Aaron Hernandez ‘American Sports Story’ series wants to show a different view of the disgraced NFLer

by | Sep 25, 2024 | Sports

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 sm …

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