Scott Alexander & Larry Karaszewski: The People v. O.J. Simpson

It was 22 years ago that the country and the world learned of the the brutal murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman.

The new FX series The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story revisits that drama, starting with the discovery of the crime and staying with the story through the slow-speed Bronco chase and the televised trial that lasted almost a year.

Cuba Gooding, Jr. plays Simpson and his dream team of lawyers is played by John Travolta, Courtney B. Vance and Nathan Lane. Sarah Paulson plays beleaguered prosecutor Marcia Clark. More than five million people tuned in to watch the series premiere on February 2.

Writer-producers Larry Karaszewski and Scott Alexander have made a career crafting movie scripts about complicated people, including Ed Wood, Larry Flynt and comedian Andy Kaufman. So it was natural for a pair of producers to turn to them after optioning The Run of His Life, New Yorker reporter Jeffrey Toobin's book about the Simpson case.

Alexander and Karaszewski had never worked in television before, but tell us they were attracted to the idea of having 10, one-hour installments to tell the O.J. Simpson story, since they'd have enough time to explore big themes like racism and gender politics, as well as include many of the strange, long-forgotten details of the ordeal.