Patrick Schwarzenegger went all in on researching Tim Tebow for ‘American Sports Story’

LOS ANGELES — When NFL star Aaron Hernandez’s story took the world by storm in 2013, it created a media frenzy. Now, Ryan Murphy’s “American Sports Story: Aaron Hernandez” is taking a deep dive into the story that shocked football fans around the nation.

On The Red Carpet spoke with Patrick Schwarzenegger and Norbert Leo Butz about their characters in the series and their approaches to portraying such renowned players involved in the case.

Schwarzenegger plays Tim Tebow, a former NFL quarterback who played for the Gators alongside Hernandez at the University of Florida.

“When you hear the name Tim Tebow, it’s either football or faith, and I think both of those are very pertinent to this story,” he said.

When it came to researching his role, Schwarzenegger went all in, saying “my research was a lot more on, kind of, who Tim was as a person and listening to his books and listening to his voice a lot, and a lot, and a lot.” He even took voice lessons to get into character!

As a football fan, Schwarzenegger found Tebow’s backstory fascinating, explaining to us “from where he was born, and the circumstances of when he was born, and not supposed to live, and how that impacted his faith and his life… there’s just a lot more there than I knew as the average fan.”

Butz felt similarly when it came to digging a little deeper into his character’s backstory. He plays Bill Belichick, the former head coach of the New England Patriots, who is introduced in episode four, titled “Birthday Money.”

“It’s the greatest thing about what we get to do. We get to take these deep dives into – especially iconic – people, right? That people think they really know, they really know from watching the press conferences. ‘Oh, I know who this guy is.’ And you dig a little deeper, and find way more dimension, a lot more nuance,” he explained.

Watch new episodes of “American Sports Story: Aaron Hernandez” Tuesdays at 10 p.m. on FX and streaming now on Hulu.

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