WHAT NERVE! O.J. MAY TOUR GROUND ZERO
By BILL HOFFMANN
January 11, 2002 -- In a bid to rehabilitate his battered image, O.J. Simpson will tour the Big Apple today while making a self-serving documentary - and may even have the audacity to visit ground zero.
The shamed grid great plans to hit the streets of Manhattan to shoot scenes for a new documentary he's making about his "life and times and the American justice system."
He's expected to visit Times Square, Harlem and, if his schedule permits, the site of the World Trade Center attacks - accompanied by a film crew.
The movie, to be completed later this year, is part of Simpson's quest to reshape his tarnished reputation as an alleged double-murderer who beat the rap.
It will tell "the real story" of Simpson's roller-coaster life, the filmmakers say.
"He's coming to New York to film at different locations around the city," promoter Steven Marcano of Paradox Multimedia told The Post.
"There's a lot of interest in O.J. again. Everybody wants to interview him and do stories about him. It's going to a great documentary."
Among the topics Simpson will tackle in the film are: how he was allegedly railroaded by the justice system, how he was able to prove his innocence - and how the public is embracing him again.
That may be a matter of opinion.
In 1995, Simpson was acquitted in the slashing murders of his ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her pal Ron Goldman - but was later nailed in a $33.5 million wrongful death-suit brought by the victims' families.
Last year, the Juice beat charges filed against him over an alleged road-rage incident near his Florida home.
A month ago, police raided his residence in Pinecrest in connection with a money-laundering and drug ring - a case in which Simpson denies involvement.
After he finishes up in New York, O.J. will film in Washington, D.C., also hit by terrorists on Sept. 11th, and then visit other major cities around the country.
In the nation's capital, he'll host a pre-Super Bowl party at a downtown club and visit with residents in some the district's poorer neighborhoods.
How is O.J. - who is continuously complaining that he's broke - financing the film?
Sources say several private investors are footing part of the bill.
But The Washington Post reported yesterday that O.J.'s reps tried to hit up one of its reporters for money.
The paper said they demanded a $1,000 to $2,000 fee for an interview - a request that was flatly denied.