FX is premiering a new series: American Crime Story. The mini-series will focus on notorious true crimes, the first season being the OJ Simpson trial. We all remember where we were when we heard the ‘not guilty’ verdict. However, for Cuba Gooding Jr., playing OJ in the series took him on an unexpected emotional journey.

Cuba disclosed to the Daily Beast that after filming the funeral scene for Nicole Brown, he had a break down. “I broke for lunch and wept in the trailer. I looked at myself in the mirror and went, ‘What the hell are you doing? Why are you so emotional?’” said Gooding Jr.

He went on to explain that the emotions stemmed from guilt over the lack of empathy shown to the grieving families during the highly televised case.”When that verdict came out not guilty, I jumped up. I was yelling and screaming,” Explained Gooding Jr. over his initial reaction.

“The man who tried to do another black man wrong, and I never grieved for those two families and their loss. It all hit me that day with that scene, the Goldmans, the Browns…their children are gone. If you believed he did it or not, that was something that I personally didn’t care about. I felt guilty about that,” said Gooding Jr. Now that’s a painful epiphany to stumble upon.

Gooding Jr. was asked if he thought OJ was guilty of Brown’s murder, but went on to say that his personal opinion on that matter had to be removed from his mind for the sake of his performance. “It’s my job to divorce myself from that. If I think you are one thing and I’m playing you with that in the back of my mind, I’m missing all the other things you could be,” said Gooding Jr.

Placing yourself in another person’s shoes can give you powerful insight, and perspective that you might have previously overlooked. The People v. OJ. Simpson premieres Tuesday, February 2nd on FX. Check out the trailer below.-TeamDL