O.J. Tries to Squash TV Movie

ByABC News
August 15, 2000, 10:55 PM

L O S   A N G E L E S, Aug. 15 -- O.J. Simpson sent his lawyers to courttoday seeking to halt production of the first television moviedealing with his murder trial.

A judge, however, refused to issue a restraining order.

The movie, American Tragedy, is based on the best-sellingbook of the same title by Lawrence Schiller and James Willwerth.Simpson said it reveals inside secrets of his defense team andviolates his attorney-client privilege.

The lawsuit names Schiller and former Simpson lawyer RobertKardashian as well as Project 95, the company producing the moviefor CBS.

Superior Court Judge David Yaffe set another hearing for Sept. 6and said he would read the script in the interim to see if itdiscloses any information not already in the book. By the time thehearing is held, filming on the miniseries is expected to becomplete.

Too Late for Legal ActionSchillers lawyers said the challenge comes four years too late,that Simpson never pursued litigation when the book was publishedand that he cant show that the movie will cause him any harm.

Simpson was acquitted of murder in the 1994 slayings of hisex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and her friend, Ronald Goldman. Hewas subsequently found liable for the killings in a civil trial andordered to pay $33.5 million in damages.

The miniseries, starring actors Christopher Plummer, Ron Silver,Ving Rhames and Bruno Kirby, is being directed by Schiller. Thescript was written by Pulitzer Prize-winner Norman Mailer.

Attorney Gary Bostwick, representing Schiller, said in his briefthat Simpson has been threatening to sue since 1996 when the bookwas published. It was republished in paperback in 1997, but hestill took no action.

Simpson chose to sleep on his purported rights, waiting untildefendants were in the middle of filming the multimillion-dollartelevision miniseries on a tight production schedule to seekextraordinary injunctive relief, the brief said.

Bostwick argued that stopping production would violate freespeech rights and cause millions of dollars in damages.