For some time we’ve been hearing about an untitled HBO series about the Los Angeles Lakers’ famed 1980s Showtime period.
Adam McKay is producing the series and directing the pilot which will focus on the reigning NBA champs of that decade with Pat Riley coaching Magic Johnson, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, and James Worthy – the legendary team which won five championships.
This week Max Borenstein, an executive producer and writer on the series which is based on Jeff Pearlman’s book, has revealed to Slashfilm that the show is one of the most intensely researched series of this genre put to screen:
“It will be one of the most heavily researched sports shows or movies. I mean, there haven’t been that many sports shows, but it’d be as heavily researched if were doing a story about Watergate or World War II. It’s extraordinarily researched. We’re not presuming to do a documentary.”
Borenstein, who is also known for penning both “Kong: Skull Island” and “Godzilla vs. Kong,” also says the series is going to have a lot of laughs despite being sold as a drama:
It is dramatic, but it’s also very fun, funny, and irreverent. It’s light-hearted material, in a sense, because it’s basketball. It’s real people, and we’re treating it respectfully, but we’re having fun as Adam does in his films with the line between reality and a heightened version.
We’re pretty open about it. It’s based on and inspired by the true story, but still having fun. The things that are the craziest are the truest, that’s the important thing. We were taking liberties, obviously, with what people were saying behind closed doors. In terms of the big stuff that happens, we have receipts. It’s going to be fun stuff.”
The show’s stacked cast includes: Adrien Brody as Pat Riley, John C. Reilly plays team owner Jerry Buss, Jason Clarke as GM Jerry West, Jason Segal as Paul Westhead, Sally Field as Jessie Buss, Quincy Isaiah as Magic Johnson, Solomon Hughes as Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Gaby Hoffmann as Claire Rothman, Bo Burnham as Larry Bird, Max E. Williams as Jack Nicholson, Carina Conti as Paula Abdul, and Mike Epps as Richard Pryor.
