He turned down the role for $12 million. It was enough for him to know the plot. “You’re kidding me”

The film “The Juice” directed by Joshua Newton was supposed to concern the famous OJ Simpson trial. Dozens of productions have already been produced on this topic, but the vast majority of them focus on the acquittal of the former athlete, which is widely considered unjust. Although he was accused of murdering two people – his ex-wife and a waiter – the jury decided he was innocent.

Meanwhile, the British film would go against the common narrative that assumes the former athlete’s guilt regardless of the court’s verdict. One of the main roles was offered to Owen Wilson. The actor was adamant.

Owen Wilson turned down a role in the OJ Simpson movie

He was offered $12 million, the agent, director and screenwriter persuaded him. All this for nothing. Owen Wilson directly replied that he would not participate in any production that would promote the theory that OJ Simpson was (according to the court’s verdict, contrary to society’s sense of justice) innocent of double murder. In an interview with TMZ, Joshua Newton told what the meeting with the actor was like:

I saw him in Santa Monica. Everyone liked the script, his agent saw him in the role, we offered him $12 million. But at the end of lunch, Owen stood up and said that “if we think he’s going to star in a movie that says OJ Simpson didn’t do it, we’ve got to be kidding him.”

The role of Owen, who was supposed to play Douglas McCann, a lawyer who is absorbed in conspiracy theories surrounding the OJ Simpson trial, is to be played by someone else, although the director does not say who exactly. It is known that “The Juice” is only partially completed – the production has recordings of about 30 minutes of flashbacks. The role of OJ Simpson was played by German actor Boris Kodjoe, and his ex-wife was Charlotte Kirk.

The premiere of “The Juice” is tentatively scheduled for October 3, 2025 – on the 30th anniversary of the verdict in the OJ Simpson case.

Did OJ Simpson kill?

, who came to her house to return the glasses he left in the restaurant – we may never find out. OJ Simpson maintained his innocence throughout the trial and long after. Although the victim’s hair was found in his car, investigators found a missing glove from the crime scene near the house, OJ Simpson was also a partner who used regular domestic violence and had a motive to kill Nicole Brown Simpson in 1994, and he was also on the run from the police – all of these signs to his detriment, factors failed to convince the jury of his guilt. After nine months of trial, Simpson was acquitted. The whole affair became history in many respects. The trial of the century was followed by hundreds of thousands of people, and the verdict by up to 150 million television viewers. Each trial was broken down every day on television and in the newspapers. The words of the athlete’s defense attorney about the glove that did not fit Simpson’s hand became a symbol of criminal cases: “If the glove don’t fit, you must acquit.”

OJ Simpson Photo REUTERS/Pool New

OJ Simpson’s behavior in the years following the verdict also became symbolic. After two years, the civil court found that the man was guilty of the death of his ex-wife and Ronald Goldman. The athlete was ordered to pay the families of the victims multimillion-dollar compensation, which actually led to his quick bankruptcy. To save his financial situation, after a few years he published a book in which he describes extensively and in detail what, in his opinion, the day on which his ex-wife was murdered was like – but not the day of the “innocent” Simpson, but the day of the murderer. Simpson was eventually imprisoned in 2008 for theft and kidnapping, for which he was sentenced to 33 years in prison. He was released on parole in 2017, and in 2023 it was announced that he had cancer. He died in early April 2024.

Dozens of documentaries, TV series, films and books have been created about the OJ Simpson trial and story.