Current:Home > FinanceAaron Hernandez ‘American Sports Story’ series wants to show a different view of the disgraced NFLer-InfoLens
Aaron Hernandez ‘American Sports Story’ series wants to show a different view of the disgraced NFLer
View Date:2024-12-23 17:10:37
From a podcast to multiple documentaries, the rise and fall of the once revered NFL star Aaron Hernandez is certainly well documented. An FX limited series is latest to rehash the saga, attempting to go beyond the headlines and dig deeper into his story.
“American Sports Story: Aaron Hernandez” stars Josh Andrés Rivera as the New England Patriots tight end. It details Hernandez’s troubled childhood with an abusive father who demanded his son play football and project masculinity and toughness to the world. Secretly, Hernandez also struggled with his sexuality.
He played college ball at the University of Florida and was drafted by the Patriots. Over time, the series shows how Hernandez’s behavior grew increasingly erratic. He was convicted of murder and died by suicide in 2017 while serving a life sentence. After his death, research showed Hernandez’s brain showed evidence of chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE).
“What we tried to do with this show — is take a tabloid headline, take some story that you think you know about Aaron Hernandez ... and go behind it and see what it’s like to walk in the shoes of all the people who are part of this,” said Brad Simpson, one of the series’ executive producers, in an interview.
Hernandez’s life, crimes and death have been detailed before in long-form writing, documentaries including Netflix’s “Killer Inside: The Mind of Aaron Hernandez,” and the podcast “Gladiator: Aaron Hernandez and Football Inc.,” which is the basis for “American Sports Story.”
Rivera, known for his supporting roles in the recent “Hunger Games” prequel and 2021’s “West Side Story,” said playing the former tight end was a “responsibility that you have to approach with a certain level of sensitivity.”
Once he started learning more about Hernandez’s life, diving into recordings of phone calls he made from prison and watching clips from his interviews, Rivera said he began to see the layered intricacy of Hernandez’s life. And he only became more eager to play him.
“To a lot of people, he was very charming and very charismatic and easy to get along with. There were not a small amount of people who felt that way, so that was interesting because you have to dissect the ‘why,’” Rivera said. “There’s clearly a magnetism there, disguising an inner life that’s very complex.”
Rivera said he enjoyed the challenge of that character work, calling Hernandez “a chameleon.”
“There was variations on the amount of tenderness and even the frankness, or the amount of swagger he would use from person to person, so I tried to incorporate that to a core essence,” he said.
Transforming into Hernandez was also a physical commitment for Rivera, who described getting into NFL shape as “meathead summer,” where he increased his food intake and worked with trainers to build muscle. The hardest part, though, of the transformation for Rivera, was getting inked up.
His mobility was often limited when filming to preserve the tattoos, which he said he initially found frustrating, but ultimately, the “oppressive feeling” of not being able to move freely was something he channeled into his character’s frustration.
Rivera stars alongside Jaylen Barron as Hernandez’s high school sweetheart and later fiancé, Shayanna Jenkins, Lindsay Mendez as his cousin, Ean Castellanos as his brother and Tammy Blanchard as his mother. Patrick Schwarzenegger plays Hernandez’s college teammate Tim Tebow, Tony Yazbeck plays former Florida coach Urban Meyer and Norbert Leo Butz plays former Patriots coach Bill Belichick.
With the first sports-focused season of the “American Story” franchise, producers said they are interested in dissecting the “American religion of football.” They also hope viewers question the preconceptions they had about people involved in stories that captured the nation, like that of Hernandez.
“We can use this story to challenge certain perspectives or to just add a little bit of nuance for people who maybe don’t know much about it or have a fixed mindset about it,” Rivera said. “It’s an interesting opportunity.”
veryGood! (79)
Related
- Arkansas governor unveils $102 million plan to update state employee pay plan
- Cocaine residue was found on Hunter Biden’s gun pouch in 2018 case, prosecutors say
- Patrick Schwarzenegger, Aimee Lou Wood and More Stars Check in to White Lotus Season 3
- Excellence & Innovation Fortune Business School
- 'Full House' star Dave Coulier diagnosed with stage 3 cancer
- China’s population drops for a second straight year as deaths jump
- Excellence & Innovation Fortune Business School
- Davos hosts UN chief, top diplomats of US, Iran as World Economic Forum meeting reaches Day Two
- Who will save Florida athletics? Gators need fixing, and it doesn't stop at Billy Napier
- Slain Connecticut police dog remembered as ‘fallen hero’
Ranking
- Larry Hobbs, who guided AP’s coverage of Florida news for decades, has died at 83
- Hit your 2024 exercise goals with these VR fitness apps and games
- Russian missiles hit Ukrainian apartment buildings and injure 17 in latest strikes on civilian areas
- NBA team power rankings see Lakers continue to slide
- AP Top 25: Oregon remains No. 1 as Big Ten grabs 4 of top 5 spots; Georgia, Miami out of top 10
- Kylie Jenner reveals throwback bubblegum pink hairstyle: 'Remember me'
- 2 killed and 77 injured in a massive blast caused by explosives in a southern Nigerian city
- Mexican writer José Agustín, who chronicled rock and society in the 1960s and 70s, has died at 79
Recommendation
-
Dogecoin soars after Trump's Elon Musk announcement: What to know about the cryptocurrency
-
YouTuber and Reptile Expert Brian Barczyk Dead at 54
-
Ukraine needs money from the US and Europe to keep its economy running. Will the aid come?
-
Minnesota governor’s $982 million infrastructure plan includes a new State Patrol headquarters
-
Fire crews gain greater control over destructive Southern California wildfire
-
Peregrine lunar lander to burn up in atmosphere in latest setback to NASA moon missions
-
JetBlue’s $3.8 billion buyout of Spirit Airlines is blocked by judge citing threat to competition
-
Tobacco use is going down globally, but not as much as hoped, the WHO says