Cuba Gooding Jr., Sarah Paulson cast in FX’s O.J. Simpson project

Cuba Gooding Jr. has been cast as O.J. Simpson and Sarah Paulson will play prosecutor Marcia Clark in FX’s upcoming anthology miniseries from Ryan Murphy, “American Crime Story: The People V. O.J. Simpson.”

Gooding, who won a supporting actor Oscar for “Jerry Maguire” in 1997, will play the football superstar turned murder defendant in the project, which will examine the Simpson trial from the perspectives of the lawyers.

Paulson, who currently stars in Murphy’s “American Horror Story: Freak Show,” will portray the relentless attorney who achieved her own celebrity during the contentious murder trial.

The project, based on the book “The Run of His Life: The People V. O.J. Simpson” by Jeffrey Toobin, will be directed by Murphy and written by Scott Alexander and Larry Karaszewski.

The miniseries will explore “the behind-the-scenes dealings and maneuvering on both sides of the court, and how a combination of prosecution confidence, defense wiliness and the LAPD’s history with the African-American community gave a jury what it needed: reasonable doubt.”

Production is scheduled to start in Los Angeles early next year. A broadcast date has yet to be determined.