'The People v. O.J. Simpson' Creators Reveal What They Learned About Robert Kardashian
— -- Scott Alexander and Larry Karaszewski, the creators of "The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story," didn't know much about late attorney Robert Kardashian before taking on their first TV project.
Still, the two recently told Vulture they eventually found that the man who set in motion his family's entertainment empire was "the figure with the biggest heart in this show."
Kardashian is the ex-husband of Kris Jenner and the father of Kim, Kourtney, Khloe and Rob Kardashian.
"What's interesting about Kardashian is he was someone I don't think Scott and I had any particular opinion about before we started researching," Karaszewski said. "We discovered he was a good man. He was the one guy in this case that didn't have any other weird motive involved. He was there because his best friend said he didn't do it, and he loved his friend, and he was going to remain loyal to his pal and see this to the end."
"Eventually, he gets very conflicted and he starts to wonder whether his friend actually did do it. For us he became a very rich, heartfelt character," he added.
Kardashian, unlike his family who currently stars in "Keeping Up with the Kardashians" and its various spin-offs, was not into fame.
In fact, one scene in "The People v. O.J. Simpson," shows Kardashian, played by David Schwimmer, telling his children not to care about being famous, one day after O.J. Simpson rode as a passenger in his white Ford Bronco while police pursued him.
The former NFL player was later charged and acquitted of killing his ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and her friend, Ron Goldman.
"Yes, he did take his kids out to Chin Chin for Father's Day on the Sunday after the Bronco chase. That is all true," Alexander said. "We know that Robert Kardashian was not a man who sought the limelight. We do know that [Simpson's defense attorney Robert] Shapiro pushed him in front of the TV cameras to read the suicide note that day, which was not something he was comfortable with."
"And we do know, hilariously, that the reporters afterwards said, 'What's your name? How do you spell it?' It's an unusual Armenian name, and he had to spell it out for them," he continued. "We assume his four kids are all watching TV. They're going to see their dad on TV and they're going to be excited, like any kids would be."
Kardashian died of esophageal cancer in 2003 at the age of 59.
Karaszewski said fans of the Kardashian family shouldn't expect to see much of the reality TV family in the FX mini series. "The kids are only in five minutes out of the ten hours," he said.
