The Los Angeles Times du lieu suivant : Los Angeles, California • S18

THE ENVELOPE DOPPELGANGER CASTING By Hugh Hart Associated Press FX Associated Press FX PROSECUTOR MARCIA Clark, left, was portrayed by Sara Paulson. O.J. SIMPSON, left, was played by Cuba Gooding Jr. in "People v. O.J." Associated Press Los Angeles Times 'We had pictures of everybody to help us figure who would Jeanne McCarthy, casting director ence that I remember Chris Darden having during the trial.

To me, Chris wasn't a showboat at all. He had emotional investment because he really believed Simpson murdered two innocent people." Additional to the "O.J." casting choices that ultimately led to six Emmy nominations in lead and supporting acting categories, more than two dozen other real people needed to be represented on screen. "We had pictures of everybody up in the office to help us figure who would match, internally and externally," McCarthy says. "It jars your thought process when you're trying to think of actors and suddenly you go, 'Oh my God, Rob Morrow would be an amazing Barry When Morrow showed up at McCarthy's offices to offer his take on Simpson's DNA specialist, she says, "we didn't have to fool around. Rob just nailed it." The casting directors put together lengthy lists of candidates for some TV-famous characters, including Alan Der-showitz, the brilliant Harvard law professor known for his shock of frizzy hair.

"When you watch the tapes, Alan Der-showitz is so specific in the way he speaks that we weren't sure who should play him," McCarthy says. Their uncertainty vanished the minute actor Evan Handler discarded his signature shaved-head look and auditioned in a wig. McCarthy recalls, "It was pretty unexpected because Evan doesn't necessarily look like Alan Der-showitz, but when he put on that wig it was astonishing." McCarthy sent Handler's audition tape to the producers, who responded with the words casting directors everywhere long to hear: "They said, 'Yep, that's our calendarlatimes.com DEFENSE attorney Robert Shapiro's part was filled by John Travolta. ROBERT KARDASHIAN was characterized by David Schwimmer. Like millions of Americans, Jeanne McCarthy vividly remembers the players who galvanized a nation when O.J.

Simpson was tried 21 years ago in connection with the killing of his ex-wife and her friend. Unlike millions of Americans, McCarthy, a casting director for "The People v. O.J. Simpson," had to find actors to re-create those real-life personalities. "Casting this show was challenging because you're talking about incredibly well-known, iconic characters who are kind of burned into the public's brain," says McCarthy.

"The trick was to figure out which actor could get close to the essence of each character." Emmy nominated for "O.J." with colleagues Nicole Abellera Hallman, Courtney Bright and Nicole Daniels, McCarthy began her nine-month immersion into doppelganger casting at the behest of series creators Scott Alexander and Larry Karaszewski. She'd worked with the writing duo on their fact-based Margaret Keane biopic "Big Eyes," but nothing prepared her for the sheer scale of their 10-epi-sode television project. When she and Abellera Hallman read the scripts for the first two episodes and the writers' "bible" outlining the entire series, McCarthy says, "even though I'd lived through the trial in real life, the story unfolded on the page in an even more compelling way. We knew this would be a bear of a project, but we had to do it." "O.J." casting accelerated into full gear once TV auteur Ryan Murphy joined the project as director and executive producer. "It was Ryan's idea to cast John Travolta, Cuba Gooding Jr.

and Sarah Paulson to play Robert Shapiro, O.J. Simpson and Marcia Clark," McCarthy says. Co-creator writer Alexander also weighed in with his suggestion that former "Friends" star David Schwimmer go dark to portray Simpson's best friend, Robert Kardashian. "When Nicole and I went back to watch the footage, it seemed to me like Kardashian looked increasingly sad and uneasy as the trial went on," McCarthy says. "We thought David could really evoke that." Associated Press FX Los Angeles Times FX JOHNNIE COCHRAN'S personality was captured by Courtney B.

Vance. K. Brown as Cochran's nemesis, prosecuting attorney Christopher Darden. Abellera Hallman notes that "this was a story not just about the trial, but for Chris Darden, it was also about his personal life and his family." McCarthy, who earlier cast Brown as Paul Rudd's parole officer in the movie comedy "Our Idiot Brother," adds, "Sterling was the first person we saw. He has a huge amount of heart and the kind of pres- CHRISTOPHER DARDEN was represented by Sterling K.

Brown. For the pivotal role of Simpson's famously flamboyant lead attorney Johnnie Cochran, McCarthy championed Courtney B. Vance from the get-go, citing his live-theater prowess. "Courtney did 'Fences' on Broadway with James Earl Jones!" she says. "Just from having seen him on stage, I knew Courtney had technique and this really impressive ability to morph from character to character." The casting directors pictured Sterling Hh 0 a 00 tH CO.