Being Bold: Director Anthony Hemingway on Underground and The People v. O.J. Simpson

Director Anthony Hemingway stands as the textbook definition of a wunderkind. Born to industry parents, Hemingway became involved in TV and film production at a very young age. Immediately recognizing his calling, he quickly rose through the ranks, achieving his first directing credit on the universally lauded fourth season of HBO’s The Wire. Since then, his resume has grown to include episodes of Battlestar Galactica, Glee, ER, Community, American Horror Story as well as his feature film debut, Red Tails, which chronicled the experiences of the first all African-American fighter plane squad during World War II. Today, Hemingway stands not only as one of the most preeminent African-American directors in the industry, but one of television’s go-to visionaries.
Hemingway’s two most recent projects are the blockbuster FX series, The People v. O.J., for which he directed a lion’s share of the episodes, and Underground, WGN’s blazing new period drama about the men and women of the Underground Railroad, a top secret network route and safe houses employed in the 1800s to help slaves escape to freedom. Paste caught up with Hemingway to discuss his inspiring background, finding the humanity in projects and the one day on Underground’s production that left him speechless.
Paste Magazine: What are you working on these days?
Anthony Hemingway: I’m doing a project for A&E called Infamous. We call it our first gangster noir. It’s basically about a reformed drug dealer trying to leave his past and aspire to become a music producer. It’s somewhat in the tone and vein of Straight Outta Compton. It’s about the volatile times of LA in the ‘90s.
Paste: Between that and The People V. O.J. you’re becoming a real expert on that as of late!
Hemingway: (laughs) I know! I’m like, “What is this?” [O.J.] was such a joy to work on.
Paste: It’s been such a huge success both ratings-wise and critically. When you have successes like that does a part of you go, “Yeah, that seemed like a winner” or does it still come as a surprise to you?
Hemingway: It’s still a surprise. I never put myself first, in a way. I always consider myself as the vessel to channel these stories. A long time ago, I realized that storytelling was my purpose. Having grown up in the business, I never really realized that. I just thought I was connected to it by nature. There was a point in my life where I had a change of heart from wanting to be a doctor and not wanting to be in school for another 12 years. I realized I had been swimming where I belonged, and it all made sense. Whatever I do, we all believe the material is great and it allows us to put our best into it. But you never know sometimes. I personally don’t do projects just to get the recognition. But it’s always great to get the reward of people loving the blood, sweat and tears that’s poured into the hard work and long hours we do.
Paste: Do you have a recollection of your real-life experiences when the O.J. case was happening?
Hemingway: Well, it’s interesting you ask. I was 19-years-old when this was going on. The interesting thing for me—and this is things coming full circle—is that I was working with Sarah Paulson, who plays Marcia Clark, in the early ‘90s! It was her first job acting and I was working as an assistant director at the time. We’ve been friends ever since. But, it was interesting times, seeing how it affected the world, either through my parents or through the older generation who clearly had a lot more invested, because of the way of the world. As I look back on it, I get an understanding on how it was portrayed or perceived to be such a racial divide. This was the first time in history that a black man had the means and privilege to beat the system. At the end of the day, the story really highlights race and privilege. There was a sense of conquering that I think came from the black community in seeing—for the first time—someone get off or succeed, having never had that opportunity ever.
Paste: It’s interesting for me. I’m a bit younger so I never grew up with the idea of O.J. as a football player or movie star. To me, he’s always been “O.J., the alleged murderer.” Have you had any surprising feedback from younger viewers who share this perspective?
Hemingway: Well, no. Everyone will have their own feelings. To me, at the end of the day, none of us really know. We can all make our own judgement by how much or how little we know of the story. But it’s been interesting just to dig deeper and really go behind the core of even O.J., and really see the humanity involved in everyone who was a part of it. That really opened my eyes to many things I didn’t know, or things I just forgot. It’s interesting how we receive information from the media, and we either miss things or things can be left out. You just don’t know the agenda of it. It’s been very interesting to just have a closer look into it and be able to understand it.
Paste: Did you discover any details that were particularly shocking for you?
Hemingway: A lot of it was intriguing. Realizing, in the case of Marcia Clark, you don’t know people’s personal lives going into this. Marcia was going through a divorce, and she had two kids she was raising and that informed her state of mind. It’s so many things and layers that people don’t understand when we’re on the outside looking in.
Paste: Looking at the show, the only directors credited are you, Ryan Murphy and John Singelton. What is that dynamic like when it’s just the three of you directing? Even some cable shows can have as many as seven or eight directors per season.
Hemingway: It was very cinematic. Initially when I was brought on, I was told I would do half of them and Ryan would do the other half. That excited me because it’s always more fulfilling getting to have a larger part or to have a voice that is really integral and heard, especially in TV because it’s so uncommon. It felt like we were making a feature. It was a really awesome—no pun intended—dream team. It’s rewarding and it’s so uncommon in TV. I wish they were all like this.
Paste: Ryan directed the first two episodes, so he got the investigation and the infamous Bronco chase. Your episodes are mostly set in conference rooms and the courtroom, with people discussing legal strategies, jury selections, etc. Yet it’s as equally compelling. As a director, what are the challenges of making these talkier, exposition-heavy scenes work?
Hemingway: You just want to get it right. It’s about being true to life and the complexities that are there, and letting it all really be organic and natural. And it’s definitely something I considered thinking about it from the beginning—all the sedentary scenes that could be there. The courtroom, meetings, conference rooms—it was a way of trying to get into the visual nature of it, and breathe life into it, and make it really pulsating and lead the charge from a visual standpoint that allowed the viewer to be a part of things, and not a fly on the wall. Stylistically, that approach allows you, as a viewer, to live in [those scenes], rather than be standing back and looking at them.
Paste: And you have such a star-studded cast. Was there a part of you that was intimidated to be working with so many high-caliber actors?
Hemingway: I was like a kid in a candy store! I’m spoiled. Every job I do now, I’m like, “can we go out to Meryl Streep? Can we call Robert De Niro? What’s up?” (laughs) That was just a pleasure. It elevated the material and gave it a complexity in terms of the story being about the celebrity. Having these celebrities be a part of [the show] and bringing a humanity to the characters really ironed that out. They are all undeniably amazing. I kept pinching myself to make sure it was real!