations for the Academy Award and BAFTA Award for Best Screenplay.
He was the first choice of filmmaker Joshua Newton for the role of O.J. Simpson. However, he rejected the role. Speaking with The Hollywood Reporter, Newton said, “Owen Wilson was perfect for the role. I actually had a meeting with him in Santa Monica. Everybody loved the script. His agent wanted him to do it. We offered him $12 million. But at the end of the lunch, Owen stood up and said, ‘If you think I’m going to take the lead role in a movie about how O.J. didn’t do it, you’ve got to be kidding me.’”
However, with Boris Kodjoe, Newton is more than content with his casting, but so far he hasn’t shared any further casting details.
The Juice is expected to be released in 2025.
