A new trailer has been released for Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty. From filmmaker Adam McKay (Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy, Don’t Look Up), the HBO Max miniseries stars John C. Reilly as Jerry Buss, who announces at the start of the trailer that he’s ready to buy the Los Angeles Lakers. Following Reilly’s introduction, the rest of the starring cast is introduced with a focus on Quincy Isaiah as Magic Johnson and his relationship with Buss. Watch the trailer below.
The official synopsis reads: “It’s gonna be exciting. From Adam McKay, director of The Big Short and Vice comes a story about the rise of basketball Hall of Famer Magic Johnson (Quincy Isaiah) and the lengths one man (John C. Reilly) will go in pursuit of securing a basketball dynasty. A fast-break series chronicling 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.”
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The ensemble cast of Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty also includes Dr. Solomon Hughes as Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Jason Clarke as Jerry West, DeVaughn Nixon as his father Norm Nixon, Sally Field as Jessie Buss, Hadley Robinson as Jeanie Buss, Gaby Hoffmann as Claire Rothman, Adrien Brody as Pat Riley, Jason Segel as Paul Westhead, Tamera Tomakili as Earlitha “Cookie” Kelly, and Rob Morgan as Earvin Johnson Sr.
The miniseries, which consists of 10 episodes, is based on the book Showtime: Magic, Kareem, Riley, and the Los Angeles Lakers Dynasty of the 1980s by Jeff Pearlman. It will primarily chronicle the rise of the Los Angeles Lakers during the 1980s, forever making the team of the era one of the most popular and recognized sports dynasties. At one point, Will Ferrell was attached to play Jerry Buss before Adam McKay later recast the role with Ferrell’s Step Brothers co-star, John C. Reilly. McKay recently revealed that Ferrell hasn’t spoken to him since.
“I f**ed up on how I handled that,” McKay said of the situation, per Vanity Fair. “It’s the old thing of keep your side of the street clean. I should have just done everything by the book. In my head, I was like, ‘We’ll let all this blow over. Six months to a year, we’ll sit down, we’ll laugh about it and go, It’s all business junk, who gives a sht? We worked together for 25 years. Are we really going to let this go away?’ [But he] 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.”
Is John C. Reilly the perfect casting choice for Jerry Buss? We’ll find out soon enough if McKay made the right decision, but chances are Ferrell isn’t going to be watching. Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty is set to debut in March 2022 on HBO and HBO Max.
