Oscar winner Adrien Brody (The Pianist) has joined Adam McKay’s HBO drama series centered on the Los Angeles Lakers in the 1980s as legendary basketball coach Pat Riley (via Variety). The currently untitled series is based on the book Showtime: Magic, Kareem, Riley, and the Los Angeles Lakers Dynasty of the 1980s written by Jeff Pearlman. Coach Riley “led the Lakers to four NBA championships and unprecedented superstardom. His iconic style, confidence, and fast-break offense defined 80’s basketball and influenced pop culture at large.”
Brody’s credits also include Peaky Blinders, The Grand Budapest Hotel, Detachment, Midnight in Paris, Houdini, Predators, Splice, Hollywoodland, King Kong, The Darjeeling Limited, The Village, and more. He will next be seen in Wes Anderson’s The French Dispatch. Brody is also currently filming the Epix drama horror series Chapelwaite based on Stephen King’s short story Jerusalem’s Lot.
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The HBO series is described as chronicling the professional and personal lives of the 1980s Los Angeles Lakers, one of sports’ most revered and dominant dynasties, in what came to be called the Showtime Era.
Pick up your copy of Jeff Pearlman’s book here!
The series also stars John C. Reilly as Jerry Buss, Jason Clarke as Jerry West, Quincy Isaiah as Magic Johnson, Solomon Hughes as Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Gaby Hoffmann as Claire Rothman, Hadley Robinson as Jeanie Buss, DeVaughn Nixon as Norm Nixon, Molly Gordon as Linda Zafrani, Rob Morgan as Earvin Johnson Sr., Spencer Garrett as Chick Hearn, Kirk Bovill as Donald Sterling, Delante Desouza as Michael Cooper, Stephen Adly Guirgis as Frank Mariani, Tamera Tomakili as Earletha ‘Cookie’ Kelly, and Joey Brooks as Lon Rosen.
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Max Borenstein (The Terror, Kong: Skull Island, Godzilla vs. Kong) serves as writer and executive producer. Oscar winner Adam McKay (The Big Short, Vice) directed the pilot and executive produces through Hyperobject Industries. Kevin Messick of Hyperobject will also executive produce along with Jason Shuman. Jim Hecht co-wrote the story and will also executive produce. Scott Stephens will also executive produce along with Rodney Barnes.
(Photo by Rich Fury/VF20/Getty Images for Vanity Fair)
