Magic Johnson “doesn’t look forward” to watching Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty, an exciting new HBO Max series about Johnson’s legendary Showtime era of the Los Angeles NBA team in the 1980s.
Breakout star Quincy Isaiah had a hard time hearing those words just months before the show premiered, especially now that critics are weighing in on positive early reviews — the show currently boasts a 100 percent approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes — and predictions that the series is destined to be a hit. .
“Of course you want the person you’re portraying, if they’re still alive, to at least appreciate your role in this,” Isaiah told us recently during a virtual press day for the series, when he was joined by John C. Reilly. “And the most important thing for me with him is just [to] to acknowledge that I am sitting here talking to you because of the brilliant life he has led.
“He made himself an icon not only in basketball but also in the business world by campaigning for HIV. He literally changed my life and the lives of many others. … So the fact that he lived his life is enough for me.”
In his November commentary for TMZ, Johnson references his own Lakers show in the works, as well as the show of current Lakers owner Jeanie Bass, portrayed by Hedley Robinson (Moxxie) as a 19-year-old upstart in Win Time. For her part, Robinson says she didn’t get involved with Buss, who in 2020 became the first controlling female owner to win an NBA title, for creative reasons.
“I didn’t want any initial bias in any way, and I didn’t want to fall into the trap of copycating or anything like that,” the actress explains. “I wanted to stay committed to the script and the story because it’s a dramatization of reality.”
John C. Reilly, Quincy Isaiah and Jason Clarke in Time to Win. (Photo: HBO)
Reilly, who draws rave reviews for his energetic and magnetic performance as team owner and unlikely sports visionary Jerry Buss, had no choice. The elder Bass died in 2013 at the age of 80.
The story goes on
“In terms of accuracy, I don’t know,” Reilly says of the veracity of his description, which depicts Bass as a charming, optimistic and nimble, albeit promiscuous playboy (in real life, Bass was known to spend a lot of time). night in a real Playboy mansion). “I don’t think anyone really knows. And the guy who really knows is no longer on this earth, Dr. Jerry Bass, God rest his soul.
“He was a very brilliant person. He was a mathematical genius. He was a real estate magnate. One of the things he traded for the team was the Chrysler Building. He pushed the Chrysler Building document over to the table. It is difficult to overestimate the achievements of Dr. Jerry Bass. But I did my best to honor his memory and I hope his family is happy with it.”
Although Reilly grew up in Chicago, he says his allegiance has shifted from the Bulls to the Lakers over the years as he settled in Los Angeles over the past few decades.
But the cast with the most trusted Lakers fans might surprise you.
“I have no doubt that this is Sally Field,” says Reilly.
Sally Field at the premiere of HBO’s “Victory Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty” on March 2 in Los Angeles. (Photo: JC Olivera/WireImage)
Field, who plays Jerry’s mother, Jesse Bass, is a Pasadena native who regularly attended Lakers games with her sons in the ’80s and remains a diehard to this day.
“I think they would have given me that title,” Field says of his co-stars. “I think I was the one who came in and was just angry about what happened to the game, or [because current Laker star Anthony Davis] wounded again. ‘What the hell? It was the biggest foul I have ever seen! So yes, I think I should have been there with the biggest one because that was my interaction with my sons. It’s still like that.”
Jason Segel, who hails from the nearby Pacific Palisades and plays coach Paul Westhead, is happy to make way for Field.
“It was my team that grew. This is still my team. …Sally can take the title from me. I concede to Sally Field in everything.
Watch our full interview with Reilly, Isaiah, Robinson, Siegel, Field, Jason Clarke, Solomon Hughes, Adrien Brody and Michael Chiklis above.
Victory time Premieres March 6 on HBO Max.
– Video produced by Ann Lilburn and edited by John Santo.
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