Three years after making his film debut in Steven Spielberg’s 2021 remake of West Side Story, Josh Andrés Rivera has found himself with the opportunity to show his full range as an actor.
In the 10-episode limited series American Sports Story: Aaron Hernandez, Rivera plays the real-life title character. A former tight end with the New England Patriots, Hernandez was convicted of the first-degree murder of semi-professional American football player Odin Lloyd in 2013 and sentenced to life in prison.
In 2017, Hernandez was found dead in his jail cell after hanging himself with a bed sheet. Following his death, an autopsy revealed Hernandez suffered from severe chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE). Rivera said it was the complexity of the character that spoke to him the most.
“I don’t think it’s uncommon for people to get really excited about something that has so many layers,” Rivera, 29, told Remezcla during a recent interview. “When I was initially diving into some of the material, what really attracted me to it were the … twists and turns and inner turmoil. [The role] was very meaty.”
To research the role, Rivera used the countless resources that were provided to him, including phone calls Hernandez had when he was behind bars. This gave him a different perspective that he used to craft his performance into something he describes as “chameleonic.”
“[There are] a lot of perspectives, and some of them tell different stories entirely than others,” Rivera said. “The prison phone calls were really important for me [to see] what kind of energy he approached certain relationships and how that changed between certain members of his family and friends.”
Along with Hernandez’s crimes and the events that affected his turbulent life, including a childhood filled with abuse, American Sports Story also delves deep into his struggle with his sexuality. Although Hernandez’ sexuality had always been speculated, it did not get much exposure until after his death when it was explored in the 2020 true crime documentary series, Killer Inside: The Mind of Aaron Hernandez.
“Our job is to tell the story with all of these factors put in place as far as how his life progressed chronologically,” Rivera said. “[Hernandez’s sexuality] was a factor that I think had a lot to do with his self-image and his relationship to masculinity.”
Going into this project, one factor Rivera said he was concerned about was whether making a TV series about Hernandez somehow romanticized him and the crimes he committed. Rivera found solace in knowing that American Sports Story didn’t let anybody “off the hook.” This includes the fact that Hernandez’s participation in football his entire life led to him suffering from CTE, which is extremely likely to have had a negative impact on his behavior and judgment.
“By the time his brain was examined … the claim was that he had the impulse control of a seven-year-old,” Rivera said. “There were a lot of things that came together in just this perfect, horrible way.”
American Sports Story: Aaron Hernandez airs on Tuesdays at 10p.m. ET on FX. The limited series will also stream on Hulu.
