IT’S SHOWTIME FOR BASKETBALL…

This six-minute and 42-second interview is provided by HBO and is called, Winning Time: The Forum, its name is an homage to the former arena home of the Los Angeles Lakers during the Showtime Era, but in 1999, Dr. Jerry Buss sold what was known as The Great Western Forum, and the Lakers moved to the newly built Staples Center. This interview special was featured on HBO after each weekly episode of Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty, and this particular interview aired after the pilot episode which premiered on March 6, 2022.

A SEASONED HOST…

The interviewer is former Los Angeles Lakers basketball player and a consultant on the series, Rick Fox, who played for the team from 1997 until 2004. In this episode of the interview series, Fox interviews one of the Showrunners, creators, and executive producers, Max Borenstein, who appears remotely via digital communication, as well as another one of the executive producers and director of the pilot episode, Adam McKay, along with one of the stars of the series, newcomer Quincy Isaiah, who plays Earvin “Magic” Johnson on the HBO Series.

CASTING A LEGENDARY ICON…

Fox starts the interview by stating that most sports fans watching the series know that Dr. Jerry Buss and Magic Johnson go on to redefine sports and entertainment, but that when we meet them in the pilot episode, they are starting out as underdogs with a vision. With that being said, Rick asks Borenstein and McKay, “How did they think about finding a ‘Magic’”? Talking of course about the real larger-than-life basketball icon at the center of Winning Time’s story.

REALITY CASTING CALL…

McKay answers that it was one of the “hardest casting tasks I have ever encountered.” He explains that in looking for the actor who would play Magic Johnson, McKay considered everything from his unique smile, to the charisma, sparkle, and talent that Johnson had like no other and that when considering all of this there was a moment in casting where McKay wasn’t sure they could do it and pull off the series with someone believably playing Magic Johnson. But then McKay and Borenstein received an audition tape from Torrance, California. Borenstein explains that it was their casting director, Francine, who brought them the tape and said, “Take a look at this guy”, and that guy was Quincy Isaiah. Borenstein talks about how the hair on his neck stood up after watching the tape of Isaiah, and then McKay and Borenstein looked at each other and said, “That’s the guy.”

THROW UP TO BASKETBALL…

McKay points to Isaiah and adds that he nailed the audition on his walk-in, and then Borenstein adds that this is where Fox’s consultant credit on the series came in and that he was part of the casting process after they knew Isaiah could act and would kill it as Magic Johnson, they needed to know if he could play basketball believably and they had Rick put Isaiah through the wringer and he tested Quincy’s basketball abilities on the court. Fox then turns to Isaiah and asks if he remembers that day, Isaiah says he remembers “100%” and Fox adds that he was trying to make him throw up while laughing, to which Isaiah laughs and says he didn’t know that, but that he came pretty close to it while playing with Fox.

LAKERS NATION DEDICATION…

They go on to discuss the legend that is Magic Johnson and the dedication it would take from Isaiah to pull off the believability in the role for the audience that included sports fans of basketball and the Lakers Nation. Isaiah adds that he didn’t know the casting call for Johnson was that tough of a decision but that he is glad that it was and resulted in his being hired to play the legendary basketball player.

A WINNING TIME FOR BASKETBALL…

Fox then moves into asking his guests about basketball in the late 1960s and 1970s, versus the 1980s, in which the series centers its story, as well as now in 2022. McKay picks up the question and answers as a fan who grew up in the 1970s and into the 1980s and explains how the game has changed in popularity. He lists all the sports that were more popular at the time and preferred by a national audience on TV, saying it was the “ninth sport” following: Baseball, and Football, to which Borenstein comments and says, “Golf”, and McKay concurs that Golf was bigger than NBA basketball at that time. And McKay adds that all changed when Larry Bird and Magic Johnson entered the game of basketball, and the craziness that was basketball’s jump in popularity from a national audience.

CHAMPIONSHIP OF UNDERDOGS…

Rick Fox then discusses the underdog theme of the series in its first season, with the character of Dr. Jerry Buss, played by John C. Reilly, and how he is most famous for all of the championship success of the Los Angeles Lakers after he purchased the team, but that when we meet him in the series he’s going up against an establishment that has doubt he could run a franchise basketball team on its last legs and the NBA isn’t even considering him turning them into a Championship winning franchise team or changing basketball and entertainment in the process. Borenstein adds the irony of meeting Dr. Buss and Magic Johnson in the series before they become the legends and icons of the Showtime Era in NBA basketball that they are today.

STYLE UNDER THE DOG…

Fox then discusses with McKay how being the pilot episode director he is setting the look and tone of the series for the remaining episodes and how McKay went about doing that. McKay talks about the style of the series, in terms of the filming format and going from the old 1970s video camera look to the 35mm camera shots for some of the scenes and referencing the past while creating a modern formula and credits his director of photography, Todd Banhazl, and the sophistication of audiences now knowing they can handle how McKay shot the film differently than most series and goes back and forth from the mentioned style throughout the episode.

PREPARING TO BE LEGENDARY…

Fox then asks Quincy Isaiah what it was like to prepare to play a basketball icon such as Magic Johnson, to which Isaiah says that after the workout Fox put him through on the basketball court, he read the source material for the series, Showtime: Magic, Kareem, Riley, and the Los Angeles Lakers Dynasty of the 1980s written by sportswriter Jeff Pearlman, as well as watching the many videos of Magic Johnson’s playing years that are available on YouTube and that watching all the videos of him playing allowed him to best play his version of Magic Johnson.

RUMORS AROUND THE COURT…

Rick Fox then asks Max Borenstein if the storyline in the series centered around Jerry West being opposed to drafting Magic Johnson as a point guard is true, to which Borenstein says that it was documented that West thought Sidney Moncrief would be a better fit for the Lakers and apparently Jerry West and Magic Johnson still have a beef about the draft pick to this day. This then leads Fox to his final question about the theme of the series being the underdog and if McKay thinks that it will carry on through the rest of the season and episodes.

THE UNDERDOG WINNING SEASON…

McKay says he thinks it will and that what drew him to want to make the series was the idea that this legendary Lakers team from the 1980s is now so definitive and etched in the history of the NBA started as a ragtag bunch of players even with the team already having Kareem Abdul-Jabbar but the irony that with the addition of Magic Johnson, the oversized point guard that the NBA had never seen in that position and Dr. Jerry Buss, the new team owner that was seen as an outsider by the league are put together to make a great blend to the theme of the underdog champion by the end of the playing season.

WINNING OVER ITS DEMONS…

Throw that all in with the storylines of Jerry West and Dr. Jerry Buss and the demons they have to overcome while achieving all of these legendary moments with the team, and you have a great story that McKay and Borenstein were drawn to when considering making the series. And McKay solidifies that the audience will see this theme throughout the season.

THERE’S NO “I” IN TEAM…

Rick Fox furthers the idea that the series will be great not just by looking at the team but how a basketball team actually functions beyond the court with the storylines that include West and Buss and their work in the front office, and how along with all that the audience gets to see how the players and even the media factor into what makes a championship team dynasty, and the series allows the audience the experience of what it was like to see the legendary Showtime Era Lakers blossom into the icons they will become before the audience’s eyes.

AN END ON THE CLOCK…

The interview ends with a game of “Beat the Clock” where the three guests have to list as fast as they can the number of basketball players who have appeared in basketball movies on the big screen. Borenstein and McKay tie for three names versus Isaiah’s two, and Fox mentions he is surprised that no one mentioned him in a basketball movie to which he breaks the tie by asking Borenstein or McKay to name a basketball film that Fox has appeared in, to which McKay remembers the film, Blue Chips.

You can watch the 1994 Official Trailer for Blue Chips here:

Speaking of, check out my Top Ten List for the Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty Featured Blog and you will find the list for My Top Ten Basketball Movies!

You can watch the full interview from Winning Time: The Forum here: