It has been a long time since O.J. Simpson appeared in a movie, for obvious reasons, but it looks like he is trying to mount a comeback with a role in Sacha Baron Cohen‘s next film.
A source told The Mail on Sunday that Baron Cohen met with Simpson in a Las Vegas hotel room, wearing a curly dark wig and thick-rimmed glasses to film a prank for the movie. Simpson would not even get into the hotel room until after he received $20,000 in cash.
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“There was no way Sacha could have got OJ into the room without paying money,” the source told the Mail.
The Mail made no mention of what movie Baron Cohen was working on that would involve a scene with Simpson. His next project is Mandrake the Magician, a film based on the legendary 1934 comic strip character. The project has been in the works for over a decade, and Baron Cohen joined in 2016, Variety reported at the time. The film will be directed by Get Hard director Etan Cohen for Warner Bros.
The Mail did not get a comment from Baron Cohen, but they spoke with Simpson, who admitted to knowing the Oscar-nominated Borat star. “I know him well. I met him. Nice guy,” he said.
After retiring from the NFL, Simpson transitioned to acting, appearing in the Naked Gun sequels, The Towering Inferno and a handful of other movies and TV shows. He was accused of murdering ex-wife Nicole Brown and her boyfriend, Ron Goldman, in 1994, but was infamously acquitted. He still owes the Brown and Goldman families $70 million from the civil lawsuit.
In October 2017, he was released from prison after serving nine years in jail for a 2007 Las Vegas robbery.
“Nicole and Ron are two human beings who were brutally murdered. This is not a joke nor is it entertainment. If Sacha makes this a comedic effort his victims will be personified as a joke,” Brown’s sister, Tanya, told the Mail. “Shame on him.”
“If money changed hands then all of the money paid should go to Ron’s father Fred,” Goldman family lawyer David Cook told the Mail. “There is a legal and moral imperative here.”
