O.J. Simpson, the former NFL icon, broadcaster and actor, died of cancer today at the age of 76.
While celebrated for his athletic achievements, his legacy remains shrouded by the 1995 acquittal in the tragic murder case of his ex-wife Nicole Simpson Brown and her friend Ron Goldman. The trial became a news sensation globally that divided America due to the reaction to the verdict. Simpson was ultimately acquitted of both counts of murder on October 3 of the same year.
Simpson was represented by a high-profile defense team, referred to as the “Dream Team,” which was initially led by Robert Shapiro. His legal council included F. Lee Bailey, Alan Dershowitz, Robert Kardashian, Shawn Holley, Carl E. Douglas, and Gerald Uelmen. Barry Scheck and Peter Neufeld were two additional attorneys who specialized in DNA evidence.
Scroll through the gallery for the murder trial timeline that divided the nation.
While celebrated for his athletic achievements, his legacy remains shrouded by the 1995 acquittal in the tragic murder case of his ex-wife Nicole Simpson Brown and her friend Ron Goldman. The trial became a news sensation globally that divided America due to the reaction to the verdict. Simpson was ultimately acquitted of both counts of murder on October 3 of the same year.
Simpson was represented by a high-profile defense team, referred to as the “Dream Team,” which was initially led by Robert Shapiro. His legal council included F. Lee Bailey, Alan Dershowitz, Robert Kardashian, Shawn Holley, Carl E. Douglas, and Gerald Uelmen. Barry Scheck and Peter Neufeld were two additional attorneys who specialized in DNA evidence.
Scroll through the gallery for the murder trial timeline that divided the nation.
- 4/11/2024
- by The Deadline Team
- Deadline Film + TV
Exclusive: Producer John Martinez O’Felan has secured financing and set his next Project, Barton Creek, a Latino-led and LatinX inclusive feature biopic written and directed by award-winning Cuban-American director Carlos V. Gutierrez.
The feature follows the triumphant life story of Cuban political exile and innocence Project participant Carlos Lavernia, who was wrongfully convicted to life in prison and spent 15 years behind bars before being proven innocent.
Lavernia is a Havana-born immigrant and former Cuban soldier imprisoned in Fidel Castro’s Cuba before being sent on the Mariel Boatlift of 1980 to live in the U.S in exile. While in his early 30’s, he settled in Austin, Texas, where he began his new life. After hanging out at a local landmark known as the Barton Springs Pool area, an area hot-spot known for day drinking at the time, Lavernia finds himself questioned by authorities for predatory crimes based on his racial identity.
The feature follows the triumphant life story of Cuban political exile and innocence Project participant Carlos Lavernia, who was wrongfully convicted to life in prison and spent 15 years behind bars before being proven innocent.
Lavernia is a Havana-born immigrant and former Cuban soldier imprisoned in Fidel Castro’s Cuba before being sent on the Mariel Boatlift of 1980 to live in the U.S in exile. While in his early 30’s, he settled in Austin, Texas, where he began his new life. After hanging out at a local landmark known as the Barton Springs Pool area, an area hot-spot known for day drinking at the time, Lavernia finds himself questioned by authorities for predatory crimes based on his racial identity.
- 9/27/2022
- by Valerie Complex
- Deadline Film + TV
The two men convicted of assassinating Malcolm X are expected to have their convictions overturned following a new investigation into the 1965 murder of the influential Black activist and civil rights leader, The New York Times reports.
Muhammad A. Aziz and Khalil Islam are expected to be exonerated Thursday, Nov. 18, capping off a 22-month investigation led by the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office. While there’s long been skepticism over Aziz and Islam’s guilt, the investigation officially concluded that the two would have likely been acquitted if the Federal Bureau of...
Muhammad A. Aziz and Khalil Islam are expected to be exonerated Thursday, Nov. 18, capping off a 22-month investigation led by the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office. While there’s long been skepticism over Aziz and Islam’s guilt, the investigation officially concluded that the two would have likely been acquitted if the Federal Bureau of...
- 11/17/2021
- by Jon Blistein
- Rollingstone.com
In early 2016, Innocence Project founders Peter Neufeld and Barry Scheck received a call from an unusual source: Endeavor CEO Ari Emanuel, who was reaching out about a possible series.
At the time, true-crime docuseries like Making a Murderer were finding a rabid audience on Netflix. Neufeld and Scheck's organization, devoted to exonerating individuals wrongly convicted, seemed ripe to yield dramatic stories. The two attorneys had already fielded and dismissed some show ideas they considered either outlandish or inconsistent with their ideals, but Emanuel's pitch came with the promise of creative control and eventually led to the Netflix ...
At the time, true-crime docuseries like Making a Murderer were finding a rabid audience on Netflix. Neufeld and Scheck's organization, devoted to exonerating individuals wrongly convicted, seemed ripe to yield dramatic stories. The two attorneys had already fielded and dismissed some show ideas they considered either outlandish or inconsistent with their ideals, but Emanuel's pitch came with the promise of creative control and eventually led to the Netflix ...
- 6/23/2020
- The Hollywood Reporter - Film + TV
“The Innocence Files” is Netflix’s latest true crime offering and, according to executive producers — and documentary powerhouses — Liz Garbus, Alex Gibney and Roger Ross Williams, it could change how Americans view a wildly unequal criminal justice system.
The nine-episode series premieres on April 15 and focuses on the work of the Innocence Project, a nonprofit legal organization, founded by lawyers Peter Neufeld and Barry Scheck, that uses DNA evidence to exonerate the wrongfully convicted — many of them men of color.
The show focuses on eight such cases, each of which serve to illustrate one of the three primary reasons that lead to false convictions in the first place: flawed scientific evidence, eyewitness misidentification and prosecutorial misconduct.
“The systems that we’re told to trust — [these] systems are deeply flawed, and I think that the series can challenge our assumptions about the way we think things are supposed to work by seeing...
The nine-episode series premieres on April 15 and focuses on the work of the Innocence Project, a nonprofit legal organization, founded by lawyers Peter Neufeld and Barry Scheck, that uses DNA evidence to exonerate the wrongfully convicted — many of them men of color.
The show focuses on eight such cases, each of which serve to illustrate one of the three primary reasons that lead to false convictions in the first place: flawed scientific evidence, eyewitness misidentification and prosecutorial misconduct.
“The systems that we’re told to trust — [these] systems are deeply flawed, and I think that the series can challenge our assumptions about the way we think things are supposed to work by seeing...
- 4/14/2020
- by Audrey Cleo Yap
- Variety Film + TV
Thirty years ago, Levon Brooks was accused of sexually assaulting and murdering a three-year old girl in Mississippi. Despite having an alibi, he was sentenced to life in prison based on bite mark analysis. A few months, later a second young girl was raped and murdered and Kennedy Brewer, the boyfriend of the victim’s mother was arrested and sentenced death for the crime, based on similar bite mark analysis.
Brewer subsequently wrote to The Innocence Project, which was able to get the pair exonerated and freed after having DNA evidence at the crime scene tested.
These cases form the first three episodes of Netflix’s The Innocence Files and were directed by American Jail director Roger Ross Williams,...
Brewer subsequently wrote to The Innocence Project, which was able to get the pair exonerated and freed after having DNA evidence at the crime scene tested.
These cases form the first three episodes of Netflix’s The Innocence Files and were directed by American Jail director Roger Ross Williams,...
- 4/14/2020
- by Peter White
- Deadline Film + TV
“I think the best thing that a lawyer can do with their license is get an innocent guy out of prison,” lawyer Ellen Eggers says in the trailer for Netflix’s The Innocence Files, a new docuseries focused on just that: the exoneration of the wrongfully imprisoned.
Executive-produced and directed by Academy Award nominee Liz Garbus (What Happened, Miss Simone?), Academy Award winner Alex Gibney (Taxi to the Dark Side) and Academy Award winner Roger Ross Williams (Music by Prudence) — with episodes also directed by Academy Award nominee Jed Rothstein...
Executive-produced and directed by Academy Award nominee Liz Garbus (What Happened, Miss Simone?), Academy Award winner Alex Gibney (Taxi to the Dark Side) and Academy Award winner Roger Ross Williams (Music by Prudence) — with episodes also directed by Academy Award nominee Jed Rothstein...
- 4/2/2020
- by Brenna Ehrlich
- Rollingstone.com
Netflix has ordered a docuseries titled “The Innocence Files,” Variety has learned exclusively.
The hour-long episodes detail the personal stories behind eight cases of wrongful conviction that the Innocence Project and organizations within the Innocence Network have worked to highlight and overturn. The series is broken down into three parts — The Evidence, The Witness, and The Prosecution. The subjects of the series will be Chester Hollman III, Kenneth Wyniemko, Alfred Dewayne Brown, Thomas Haynesworth, Franky Carrillo, Levon Brooks, Kennedy Brewer, and Keith Harward.
The entire nine-episode season will debut on Netflix on April 15.
“We are thrilled to be part of the groundbreaking Netflix series, ‘The Innocence Files,'” said Peter Neufeld and Barry Scheck, Innocence Project co-founders and special counsel of the Innocence Project. “This is truly important television. Each episode reveals–step by step–how the American criminal justice system gets it wrong. These stories feature people whose freedom...
The hour-long episodes detail the personal stories behind eight cases of wrongful conviction that the Innocence Project and organizations within the Innocence Network have worked to highlight and overturn. The series is broken down into three parts — The Evidence, The Witness, and The Prosecution. The subjects of the series will be Chester Hollman III, Kenneth Wyniemko, Alfred Dewayne Brown, Thomas Haynesworth, Franky Carrillo, Levon Brooks, Kennedy Brewer, and Keith Harward.
The entire nine-episode season will debut on Netflix on April 15.
“We are thrilled to be part of the groundbreaking Netflix series, ‘The Innocence Files,'” said Peter Neufeld and Barry Scheck, Innocence Project co-founders and special counsel of the Innocence Project. “This is truly important television. Each episode reveals–step by step–how the American criminal justice system gets it wrong. These stories feature people whose freedom...
- 3/9/2020
- by Joe Otterson
- Variety Film + TV
Close to 250 political and legal experts have signed an open letter urging Wisconsin's governor to grant clemency to Brendan Dassey, the subject of Netflix's hit true-crime documentary series Making a Murderer.
The names include former prosecutors and senior U.S. government officials, juvenile justice experts, law enforcement authorities, psychologists who specialize in the study of false confessions and more than two dozen exonerees.
Among them are Sister Helen Prejean, the Catholic nun and anti-death penalty advocate portrayed by Susan Sarandon in 1995's Dead Man Walking, and Barry Scheck, director of the Innocence Project (and a member of O....
The names include former prosecutors and senior U.S. government officials, juvenile justice experts, law enforcement authorities, psychologists who specialize in the study of false confessions and more than two dozen exonerees.
Among them are Sister Helen Prejean, the Catholic nun and anti-death penalty advocate portrayed by Susan Sarandon in 1995's Dead Man Walking, and Barry Scheck, director of the Innocence Project (and a member of O....
- 10/24/2019
- The Hollywood Reporter - Film + TV
The popularity of shows like Making a Murderer, The Staircase, and I Am a Killer prove that people can't help but be fascinated with all things true crime. Netflix is adding more fuel to the flames of this particular fascination with its new docuseries, The Innocent Man, based on John Grisham's 2006 nonfiction book, The Innocent Man: Murder and Injustice in a Small Town.
The story follows two murders that rocked the small town of Ada, Ok, in the 1980s, and the controversial chain of events that took place in their wake. The six-part documentary includes interviews with everyone involved on the case - including the victims' friends and families, other residents of Ada, Innocence Project co-director Barry Scheck, and Grisham, who also serves as an executive producer - with archival video and photos. Did the four men who confessed to the grisly murders of two women actually do the deed,...
The story follows two murders that rocked the small town of Ada, Ok, in the 1980s, and the controversial chain of events that took place in their wake. The six-part documentary includes interviews with everyone involved on the case - including the victims' friends and families, other residents of Ada, Innocence Project co-director Barry Scheck, and Grisham, who also serves as an executive producer - with archival video and photos. Did the four men who confessed to the grisly murders of two women actually do the deed,...
- 12/7/2018
- by Mekishana Pierre
- Popsugar.com
There is nothing we love better than a Netflix true crime series, so we are completely thrilled to share the trailer for the upcoming Netflix series “The Innocent Man“. In the series, Netflix uncovers the controversy behind two small town murders! View the trailer below:
In a story that gained national attention with John Grisham’s best-selling non-fiction book, The Innocent Man: Murder and Injustice in a Small Town, the six-part documentary series The Innocent Man focuses on two murders that shook the small town of Ada, Oklahoma, in the 1980s — and the controversial chain of events that followed.
In 1982, 21-year-old Debra Sue “Debbie” Carter is raped and killed inside her home. In 1984, another Ada woman, 24-year-old Denice Haraway, is killed after being kidnapped from the convenience store where she works. Local men Tommy Ward and Karl Fontenot are charged with Haraway’s murder and sentenced to life in prison.
In a story that gained national attention with John Grisham’s best-selling non-fiction book, The Innocent Man: Murder and Injustice in a Small Town, the six-part documentary series The Innocent Man focuses on two murders that shook the small town of Ada, Oklahoma, in the 1980s — and the controversial chain of events that followed.
In 1982, 21-year-old Debra Sue “Debbie” Carter is raped and killed inside her home. In 1984, another Ada woman, 24-year-old Denice Haraway, is killed after being kidnapped from the convenience store where she works. Local men Tommy Ward and Karl Fontenot are charged with Haraway’s murder and sentenced to life in prison.
- 12/4/2018
- by Kristyn Clarke
- Age of the Nerd
Netflix will explore murder, corruption and wrongful convictions in The Innocent Man, an upcoming docuseries based on John Grisham’s best-selling 2006 non-fiction book of the same name.
The six-part project, which launches globally on December 14th, focuses on the controversy behind two killings that occurred in Ada, Oklahoma in 1982 and 1984 – leading to murder charges for four men: Tommy Ward, Karl Fontenot, Ron Williamson and Dennis Fritz. The latter two were exonerated in 1999 through DNA evidence with help from non-profit legal organization the Innocence Project; at the time of his release,...
The six-part project, which launches globally on December 14th, focuses on the controversy behind two killings that occurred in Ada, Oklahoma in 1982 and 1984 – leading to murder charges for four men: Tommy Ward, Karl Fontenot, Ron Williamson and Dennis Fritz. The latter two were exonerated in 1999 through DNA evidence with help from non-profit legal organization the Innocence Project; at the time of his release,...
- 12/3/2018
- by Ryan Reed
- Rollingstone.com
Joseph Baxter Dec 3, 2018
In the same vein as Making a Murderer, a TV adaptation of John Grisham nonfiction book The Innocent Man is heading to Netflix.
Netflix has teamed up with bestselling legal drama novelist John Grisham for the streaming giant’s next true-crime documentary series offering, The Innocent Man. The series will serve as an adaption of Grisham’s 2006 nonfiction book of the same name that – akin to Netflix’s pop culture proliferating true-crime series Making a Murderer – chronicles the legal ordeal of a man who, purportedly, was wrongfully accused of murder and, in this case, faced execution.
The Innocent Man will arrive on Netflix as a 6-part documentary series on December 14. The series is directed by Clay Tweel, who developed the series with Ross Dinerstein. The series depicts the ordeal of Ron Williamson, an Ada, Oklahoma man whose failure to land in the Majors lead to a spiral of self-destruction involving drugs,...
In the same vein as Making a Murderer, a TV adaptation of John Grisham nonfiction book The Innocent Man is heading to Netflix.
Netflix has teamed up with bestselling legal drama novelist John Grisham for the streaming giant’s next true-crime documentary series offering, The Innocent Man. The series will serve as an adaption of Grisham’s 2006 nonfiction book of the same name that – akin to Netflix’s pop culture proliferating true-crime series Making a Murderer – chronicles the legal ordeal of a man who, purportedly, was wrongfully accused of murder and, in this case, faced execution.
The Innocent Man will arrive on Netflix as a 6-part documentary series on December 14. The series is directed by Clay Tweel, who developed the series with Ross Dinerstein. The series depicts the ordeal of Ron Williamson, an Ada, Oklahoma man whose failure to land in the Majors lead to a spiral of self-destruction involving drugs,...
- 11/19/2018
- Den of Geek
Guild Hall hosts a concert reading of Eric Bentley's Are You Now Or Have You Ever Been, featuring James Earl Jones, Matthew Broderick, Bill Camp, Richard Kind, Peter Riegert, Mercedes Ruehl, Barry Scheck, and Harris Yulin, tonight, September 9 at 8 p.m. Directed by Harris Yulin.
- 9/9/2017
- by BWW News Desk
- BroadwayWorld.com
Guild Hall will host a concert reading of ERic Bentley's Are You Now Or Have You Ever Been, featuring James Earl Jones, Matthew Broderick, Bill Camp, Richard Kind, Peter Riegert, Mercedes Ruehl, Barry Scheck, and Harris Yulin, on Saturday, September 9 at 8 p.m. Directed by Harris Yulin.
- 8/14/2017
- by BWW News Desk
- BroadwayWorld.com
Jamie Meltzer’s True Conviction explores a quasi-detective agency in Dallas (seemingly run out of the the Hickory House BBQ restaurant) founded by three men who were wrongfully convicted of crimes they did not commit. Granted $80,000 for each year of wrongful imprisonment by the government, they take on select cases that resemble their own circumstances where either the punishment does not fit the crime or the physical evidence contradicts the testimony given. The justice system should backstop flawed cases but often does not, and in one case, we learn a convict was given a public defender who showed up in court drunk and could not locate a witness in the room.
Led by Christopher Scott, exonerated after spending 13 years in prison for a crime he did not commit once the actual killer confessed, the agency takes on similar cases as Scott balances his obligations to his once estranged family. He...
Led by Christopher Scott, exonerated after spending 13 years in prison for a crime he did not commit once the actual killer confessed, the agency takes on similar cases as Scott balances his obligations to his once estranged family. He...
- 5/4/2017
- by John Fink
- The Film Stage
In the 1990s, Jeffrey MacDonald — convicted of the 1970 murder of his wife and two daughters — began reading about new forensic testing he thought might help prove his claim of innocence.
He brought it up to his then-attorney, Harvey Silvergate, who was working on a post-conviction motion for the case along with attorneys Philip Cormier and Andrew Good.
“I said, ‘How does it work? I’m a doctor but I’m a novice. I’m just reading about it in the newspaper,’ ” MacDonald, a former Green Beret surgeon, tells People.
According to MacDonald, Silvergate answered, “If we’re going to ask for DNA,...
He brought it up to his then-attorney, Harvey Silvergate, who was working on a post-conviction motion for the case along with attorneys Philip Cormier and Andrew Good.
“I said, ‘How does it work? I’m a doctor but I’m a novice. I’m just reading about it in the newspaper,’ ” MacDonald, a former Green Beret surgeon, tells People.
According to MacDonald, Silvergate answered, “If we’re going to ask for DNA,...
- 1/19/2017
- by Nicole Weisensee Egan
- PEOPLE.com
For the past 47 years, Jeffrey MacDonald’s account of what happened the night his entire family was murdered has stayed the same.
So has the case against him, built largely on blood-type testing — he, his wife and two children all had different blood types — that seems archaic by today’s standards.
But since his 1979 conviction, MacDonald has painstakingly gathered a body of evidence — some of which was suppressed by prosecutors — via Freedom of Information Act requests that he believes prove him right.
“I am innocent,” he says in an exclusive jailhouse interview in this week’s issue of People magazine.
So has the case against him, built largely on blood-type testing — he, his wife and two children all had different blood types — that seems archaic by today’s standards.
But since his 1979 conviction, MacDonald has painstakingly gathered a body of evidence — some of which was suppressed by prosecutors — via Freedom of Information Act requests that he believes prove him right.
“I am innocent,” he says in an exclusive jailhouse interview in this week’s issue of People magazine.
- 1/18/2017
- by Nicole Weisensee Egan
- PEOPLE.com
When filmmakers Joe Berlinger and Bruce Sinofsky arrived in West Memphis, Arkansas in June 1993, they came with an agenda: to document what looked like a new wave of alienated youth-turned-murderers. A few months earlier, two 10-year-olds in the U.K. had made headlines when they abducted, tortured and murdered a two-year-old, and now the filmmakers had read about the brutal murders of three eight-year-old boys ostensibly committed by teenage Satanists. It seemed like a trend. "We went down to make a film about guilty teenagers, like a real Rivers Edge,...
- 12/14/2016
- Rollingstone.com
The crime of the century became a media circus, with no angle hidden -- yet behind what we saw on TV was even more conflict and consternation. This eight-hour miniseries is a beautifully constructed recreation with excellent casting, even though its O.J. doesn't remind us much of the original. It's highly absorbing stuff to anyone who lived through it. The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story Blu-ray Fox Home Video 2016 / Color /1:78 widescreen / 498 min. / Street Date September 6, 2016 / 49.99 Starring Sarah Paulson, John Travolta, Sterling K. Brown, Kenneth Choi, Christian Clemenson, Cuba Gooding Jr., Bruce Greenwood, Nathan Lane, David Schwimmer, Courtney B. Vance, Robert Morse, Steven Pasquale, Cheryl Ladd, Larry King, Malcolm-Jamal Warner, Billy Magnussen. Cinematography Nelson Cragg Film Editors Chi Yoon Chung, Stewart Schill, Adam Penn Original Music Mac Quayle Written by Scott Alexander & Larry Karaszewski (creators), Jeffrey Toobin, D.V. DeVincentis, Joe Robert Cole, Maya Forbes, Wallace Wolodarsky Produced by Alexis Martin Woodall,...
- 9/17/2016
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
Movie producers Nina Jacobson and Brad Simpson are pinching themselves. They know that you don’t usually jump into television for the first time and emerge with 22 Emmy nominations. Not to mention an ongoing anthology series—they’re developing more seasons of “American Crime Story” on FX.
What did they do right? Well, for one thing they didn’t know the rules—which made the ten-part “People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story” series impossibly tough to execute in 110 days. They had the sense to make a television deal with FX, optioned New Yorker scribe Jeffrey Toobin’s 1996 non-fiction book, “The Run of His Life: The People v. O.J. Simpson,” hired A-list screenwriters Larry Karaszewski and Scott Alexander (“The People vs. Larry Flynt”) as lead writers, and eventually partnered with television veteran Ryan Murphy (“American Horror Story”) who taught them what they needed to know.
When I arrived at...
What did they do right? Well, for one thing they didn’t know the rules—which made the ten-part “People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story” series impossibly tough to execute in 110 days. They had the sense to make a television deal with FX, optioned New Yorker scribe Jeffrey Toobin’s 1996 non-fiction book, “The Run of His Life: The People v. O.J. Simpson,” hired A-list screenwriters Larry Karaszewski and Scott Alexander (“The People vs. Larry Flynt”) as lead writers, and eventually partnered with television veteran Ryan Murphy (“American Horror Story”) who taught them what they needed to know.
When I arrived at...
- 8/1/2016
- by Anne Thompson
- Thompson on Hollywood
Movie producers Nina Jacobson and Brad Simpson are pinching themselves. They know that you don’t usually jump into television for the first time and emerge with 22 Emmy nominations. Not to mention an ongoing anthology series—they’re developing more seasons of “American Crime Story” on FX.
What did they do right? Well, for one thing they didn’t know the rules—which made the ten-part “People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story” series impossibly tough to execute in 110 days. They had the sense to make a television deal with FX, optioned New Yorker scribe Jeffrey Toobin’s 1996 non-fiction book, “The Run of His Life: The People v. O.J. Simpson,” hired A-list screenwriters Larry Karaszewski and Scott Alexander (“The People vs. Larry Flynt”) as lead writers, and eventually partnered with television veteran Ryan Murphy (“American Horror Story”) who taught them what they needed to know.
When I arrived at...
What did they do right? Well, for one thing they didn’t know the rules—which made the ten-part “People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story” series impossibly tough to execute in 110 days. They had the sense to make a television deal with FX, optioned New Yorker scribe Jeffrey Toobin’s 1996 non-fiction book, “The Run of His Life: The People v. O.J. Simpson,” hired A-list screenwriters Larry Karaszewski and Scott Alexander (“The People vs. Larry Flynt”) as lead writers, and eventually partnered with television veteran Ryan Murphy (“American Horror Story”) who taught them what they needed to know.
When I arrived at...
- 8/1/2016
- by Anne Thompson
- Indiewire
The TV event of 2016 so far was surely FX's marvelous miniseries The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story, which turned the Trial of the (last) Century into 10 fascinating, funny, tragic hours of drama that shed new light on a case that most of its viewers thought they already knew by heart. Given the phenomenon of The People v. O.J., you would think a five-part, 7.5-hour (10 with commercials) documentary on the same subject would be redundant. Who needs to spend even more time watching a retelling of Simpson's trial for murdering ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ronald Goldman? Instead, Espn's newest 30 for 30 film O.J. Simpson: Made in America(*) proves to not only be better than The People v. O.J. — and among the best things Espn has aired in its history — but a perfect complement to the FX show. Where People v. O.J. was...
- 6/9/2016
- by Alan Sepinwall
- Hitfix
If Scott Alexander and Larry Karaszewski, the co-creators of The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story, ever decide to write a book on the art of running a show, we’d like to suggest they title it How to Craft a Compelling Season Finale… Even When Everyone Already Knows the Ending.
Although the FX drama has already earned its place on countless end-of-year Top 10 lists, given its provocative source material and superb cast, Tuesday’s final installment had the peculiar challenge of keeping viewers on the edge of their seats, when just about all of us already knew...
Although the FX drama has already earned its place on countless end-of-year Top 10 lists, given its provocative source material and superb cast, Tuesday’s final installment had the peculiar challenge of keeping viewers on the edge of their seats, when just about all of us already knew...
- 4/6/2016
- TVLine.com
A review of tonight's The People v. O.J. Simpson coming up just as soon as we vote on whether we're going to watch Martin or Seinfeld... "A Jury in Jail" is something of a stylistic departure for The People v. O.J., not only focusing more on the previously-anonymous(*) jury pool, but going for a much lighter, stranger tone than earlier episodes. Not only is it borrowing heavily from the jury chapter ("Stockholm Syndrome") of Toobin's book (albeit compressing a lot of the timeline), but it's largely set at a time in the trial, after Darden's glove fiasco, when the defense seemed to be steamrolling the prosecution, and where the entire atmosphere had become more circus-like than ever. (See also Judge Ito being dismayed by a glimpse of The Dancing Itos on Jay Leno's Tonight Show, one of the weirder bits of humor — but far from the only — to...
- 3/23/2016
- by Alan Sepinwall
- Hitfix
A few thoughts on tonight's The People V. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story coming up just as soon as I don't have a Father's Day reservation... Celebrity is one of the key subjects of The People V. O.J. as a whole, and particularly of "The Dream Team." The hour gives us Robert Kardashian's lecture about the hollowness of fame falling on his children's deaf ears. It gives us Kato experiencing the upside and downside of fame in under a minute. And it gives us Gil Garcetti's proclamation that "a star is born" after Marcia Clark's first major press conference about the case. Mainly, though, the hour is concerned with the growing number of celebrity attorneys who will be mounting O.J.'s very expensive defense. Robert Shapiro, who specialized in plea bargains, came to realize that he needed a lot of help (even if he...
- 2/17/2016
- by Alan Sepinwall
- Hitfix
"Fame is fleeting," Robert Kardashian tells his kids in an early episode of FX's The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story (it debuts tomorrow night at 10). "It's hollow. It means nothing at all without a virtuous heart." Young Kim, Kourtney, Khloe, and Rob look at their father like he's speaking some long-dead language they have no hope of understanding. Their dad is on TV, and getting priority seating at overbooked restaurants, all because he's famous — and only famous, at that, because his best friend happens to be Simpson, the world's most famous accused murderer. Of course fame means everything to these kids. The People v. O.J. — the first installment of a new FX anthology series from Ryan Murphy (American Horror Story, Glee), and not to be confused with ABC's similarly-titled anthology series American Crime — isn't really a Keeping Up with the Kardashians origin story. The kids only appear...
- 2/1/2016
- by Alan Sepinwall
- Hitfix
Rob Morrow (Texas Rising) is the latest to join the cast of FX's American Crime Story: The People Vs O.J. Simpson. He will play Barry Scheck, the co-founder of the Innocence Project who is called upon by O.J.’s defense team for his DNA expertise. The miniseries takes a look at the O.J. Simpson trial told from the perspective of the lawyers that explores the chaotic behind-the-scenes dealings and maneuvering on both sides of the court, and how a combination of prosecution…...
- 5/29/2015
- Deadline TV
When Alicia Florrick (Julianna Margulies) said "I'm in." to Cary (Matt Czuchry) in "The Good Wife" Season 4 finale, she started something that cannot be stopped.
"Her choosing to leave with Cary and start her own firm creates a bloodbath at Lockhart/Gardner," Margulies said in the preview video below.
"The Good Wife" Season 5 will be "civil war," according to "Good Wife" co-creator Robert King. Alicia and Cary are leaving, along with several other players, and the tensions will rise.
"It's going to be a really tumultuous time, i think," Margulies said. "You're going to be on a whirlwind and then there's going to be an explosion. It's going to rock everyone's world on the show."
"The Good Wife" Season 5 picks up with Alicia announcing her plans to leave Lockhart/Gardner to her husband, Peter Florrick (Chris Noth), the newly elected governor of Illinois, and his adviser Eli Gold (Alan Cumming...
"Her choosing to leave with Cary and start her own firm creates a bloodbath at Lockhart/Gardner," Margulies said in the preview video below.
"The Good Wife" Season 5 will be "civil war," according to "Good Wife" co-creator Robert King. Alicia and Cary are leaving, along with several other players, and the tensions will rise.
"It's going to be a really tumultuous time, i think," Margulies said. "You're going to be on a whirlwind and then there's going to be an explosion. It's going to rock everyone's world on the show."
"The Good Wife" Season 5 picks up with Alicia announcing her plans to leave Lockhart/Gardner to her husband, Peter Florrick (Chris Noth), the newly elected governor of Illinois, and his adviser Eli Gold (Alan Cumming...
- 9/1/2013
- by Chris Harnick
- Huffington Post
New York -- The lawyer for the Long Island man at the heart of the documentary film "Capturing the Friedmans" thinks there are signs that a probe led by Nassau County District Attorney Kathleen Rice will not exonerate him of the child molestation charges he pled guilty to as a teenager in 1988.
Ron Kuby, the lawyer for Jesse Friedman, said it now appears the probe could close as soon as April. He is troubled by his impression that Rice's office will not decide in his client's favor.
"Every sign and signal portends doom in this case. And every conversation any of us have with the prosecutor's office is one worse thing after another," Kuby said Tuesday, speaking at a gathering of Friedman's supporters in Manhattan.
The only reason he holds out any hope, he said, is the involvement of Barry Scheck, the defense lawyer and director of the Innocence Project.
Ron Kuby, the lawyer for Jesse Friedman, said it now appears the probe could close as soon as April. He is troubled by his impression that Rice's office will not decide in his client's favor.
"Every sign and signal portends doom in this case. And every conversation any of us have with the prosecutor's office is one worse thing after another," Kuby said Tuesday, speaking at a gathering of Friedman's supporters in Manhattan.
The only reason he holds out any hope, he said, is the involvement of Barry Scheck, the defense lawyer and director of the Innocence Project.
- 3/6/2013
- by Matt Sledge
- Huffington Post
By Elliot V. Kotek
In his review of the film “Conviction,” Moving Pictures critic Barrett Hooper notes that Sam Rockwell “gives his every scene as Kenny Waters a much-needed jolt, especially in an early flashback when he goes from dancing with his infant daughter to pressing a broken beer bottle to a bar patron’s throat.” Based on a true story, Rockwell’s character is serving a life sentence for a brutal murder he did not commit, and it’s his older sister, Betty Anne (Hilary Swank) — a high-school dropout and single mother who put herself through law school — who must fight to earn his release. Meanwhile, Juliette Lewis gives a solid performance as Roseanna Perry, a barfly who becomes a key witness at Waters’ retrial. Rockwell and Lewis visited with Moving Pictures to discuss the making of Tony Goldwyn’s film, which is now available on DVD and Blu-ray.
In his review of the film “Conviction,” Moving Pictures critic Barrett Hooper notes that Sam Rockwell “gives his every scene as Kenny Waters a much-needed jolt, especially in an early flashback when he goes from dancing with his infant daughter to pressing a broken beer bottle to a bar patron’s throat.” Based on a true story, Rockwell’s character is serving a life sentence for a brutal murder he did not commit, and it’s his older sister, Betty Anne (Hilary Swank) — a high-school dropout and single mother who put herself through law school — who must fight to earn his release. Meanwhile, Juliette Lewis gives a solid performance as Roseanna Perry, a barfly who becomes a key witness at Waters’ retrial. Rockwell and Lewis visited with Moving Pictures to discuss the making of Tony Goldwyn’s film, which is now available on DVD and Blu-ray.
- 2/3/2011
- by admin
- Moving Pictures Network
By Elliot V. Kotek
In his review of the film “Conviction,” Moving Pictures critic Barrett Hooper notes that Sam Rockwell “gives his every scene as Kenny Waters a much-needed jolt, especially in an early flashback when he goes from dancing with his infant daughter to pressing a broken beer bottle to a bar patron’s throat.” Based on a true story, Rockwell’s character is serving a life sentence for a brutal murder he did not commit, and it’s his older sister, Betty Anne (Hilary Swank) — a high-school dropout and single mother who put herself through law school — who must fight to earn his release. Meanwhile, Juliette Lewis gives a solid performance as Roseanna Perry, a barfly who becomes a key witness at Waters’ retrial. Rockwell and Lewis visited with Moving Pictures to discuss the making of Tony Goldwyn’s film, which is now available on DVD and Blu-ray.
In his review of the film “Conviction,” Moving Pictures critic Barrett Hooper notes that Sam Rockwell “gives his every scene as Kenny Waters a much-needed jolt, especially in an early flashback when he goes from dancing with his infant daughter to pressing a broken beer bottle to a bar patron’s throat.” Based on a true story, Rockwell’s character is serving a life sentence for a brutal murder he did not commit, and it’s his older sister, Betty Anne (Hilary Swank) — a high-school dropout and single mother who put herself through law school — who must fight to earn his release. Meanwhile, Juliette Lewis gives a solid performance as Roseanna Perry, a barfly who becomes a key witness at Waters’ retrial. Rockwell and Lewis visited with Moving Pictures to discuss the making of Tony Goldwyn’s film, which is now available on DVD and Blu-ray.
- 2/3/2011
- by admin
- Moving Pictures Magazine
The title of this well-made, highly conventional, true-life story refers to the conviction in 1983 of feckless lowlife Kenny Waters (Sam Rockwell) for the brutal murder in rural Massachusetts of a middle-aged woman, and to the conviction of his devoted sister, Betty Anne (Hilary Swank), that he is innocent.
The film follows Betty Anne's 18-year campaign to clear his name that involved her sacrificing her marriage to get a law degree, then digging up new evidence, using the newly discovered tool of DNA and gaining the help of the idealistic lawyer Barry Scheck (Peter Gallagher), founder of the Innocence Project. A major plus is that little attempt is made to make the wrongly convicted brother appear likable.
The most striking performances, however, come from Melissa Leo as an embittered policewoman who played a major part in Waters's framing, and Juliette Lewis as a drunken trailer-park slut blackmailed into perjuring herself to convict him.
The film follows Betty Anne's 18-year campaign to clear his name that involved her sacrificing her marriage to get a law degree, then digging up new evidence, using the newly discovered tool of DNA and gaining the help of the idealistic lawyer Barry Scheck (Peter Gallagher), founder of the Innocence Project. A major plus is that little attempt is made to make the wrongly convicted brother appear likable.
The most striking performances, however, come from Melissa Leo as an embittered policewoman who played a major part in Waters's framing, and Juliette Lewis as a drunken trailer-park slut blackmailed into perjuring herself to convict him.
- 1/16/2011
- by Philip French
- The Guardian - Film News
Hillary Swank film about woman who fought brother's murder conviction reminds us what it means to condemn the innocent
For some reason, films about law always produce great lines. I always remember Erin Brockovich saying: "Look, I don't know shit about shit but I know right from wrong!" Then there was Mitch McDeere in The Firm: "You want to know something funny? You actually made me think about the law. I managed to go through three years of law school without doing that."
And who can forget Legally Blonde, when Elle defends her client Brooke, a fitness video queen accused of murdering her rich elderly husband. "I just don't think that Brooke could've done this. Exercise gives you endorphins. Endorphins make you happy. Happy people just don't shoot their husbands, they just don't."
A new law-related film means a new favourite quote. In Conviction, which tells the story of a...
For some reason, films about law always produce great lines. I always remember Erin Brockovich saying: "Look, I don't know shit about shit but I know right from wrong!" Then there was Mitch McDeere in The Firm: "You want to know something funny? You actually made me think about the law. I managed to go through three years of law school without doing that."
And who can forget Legally Blonde, when Elle defends her client Brooke, a fitness video queen accused of murdering her rich elderly husband. "I just don't think that Brooke could've done this. Exercise gives you endorphins. Endorphins make you happy. Happy people just don't shoot their husbands, they just don't."
A new law-related film means a new favourite quote. In Conviction, which tells the story of a...
- 1/11/2011
- by Afua Hirsch
- The Guardian - Film News
In the Us, the Innocence Project has freed 260 people imprisoned for crimes they did not commit – and inspired a new film starring Hilary Swank. In the UK the work is just beginning, but the lawyers who only take the most desperate cases of injustice have a first victory in their sights...
It was, in the words of the judge presiding over the case, a "brutal and undignified death". A 79-year-old woman, Joan Albert, had been stabbed in a sudden, savage and brutal attack, her body found in the hallway of her Suffolk home on 16 December 2001. The pensioner had, police believed, been murdered during a burglary that had gone wrong.
Following months of investigations and forensic tests, the man charged with the murder was a 25-year-old office worker named Simon Hall. Hall claimed he was innocent: on the night of the murder he had been out drinking seven miles from Albert's...
It was, in the words of the judge presiding over the case, a "brutal and undignified death". A 79-year-old woman, Joan Albert, had been stabbed in a sudden, savage and brutal attack, her body found in the hallway of her Suffolk home on 16 December 2001. The pensioner had, police believed, been murdered during a burglary that had gone wrong.
Following months of investigations and forensic tests, the man charged with the murder was a 25-year-old office worker named Simon Hall. Hall claimed he was innocent: on the night of the murder he had been out drinking seven miles from Albert's...
- 1/9/2011
- by Sarfraz Manzoor
- The Guardian - Film News
“Deep Vote,” an Oscar winning screenwriter and a member of the Academy, will write this column — exclusively for ScottFeinberg.com — every week until the Academy Awards. He will help to peel back the curtain on the Oscar voting process by sharing his thoughts about the films he sees and, ultimately, his nomination and final ballots, as well. His identity must be protected in order to spare him from repercussions for disclosing the aforementioned information.
Thus far, he has shared his thoughts in column one about his general preferences; column two about “Winter’s Bone” (Roadside Attractions, 6/11, R, trailer) and “Solitary Man” (Anchor Bay Films, 5/21, R, trailer); column three about “Alice in Wonderland” (Disney, 3/5, PG, trailer), “Toy Story 3” (Disney, 6/18, G, trailer), and “Mother and Child” (Sony Pictures Classics, 5/7, R, trailer); column four about “Get Low” (Sony Pictures Classics, 7/30, PG-13, trailer), “The Kids Are All Right” (Focus Features, 7/9, R, trailer), and “The Social Network” (Columbia,...
Thus far, he has shared his thoughts in column one about his general preferences; column two about “Winter’s Bone” (Roadside Attractions, 6/11, R, trailer) and “Solitary Man” (Anchor Bay Films, 5/21, R, trailer); column three about “Alice in Wonderland” (Disney, 3/5, PG, trailer), “Toy Story 3” (Disney, 6/18, G, trailer), and “Mother and Child” (Sony Pictures Classics, 5/7, R, trailer); column four about “Get Low” (Sony Pictures Classics, 7/30, PG-13, trailer), “The Kids Are All Right” (Focus Features, 7/9, R, trailer), and “The Social Network” (Columbia,...
- 1/4/2011
- by Scott Feinberg
- Scott Feinberg
The Good Wife gave fans an early Christmas present this week: one of the best episodes in the show's history, if not on television this year in general.
Everything about "Nine Hours" spoke to what makes this drama so compelling, from small character developments, to cultural references to its ability to immediately draw viewers in with a suspenseful case.
Indeed, before the opening credits even rolled, I was hooked on the race against time to save that death row inmate's life. I was also craving french toast.
What made the installment so impressive was how it juggled so many people, in so many locales, at such a rapid-fire pace. I certainly can't recall any other series basing an hour around so many phone calls, but each felt more tense than the previous one.
While most of "Nine Hours" was dedicated to the firm's pressing legal case, the episode still touched...
Everything about "Nine Hours" spoke to what makes this drama so compelling, from small character developments, to cultural references to its ability to immediately draw viewers in with a suspenseful case.
Indeed, before the opening credits even rolled, I was hooked on the race against time to save that death row inmate's life. I was also craving french toast.
What made the installment so impressive was how it juggled so many people, in so many locales, at such a rapid-fire pace. I certainly can't recall any other series basing an hour around so many phone calls, but each felt more tense than the previous one.
While most of "Nine Hours" was dedicated to the firm's pressing legal case, the episode still touched...
- 12/15/2010
- by matt@mediavine.com (Matt Richenthal)
- TVfanatic
At some point in the life of a lawyer or cop show, you can expect to see a death-row story. The race to either free an innocent man or prove a wrongdoer's guilt is a natural for hour-long dramas. (Heck, even Grey's Anatomy covered the topic memorably a few years ago when Meredith witnessed the execution of a former patient.)
Few lawyer shows do the death-row story as well as this week's The Good Wife, however. And not just because Barry Scheck, founder of The Innocence Project, makes a cameo appearance as himself (the political cameo being a Tgw specialty). Mainly, it's the nuanced way that characters examine what they believe in, what's really important to them. And because Tgw rarely goes for pat answers, you don't even know till the last minute how it will come out. Will the man be executed?...
Few lawyer shows do the death-row story as well as this week's The Good Wife, however. And not just because Barry Scheck, founder of The Innocence Project, makes a cameo appearance as himself (the political cameo being a Tgw specialty). Mainly, it's the nuanced way that characters examine what they believe in, what's really important to them. And because Tgw rarely goes for pat answers, you don't even know till the last minute how it will come out. Will the man be executed?...
- 12/15/2010
- by editor@buddytv.com
- buddytv.com
"Nine Hours" was a perfect name for the latest episode of The Good Wife. Not only did it relate to the case of the death row inmate and the nine hours to secure a stay of execution, it also refers to the nine extraordinary hours of television we have been blessed with so far during season two.
Unlike most episodes revolving around a specific case, this one didn't take place in the offices of Lockhart, Gardner and Bond. The predominant scenes were filmed in Alicia's bedroom and the Indiana Correctional Facility that housed Carter Wright as he awaited his fate on death row, allowing for some character interactions we wouldn't have seen otherwise. Other interesting points were Diane's increased involvement in the case and the absence of Derrick Bond. I've been awaiting Diane doing something other than sitting behind her desk. I was kind of surprised that she was a calm as she was.
Unlike most episodes revolving around a specific case, this one didn't take place in the offices of Lockhart, Gardner and Bond. The predominant scenes were filmed in Alicia's bedroom and the Indiana Correctional Facility that housed Carter Wright as he awaited his fate on death row, allowing for some character interactions we wouldn't have seen otherwise. Other interesting points were Diane's increased involvement in the case and the absence of Derrick Bond. I've been awaiting Diane doing something other than sitting behind her desk. I was kind of surprised that she was a calm as she was.
- 12/15/2010
- by Carissa Pavlica
- TVovermind.com
When we left off with "The Good Wife," Diane and David Lee were maybe starting their own firm, Cary stood up for Kalinda (who is being framed for the doctor's assault by Blake), the Childs camp launched a strike on the Florrick kids in response to a perceived attack on Childs' kid that was in fact masterminded by Evil Becca, and Alicia learned of Will's voicemail. Needless to say, there was a lot of stuff.
Speaking of a lot of stuff, "Nine Hours" was a jam-packed episode of "The Good Wife." So ... here we go.
Case of the Week
Carter Wright is on death row for arson/murder and the firm is appealing, but weirdly Kerrigan, a 7th circuit court clerk, calls Alicia about an addendum to the appeal. The clerk is trying to tell the firm something about their appeal without being able to spell it out. They have...
Speaking of a lot of stuff, "Nine Hours" was a jam-packed episode of "The Good Wife." So ... here we go.
Case of the Week
Carter Wright is on death row for arson/murder and the firm is appealing, but weirdly Kerrigan, a 7th circuit court clerk, calls Alicia about an addendum to the appeal. The clerk is trying to tell the firm something about their appeal without being able to spell it out. They have...
- 12/15/2010
- by editorial@zap2it.com
- Zap2It - From Inside the Box
When her brother was convicted of murder, Betty Anne Waters swapped waitressing for law school to prove his innocence. Eighteen years later, she secured his release from jail, but at what personal cost?
The plot of a new film out next year appears, at first glance, to belong in the long tradition of Hollywood prison movie tear-jerkers. A young man – charismatic but volatile, a local troublemaker – is charged with the brutal murder of his female neighbour. To his family's disbelief, he is convicted and sentenced to life in prison without parole. Protestations of innocence fall on deaf ears, all appeals fail, and he is condemned to live out his life in jail. In desperation, his sister – a pub waitress and high-school dropout – puts herself through law school, hoping to fight for his innocence herself. Against all odds, she unearths DNA evidence to clear his name and, after 18 years behind bars,...
The plot of a new film out next year appears, at first glance, to belong in the long tradition of Hollywood prison movie tear-jerkers. A young man – charismatic but volatile, a local troublemaker – is charged with the brutal murder of his female neighbour. To his family's disbelief, he is convicted and sentenced to life in prison without parole. Protestations of innocence fall on deaf ears, all appeals fail, and he is condemned to live out his life in jail. In desperation, his sister – a pub waitress and high-school dropout – puts herself through law school, hoping to fight for his innocence herself. Against all odds, she unearths DNA evidence to clear his name and, after 18 years behind bars,...
- 12/11/2010
- by Decca Aitkenhead
- The Guardian - Film News
This film shouldn't work. It's got all the hallmarks of...well, a fucking Hallmark Channel film. It's based on the true story of a working-class Massachusetts mother who puts herself through law school so she can overturn her ne'er-do-well brother's conviction after he's been imprisoned for 18 years on a bogus murder charge. The cast contains three actresses I can't fucking stand -- Minnie Driver, Hilary Swank, and Juliette Lewis. It's so paint-by-numbers emotionally exploitative you can still see the black crease marks marked "happy" and "sad." But Boston is the new black, and by harshing up those vowels and dropping the r's and giving the actors free reign with those lovable blue-collar f-bombs, Tony Goldwyn makes Pamela Gray's script fucking work. Their last collaboration resulted in what some folks find one of the most underrated sexual-awakening flicks of all time, A Walk on the Moon. You can see every...
- 10/26/2010
- by Brian Prisco
The new drama Conviction is based on a true story and aspires to be an inspirational tale of a scrappy underdog fighting the system similar to Rudy and Erin Brokovich. And like those films, Conviction benefits from some great actors helping to tell this true tale.
The movie begins in 1980 at a horrific crime scene . A woman in Ayer, Ma has been brutally murdered in her tiny, trailer park home. Officer Nancy Taylor (Frozen River’s Melissa Leo) picks up Kenny Waters (Moon’s Sam Rockwell) for questioning(this after a heated verbal altercation). Kenny’s sister Betty Ann (Amelia’s Hilary Swank) and her hubby Rick (Mumford’s Loren Dean) pick him up from the police station after his release. A couple years pass and Kenny is picked up again and charged with the murder. After hearing damning testimonies from his former girlfriends (Zodiak’s Clea DuVall and Old School...
The movie begins in 1980 at a horrific crime scene . A woman in Ayer, Ma has been brutally murdered in her tiny, trailer park home. Officer Nancy Taylor (Frozen River’s Melissa Leo) picks up Kenny Waters (Moon’s Sam Rockwell) for questioning(this after a heated verbal altercation). Kenny’s sister Betty Ann (Amelia’s Hilary Swank) and her hubby Rick (Mumford’s Loren Dean) pick him up from the police station after his release. A couple years pass and Kenny is picked up again and charged with the murder. After hearing damning testimonies from his former girlfriends (Zodiak’s Clea DuVall and Old School...
- 10/22/2010
- by Jim Batts
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
The new drama Convicted is based on a true story and aspires to be an inspirational tale of a scrappy underdog fighting the system similar to Rudy and Erin Brokovich. And like those films, Conviction benefits from some great actors helping to tell this true tale.
The movie begins in 1980 at a horrific crime scene . A woman in Ayer, Ma has been brutally murdered in her tiny, trailer park home. Officer Nancy Taylor(Frozen River’s Melissa Leo) picks up Kenny Waters(Moon’s Sam Rockwell) for questioning(this after a heated verbal altercation). Kenny’s sister Betty Ann(Amelia’s Hilary Swank) and her hubby Rick(Mumford’s Loren Dean) pick him up from the police station after his release. A couple years pass and Kenny is picked up again and charged with the murder. After hearing damning testimonies from his former girlfriends(Zodiak’s Clea DuVall and Old School...
The movie begins in 1980 at a horrific crime scene . A woman in Ayer, Ma has been brutally murdered in her tiny, trailer park home. Officer Nancy Taylor(Frozen River’s Melissa Leo) picks up Kenny Waters(Moon’s Sam Rockwell) for questioning(this after a heated verbal altercation). Kenny’s sister Betty Ann(Amelia’s Hilary Swank) and her hubby Rick(Mumford’s Loren Dean) pick him up from the police station after his release. A couple years pass and Kenny is picked up again and charged with the murder. After hearing damning testimonies from his former girlfriends(Zodiak’s Clea DuVall and Old School...
- 10/22/2010
- by Jim Batts
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
Director: Tony Goldwyn Writer: Pamela Gray Starring: Hilary Swank, Sam Rockwell, Minnie Driver, Juliette Lewis, Melissa Leo, Drew Smith Kenny Waters (Sam Rockwell) is the local wise-ass and troublemaker of an otherwise quaint and peaceful rural lower-middle-class Massachusetts town (Kenny is the type of guy who dances at a local bar with his baby daughter, then gets into a bar brawl and buys a shot for the unsuspecting victim of his headbutt, then performs a striptease on stage with the cover band); therefore when a local woman is brutally murdered in her trailer-home, Kenny is the very first (and, apparently, the only) suspect to be arrested. Upon making some snarky and sexist comments to the arresting officer, Nancy Taylor (Melissa Leo), Kenny unknowingly condemns himself to a life sentence without parole -- though it takes Officer Taylor another two years (during which time Kenny is set free) to pile up...
- 10/16/2010
- by Don Simpson
- SmellsLikeScreenSpirit
Chicago – The United States, with the largest prison population in the Western world, obviously has used the system to incarcerate undesirables in the society, whether they are guilty or not. The access to real justice is played out in the cumbersome “Conviction,” featuring Hilary Swank, Sam Rockwell, Minnie Driver and Melissa Leo.
Rating: 2.5/5.0
Conviction is the based-on-truth story of Betty Anne Walters (Hilary Swank), whose brother Kenny (Sam Rockwell) is accused of murder in the early 1980s. When circumstantial evidence and flimsy testimony still garners a conviction, Betty Anne makes a promise to herself to find a way to free Kenny, and begins a journey that takes her to a new path.
Kenny is shown to be a wild man, barely in control, as the flashbacks of he and Betty Anne’s difficult childhood illustrates. When the murder of one his former girlfriends occur, the suspicion immediately points to him.
Rating: 2.5/5.0
Conviction is the based-on-truth story of Betty Anne Walters (Hilary Swank), whose brother Kenny (Sam Rockwell) is accused of murder in the early 1980s. When circumstantial evidence and flimsy testimony still garners a conviction, Betty Anne makes a promise to herself to find a way to free Kenny, and begins a journey that takes her to a new path.
Kenny is shown to be a wild man, barely in control, as the flashbacks of he and Betty Anne’s difficult childhood illustrates. When the murder of one his former girlfriends occur, the suspicion immediately points to him.
- 10/15/2010
- by adam@hollywoodchicago.com (Adam Fendelman)
- HollywoodChicago.com
The Playlist: Kevin Jagernauth reports that the organizers of the Academy Awards are exploring the possibility of moving up the 2012 ceremony to January as part of “a continuing effort to boost flagging viewership.” It would, however, face “considerable competition from the last weeks of the NFL season” and “the window to get out screeners” would become very condensed (which has prompted discussion about a secure Web site through which members could instantly access films online).
CNN: Larry King announces that he will devote the full hour of tonight’s “Larry King Live” to the new film “Conviction,” another huge coup for the folks at Fox Searchlight. Guests will include the film’s director Tony Goldwyn; stars Hilary Swank, Sam Rockwell, and Minnie Driver; and real-life inspirations Betty Anne Waters, Abra Rice, and Barry Scheck. Also appearing will be 12 individuals from across the country who were convicted of crimes they did not commit,...
CNN: Larry King announces that he will devote the full hour of tonight’s “Larry King Live” to the new film “Conviction,” another huge coup for the folks at Fox Searchlight. Guests will include the film’s director Tony Goldwyn; stars Hilary Swank, Sam Rockwell, and Minnie Driver; and real-life inspirations Betty Anne Waters, Abra Rice, and Barry Scheck. Also appearing will be 12 individuals from across the country who were convicted of crimes they did not commit,...
- 10/6/2010
- by Scott Feinberg
- Scott Feinberg
Director Tony Goldwyn talks to Film independent about his latest feature Conviction
Actor/director Tony Goldwyn saw his latest feature, Conviction, through nine years of development. At one time, the project was at Universal Pictures. But when the studio decided not to make it, Goldwyn was able to take it and try to raise the money elsewhere, along with producer Andrew Karsch, who was the first to buy the rights to the story of brother and sister Betty Anne and Kenny Waters. Kenny Waters spent 18 years in prison for murder--a crime he maintained he never committed. His sister, a working mother of two young children, decided to finish college and attend law school to exonerate her brother. She enlisted the help of celebrity lawyer Barry Scheck and the Innocence Project, which takes on questionable death penalty cases and investigates through DNA and other techniques to see if the person convicted...
Actor/director Tony Goldwyn saw his latest feature, Conviction, through nine years of development. At one time, the project was at Universal Pictures. But when the studio decided not to make it, Goldwyn was able to take it and try to raise the money elsewhere, along with producer Andrew Karsch, who was the first to buy the rights to the story of brother and sister Betty Anne and Kenny Waters. Kenny Waters spent 18 years in prison for murder--a crime he maintained he never committed. His sister, a working mother of two young children, decided to finish college and attend law school to exonerate her brother. She enlisted the help of celebrity lawyer Barry Scheck and the Innocence Project, which takes on questionable death penalty cases and investigates through DNA and other techniques to see if the person convicted...
- 9/30/2010
- by maint
- Film Independent
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