The cat seems to be out the bag now. ESPN is officially working on a 30 for 30 special on O.J. Simpson that will reportedly be up to five hours long.
On The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz last week, 30 for 30 producer Bill Simmons seemed to confirm the news at about the 44:30 minute mark of the podcast.
Le Batard: “That’s a 30 for 30 that’s going to end up being five hours long, right? The O.J. Simpson stuff?”
Simmons: “Yeah, they’re blowing that one out. That one, I think has a lot of potential. There’s been enough distance now that I think that one could be pretty good.”
Le Batard: “Did I reveal a secret there that I wasn’t supposed to reveal?”
Simmons: No, you did not.
At the time, it seemed like a tongue-in-cheek reveal, but today, Alan Pergament from the Buffalo News reports that he was interviewed off-camera for the documentary back in October. Pergament followed up on the story last week and received confirmation from ESPN that the documentary is in production.
The producer who interviewed me forwarded an email I sent her late last week to an ESPN publicist, who released the following statement about the film.
“It is too early in the production stages of this project to provide additional details,” said an ESPN spokesperson.
This, of course, is not the series’ first foray into covering O.J. or the infamous trial. It was also detailed in June 17th, 1994 back in 2010, during the initial run of the critically acclaimed documentary series.
There is no announced release date for the new incarnation, but the 20th anniversary of the not guilty verdict in the Simpson trial is this October, and that could prove to be the most opportune time for the premiere.
(Sources: ESPN & The Buffalo News)
