Michael Shannon Has Signed on to Play Lakers Owner Jerry Buss in HBO True Story Series
Michael Shannon (Midnight Special, The Shape of Water) has signed on to play the icon Jerry Buss, the majority owner of the Los Angeles Lakers during the team’s Showtime era in the ‘80s, in a series pilot for HBO.
The series will chronicle that time in the team’s history. Shannon will show the behind the scenes decisions and life of the man who took a lot of risks and changed the game, making the Lakers the best basketball empire of all time. Shannon joins Jason Clarke, who has already signed on to play Jerry West, coach of the Lakers from 1976-1979 and Lakers executive for pretty much forever after.
The series is being written by Max Borenstein (Godzilla) and is based on Jeff Pearlman’s nonfiction book Showtime: Magic, Kareem, Riley, and the Los Angeles Lakers Dynasty of the 1980s. I grew up in Southern California and was glued to the TV during the 2000-2002 Championship-winning seasons, so this sounds like a fun and exciting series. It will be cool to see who they get to play the players!
Are you a Lakers fan? Does this sound like an interesting series to you?
Source: Deadline