John C. Reilly leads the Lakers to glory as Jerry Buss in full trailer for Winning Time: The Rise Of The Lakers Dynasty
The forthcoming HBO Max series is set to premiere on March 6
Aux News Jerry Buss
Showcasing all of the glitz and glamour of Los Angeles in the ‘80s, Winning Time: The Rise Of The Lakers Dynasty follows the basketball team’s rise to prominence under team owner Jerry Buss (played by John C. Reilly).
With a grainy camera effect to give the series an older feel, the trailer outlines Buss’ dream to make the Lakers a bonafide moneymaker through exquisite draft picks and by transforming the cheerleaders into dancers with sex appeal.
We’re also introduced to Earvin “Magic” Johnson (played by Quincy Isaiah) who, of course, goes on to become one of the biggest names in basketball. Winning Time appears to have a winning combination of soul, glam, humor, and a funky soundtrack.
The cast of the series is absolutely stacked with Reilly as Buss, Quincy Isaiah as Magic Johnson, Jason Clarke as Jerry West, Adrien Brody as Pat Riley, Gaby Hoffmann as Claire Rothman, Tracy Letts as Jack McKinney, Jason Segel as Paul Westhead, Julianne Nicholson as Cranny McKinney, Hadley Robinson as Jeanie Buss, DeVaughn Nixon as Norm Nixon, and Solomon Hughes as Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.
The series cast also includes Tamera Tomakili, Brett Cullen, Stephen Adly Guirgis, Spencer Garrett, Sarah Ramos, Molly Gordon, Joey Brooks, Delante Desouza, Jimel Atkins, Austin Aaron, Jon Young, with Rob Morgan as Earvin Johnson Sr. and Sally Field as Jessie Buss.
Max Borenstein (Godzilla Vs. Kong) serves as showrunner, executive producer, writer, and co-creator with Jim Hecht. Adam McKay is attached to the project as an executive producer and the director of the pilot.Winning Time is based on the book Showtime: Magic, Kareem, Riley and the Los Angeles Lakers Dynasty of the 1980s written by Jeff Pearlman.
Winning Time: The Rise Of The Lakers Dynasty debuts on HBO Max on March 6, with new episodes each subsequent Sunday.
29 Comments
I really hope the McKay/Ferrell falling out doesn’t overshadow this, because damnit, it looks like it’s going to be really, really good.
I wouldn’t be worried; I doubt anyone outside the pop culture obsession machine (in other words, us) cares or even knows about it.
And even those in the know don’t really care about it
Wait, I was supposed to give a fuck about two hollywood celebrities falling out?
I’m not a huge basketball fan (and definitely not a Lakers fan. I grew up in a Celtics family in the 80s!), but this looks seriously fun.
I’m a HUGE basketball fan, and despite growing up in New England, I didn’t like the Celtics (and definitely didn’t care about the Lakers; WGN was one of the only channels we got in the ‘80s so I grew up a Bulls fan), and this absolutely looks like so much fun. And that cast. So good.
Has a sort of family-friendly Boogie Nights feel to it.
If this show is anything like real life, it will have more sex than Boogie Nights did. And this clip didn’t even get to the six women at one time part.
Definitely need a Wilt episode where it’s just the two of them speed-banging women while they anxiously look across a locker room at one another.
When basketball players talk about breaking Wilt’s record, it’s not the 100 point game they’re thinking about.
It’ll go down in history as the project that destroyed a decades-long friendship and very fruitful creative partnership!
Why would that even be a worry. I know about that story because I come to this site often – didn’t give a shit back then, would have never have thought about it with context to this show if you hadn’t posted about it.Honestly I don’t get why people at all care about the bickering or relationships between celebs they don’t know. All I care about is if the show or movie I am watching is good or not.
Why’s it called Winning Time?
Calling a show on HBO “Showtime” may have been a little difficult.
I’m surprised HBO had such trouble with this. The obvious answer was to just make the title longer – “Magic v Bird: Dawn of Showtime”.Jokes aside – “Winning Time” is an absolute travesty of a title for this show. It’s so unmemorable and has zero connection to the team from that era. “The Lakers” would have been better.
And yet, they aired that awful Eddie Murphy/Robert De Niro buddy cop comedy “Showtime” a lot.
I wondered the same thing. Found the answer through some creative googling.https://www.nytimes.com/1989/01/26/sports/basketball-funny-thing-happens-at-the-forum.htmlApparently, the original title was Showtime but the decision was made that a show called Showtime airing on HBO might cause some confusion.
I did think that at first but then I thought it can’t be that dumb.
Thanks for googling though.
IIRC it’s something Magic Johnson used to say (‘It’s winning time!’)
winning time was also the name of the reggie miller 30 for 30, confusingly.
Who is playing Jack Nicholson?
Leonardo DiCaprio, but they’re dubbing in Christian Slater’s voice.
I would watch that. I would also accept Bill Hader who I think would be pretty awesome. But only if he had some kind of B plot about whatever he was doing at the time.
Bruce Campbell.
They’re gonna deep-fake Sylvester Stallone in there.
Jack Nicholson of course!
Good Jesus, that kid looks just like Magic.
I could not give much less of a shit about professional sports, but this looks fantastic. I think I’m gonna watch it.
You know, I just realized that Will Ferrell is such a big Lakers fan that he ended a friendship/business partnership because he wanted to play the owner of the Lakers but didn’t get the part.