Robert F. Kennedy is back with a new anthology series that explores the inner workings of one of America’s most sacred institutions through a tragic true story. In the inaugural season of American sports history, Murphy examines the rise and fall of Aaron Hernandez, the New England Patriots star who struggled with inner demons and was accused of multiple murders, one of which he was convicted of, the 2013 murder of Odin Lloyd.
In a new episode of Still watching, host Hillary Busis, Richard Lawson, And Chris Murphy unpack the first two episodes of American Sports History: Aaron Hernandez and chat with Josh Rivera, who portrays Hernandez, talks about his journey into becoming a professional athlete – and how working on the series changed his attitude towards football.
In his review of American Sports History: Aaron Hernandez, Lawson calls the new series “a worthwhile examination of a killer’s motives” and praises Rivera’s performance. “It is in many ways the role of a lifetime, an opportunity to explore extremes of the human experience that Rivera seizes with controlled enthusiasm,” Lawson writes. Speaking to Busis, Rivera, who is part of the first national tour of Hamilton and played in Steven Spielberg‘S West Side Story The remake reveals that he actually played football in high school, but gave it up when his passion for musical theater grew.
“I seriously considered it for a while,” he says of continuing with football. “It’s just a huge time commitment that made it really difficult to do anything else, and that’s when I started to really get interested in singing and performing. I first performed in front of an audience about my sophomore year of high school… It was something I started to pursue a little more seriously, and it just clashed with football a little bit.”
Getting back in shape was easier said than done for Rivera. After landing the role, he had just three months to transform his body into that of an NFL star tight end. “It was just a case of getting as big as possible by April,” he says. With the help of a personal trainer, he was able to gain weight. “I weighed 185 pounds and gained about 29 pounds, which was crazy,” Rivera continues. “I didn’t know that was possible naturally. I was in the gym five days a week and just ate as much as I could.”
Even more demanding than the physical was the mental strain of playing an actor as notorious as Hernandez. Rivera says he was scared to take on the role and found the task ahead “very daunting at first.”
“I’m very motivated not to make a fool of myself,” Rivera says. “I don’t consider myself a controversial person. I don’t want anyone to be offended or feel attacked in any way… I want it to be truthful, and ultimately my job is to use all the information I get and the resources available and paint a picture from that.”
