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Josh Rivera Is Aaron Hernandez In American Sports Story On HULU And FX

The first installment of American Sports Story is based on the podcast Gladiator: Aaron Hernandez and Football Inc. from The Boston Globe and Wondery. The 10-episode limited series charts the rise and fall of NFL superstar Aaron Hernandez and explores the disparate strands of his identity, his family, his career, his suicide and their legacy in sports and American culture.

Starring as Aaron Hernandez is Josh Rivera, who recently starred in the hit film The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes. Prior to that, Rivera made an impact as “Chino” in Steven Spielberg’s adaptation of West Side Storywhich received rave reviews from critics. A seasoned stage actor, Rivera also performed in the first national tour of the smash hit musical Hamilton.

Broadcast on:: 28 Sep 2024
Audio Format:: other

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Josh, I got to tell you something, I am so proud of you doing this, this American sports story, Erin Hernandez, and the reason why is because teaming up with Hulu and FX, what's going on here is that we know the headlines. We know what happened after the headlines, but we don't know the story until right now. Yeah, I've been throwing around the term "emotional context" a lot. It's something that's really cool that provides a bit of a through-line for the context of him growing up into going into college and then going into the league and just what that sort of looks like on a young man's mind and all the factors that kind of go into what ended up happening. It's a cool take on it. I think people are going to like it. One of the things that you do and you do it so well is that you're now him in the eyes of the people that are going to watch this on Hulu and on FX. Do you know what I mean? Like when we think of Erin Hernandez now, we're going to think of your image. Yeah, that's a somebody else told me that too, I guess that's like, I'm happy then I got a little bit of facial augmentation and it is a different look, it's kind of a departure from what I usually look like, which I'm kind of happy about that because it is weird to think that that's going to be associated with me in a really close way now. Yeah, I don't know, that's still kind of dawning on me. Yeah. Does it feel kind of interesting to be able to get that close to the sport of football and to be a part of a story such as that? Yeah, I had a lot of fun doing the football bits. I don't know if you've, I've been talking about how I played in high school a lot. I used to be really, really into the sport, I ended up leaving it when it started to get really serious. A lot of my peers wanted to play in college and I just wasn't that serious about it. But it was fun to dust off the chops and to be part of a team again and to be really physical with people. I had a really good time with doing that and it's such a cultural pillar too, like people are really, really invested in football as a sport in the United States, but particularly as it pertains to this story, I mean, the amount of like people that were in the Patriots and that kind of dynasty, people who played for the Florida Gators, that championship too. It was a lot of history that I got to learn that I didn't, I wasn't so be familiar with before. And it's almost like what, what I feel in watching it, it's, it's, it's, you guys are saying, Hey, look, look beyond the sports figure. Look at the child who became the man who became where he is today. It's like you're saying, there is a story here. Here it is. Yeah, absolutely, absolutely. And anybody who is familiar with kind of the news articles and everything that was coming out, you know, there's, there's what you have there at face value, but it doesn't take that much investigating to realize that it is an extremely layered, extremely complex story. When you're talking about his upbringing and as well as some external factors, not even to mention the CTE, the brain issues going on, I mean, without that you have these external factors that are, that can be enabling to some, some negative behaviors, I mean, particularly in the college years. And I think that teaches some really dangerous lessons that kind of mix into this very dangerous cocktail that sort of leads to the conclusion that we all know. There's only one feeling like knowing your banker personally, like growing up with a bank you can count on, like being sure what you've earned is safe, secure, and local. There's only one feeling like knowing you're supporting your community. You deserve more from a bank. You deserve an institution that stood strong for generations. Bank of Colorado, there's only one. Your FDIC At Sprouts Farmers Market, we're all about fresh, healthy, and delicious. That's why you'll find the season's best organic produce hand-picked and waiting for you in the center of our store. We bring in local farm fresh fruits and veggies bursting with flavor. Come on in to discover everyday favorites, like juicy berries and crisp greens, but also unique peak season varieties, like moon drop or cotton candy grapes. Visit your neighborhood Sprouts Farmers Market today where fresh produce is always in season. Did you have the opportunity to listen to Aaron's voice because, I mean, I'm such a voice person where I want to hear their emotions, their inflection, their pitch, their volume, their tone? Yeah, absolutely. That was actually a big part of my research early on. There were some phone calls that were recorded while he was in prison that were very, very helpful because we all, to a certain extent, change our disposition and our attitudes depending on the relationship that we have with the person that we're talking to. That was something that he did to varying degrees where he would use different levels of tenderness and swagger, depending on if he was talking to friends or family or which friends he was talking to, and that was really useful information to me, just because we know that there was this double life there and that it was a huge shock to people who were very, very close to him, so that change in temperature, even though it might be really common, it takes on just a little bit more of a sinister tone. I found that very helpful. When you talk about that storyline and you're talking about that, those two different lifestyles, oh my God, stepping into that role, that meant you had to experience it by way of acting and how do you shake that off onto your next scene or in your personal life because it was it easy to step into two different sides of your life in a situation like that? I think it's a really easy thing to romanticize from the outside, but to be honest, I had a lot of help. I had really good directors. I did a lot of prep and I think it was just important to pay attention to the emotions and what I knew about his history as how it pertained to the scene that we were filming. I'm very much a kind of person that I really kind of leave it all at work. I really don't take anything home with me. I will say that I was exhausted. I mean, it's a very exhausting product. It's quite the commitment, but yeah. We've all known that pro sports is the great mystery and one of the things that you do in this story is you kind of take that away. You invite us to look beyond other sports figures to be able to say they've got a story as well. Yeah. Something that I find really interesting about athletics as a whole and this is coming from my perspective as an actor who's now kind of navigating this industry, this landscape from a different perspective as this is the first time leading the show. I'm kind of a realized adult, which I feel really fortunate and that I have the luxury of this happening right now in my life. But then when you think of athletes, I mean, these are very, very young men and women who come into so much wealth and popularity at a very young, very formative periods of their life where a lot of us, I mean, a huge majority of people, we're all still figuring it out. We're going to college, we're just, you know, we're just finding out how we want to build the groundwork for the rest of our lives. And I can only imagine what it would be like to step into so much wealth and pressure at such a young age. I mean, Aaron Hernandez was one of the youngest people ever drafted into the league to one of the most popular sports teams of all time, like what that could do. And there's, I'm sure there's multiple stories, you know, of varying degrees of complexity as well for a lot of athletes too. I can imagine it would just be, it'd be quite intense. Wow. Josh, you got to come back to this show anytime in the future. I love where your heart is. I love your acting. I just want to be able to dive deeper into your source of energy. Thanks, man. Well, invite me anytime you want. I'd love to. You bet. Be brilliant today. Okay, sir. Yeah. Thank you. But there's only one feeling like knowing your banker personally, like growing up with a bank you can count on, like being sure what you've earned is safe, secure, and local. There's only one feeling like knowing your supporting your community. You deserve more from a bank. You deserve an institution that stood strong for generations. Bank of Colorado, there's only one member FDIC. At Sprout's Farmers Market, we're all about fresh, healthy, and delicious. That's why you'll find the season's best local and organic produce handpicked and waiting for you in the center of our store. Visit your neighborhood Sprout's Farmers Market today, where fresh produce is always in season. (upbeat music)