It was almost a year ago when John Travolta went viral as the guy who introduced Idina Menzel as Adele Dazeem at the Oscars. Now he’s about to appear in a major TV role for Ryan Murphy’s upcoming anthology series American Crime Story.
The star will play defense attorney Robert Shapiro in the FX crime drama. The real-life Shapiro was considered a key member of the “Dream Team” for O.J. Simpson during his murder trial. And not only that, but Travolta is taking on a role behind the camera as well — as a producer.
Travolta is widely known for hit movies such as Saturday Night Fever, Grease, Pulp Fiction and Hairspray, among many others. He was nominated for Best Actor at the Oscars for Fever and Pulp, and won a Golden Globe Award for Best Actor in a Musical Comedy for Get Shorty.
But American Crime Story will be his first major TV project since starring on Welcome Back, Kotter from 1975-1979, which was his breakout role.
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Ryan Murphy has managed to snag big names left and right for this series. Cuba Gooding, Jr. has signed on to play O.J. Simpson, David Schwimmer is playing attorney Robert Kardashian and Sarah Paulson, who is no stranger to Murphy (having starred in multiple seasons of American Horror Story, including the current one, Freak Show), is prosecutor Marcia Clark.
Should it be renewed, each season of American Crime Story will focus on a different real-life crime event, with the inaugural season centering on O.J. Simpson’s murder trial and based on the book The Run of His Life: The People v. O.J. Simpson. According to FX, the 10-episode run will be told from the perspective of the lawyers, and viewers will get to see behind-the-scenes from both sides of the trial.
Another new anthology series created by Ryan Murphy, Scream Queens, recently cast Emma Roberts and Jamie Lee Curtis in starring roles.
What do you think of this casting announcement? Are you looking forward to seeing John Travolta back on the small screen?
(Image courtesy of WENN)
Staff Writer, BuddyTV
Jeff Dodge, a graduate of Western Washington University, has been a TV news editor for many years and has had the chance to interview multiple reality show stars, including Randy Jackson, Nick Cannon, Heidi Klum, Mel B and John Cena.
