John C. Reilly Is Lakers Owner Jerry Buss in ‘Winning Time: The Rise of The Lakers Dynasty’ HBO Max Trailer
“There’s two things in this world that make me believe in God: It’s sex and basketball.”
The first trailer for HBO Max’s Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty shows the building of a massively dominant NBA franchise—and all of the 1980s-era excesses that came with it.
The 10 episode series based on the Jeff Pearlman book Showtime, Magic, Kareem, Riley and the Los Angeles Dynasty of the 1980s aims to chronicle “the professional and personal lives of the 1980s Los Angeles Lakers, one of sports’ most revered and dominant dynasties — a team that defined an era, both on and off the court.”
John C. Reilly, who plays colorful Lakes owner Jerry Buss, sets the tone up top by telling last night’s hookup, “There’s two things in this world that make me believe in God: It’s sex and basketball.” The mustached, combed-over character then breaks the fourth wall to tell the audience, “Her loss. I’m about to buy a team.”
The rest of the trailer introduces the cast in between decadent scenes of fast cars, scantily-clad Lakers dancers, parties and nightclubs.
As the New York Post notes, Quincy Isaiah also stars as future legend Earvin “Magic” Johnson, whose 1979 draft selection is depicted. Other key cast members include Sally Field as Jessie Buss, Adrien Brody as Pat Riley and Jason Segel as Paul Westhead.
Adam McKay directed and executive produced the series. In a recent interview, he revealed that the decision to cast Reilly as Buss instead of his longtime creative partner Will Ferrell reportedly caused the pair to end their longtime friendship.
“Ferrell just doesn’t look like Jerry Buss, and he’s not that vibe of a Jerry Buss,” McKay said. “And there were some people involved who were like, ‘We love Ferrell, he’s a genius, but we can’t see him doing it.’ It was a bit of a hard discussion.”
But Ferrell “took it as a way deeper hurt than I ever imagined and I tried to reach out to him, and I reminded him of some slights that were thrown my way that were never apologized for.”
“I fucked up on how I handled that,” McKay added.
Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty arrives on HBO Max in March 2022.
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