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FX’s ‘American Sports Story: Aaron Hernandez’ Is a Familiar Tragedy Enhanced by a Transformative Lead Performance: TV Review
FX's new anthology series 'American Sports Story' centers its first season on football star Aaron Hernandez, played by a transformed Josh Rivera.
And as Hernandez himself, actor Josh Rivera — a musical theater performer by training who previously starred in Steven Spielberg’s “West Side Story” and the national touring company of “Hamilton” — utterly transforms into a player who was quick on his feet, but couldn’t outrun his own demons. The sole source of levity is a growling Bill Belichick impression courtesy of Rivera’s fellow stage veteran Norbert Leo Butz, a Bon Jovi-blasting caricature of winning prioritized over all else, including players’ welfare. In scripting the final moments of Odin Lloyd, a senseless killing with no rhyme or reason in Hernandez’s deteriorated mental state, the writers emphasize the player’s paranoia that anyone might find out about his strictly guarded sexuality.
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