If you have to replace Michael Shannon with someone, you could do a lot worse than John C. Reilly, right?
According to Variety, that’s exactly what is happening in the upcoming untitled Los Angeles Lakers HBO series, with Reilly coming aboard to play team owner Jerry Buss in the pilot. The report claims that Shannon, who was initially announced as one of the stars of the series, opposite Jason Clarke, stepped away from the series due to “creative differences.” But the actual differences were not explained.
The untitled drama is based on the book “Showtime: Magic, Kareem, Riley, and the Los Angeles Lakers Dynasty of the 1980s,” written by Jeff Pearlman. If you’re not a huge sports fan, it’s likely you don’t understand what makes the ‘80s such a crucial time in the history of the Lakers. It was an era where the wholesome NBA was taken over by the glitz and glamor of LA’s team as they won championships and created superstars such as Magic Johnson and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. Reilly is set to portray Buss, the self-made millionaire that purchased the Lakers and was instrumental in creating the “Showtime” Lakers era.
As mentioned, the upcoming sports drama is still untitled, and one can’t help but imagine that the obvious title, “Showtime,” is a no-go considering the fact that HBO’s competition includes a network of the same name. I mean, you wouldn’t see Showtime creating a series called “HBO” right?
Filming of the pilot episode is said to begin soon. Once that happens, we’ll learn more about whether or not the network will pick up the series for a season. The pilot is written and produced by Max Borenstein and directed by Adam McKay. You have to assume by the talent involved, it would take something catastrophically bad to stop HBO from picking this up.