HBO’s LA Lakers drama series adds Bo Burnham as Larry Bird
Following the recent inclusion of Michael Chiklis as former Boston Celtics coach Red Auerbach, Deadline brings the news that Bo Burnham (Promising young woman) was cast for Adam McKay’s upcoming Los Angeles Lakers drama series for HBO. Burnham will play the role of another Boston Celtics icon, Larry Bird, who was a prominent figure during the famous Lakers-Celtics rivalry in the 1980s. The legendary MVP played 13 seasons for the Celtics and had them win three championships from five NBA finals.
UPDATE MARCH 25th 3:17 PM EST: Within an hour of Burnham joining the cast of the HBO series, Variety also announced that Jason Segel (Shipments from elsewhere) has signed up as Paul Westhead, who served as assistant coach for the LA team in 1979 and head coach from 1979-81. The winner of the NBA world champion is described as “a Shakespeare professor who leaves note papers to be the Lakers’ assistant coach“And go into a”Drama straight from the bard’s side (which he likes to quote)“.
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Based on Jeff Pearlman’s book Showtime: Magic, Kareem, Riley and the Los Angeles Lakers Dynasty of the 1980sThe series will chronicle the professional and personal lives of the Los Angeles Lakers of the 1980s, one of the sport’s most revered and dominant dynasties, in what is known as the Showtime era.
Get your copy of Jeff Pearlman’s book here!
The series also stars Adrien Brody as Pat Riley, John C. Reilly as Jerry Buss, Sally Field as Jessie 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.
The unnamed Lakers series is written and produced by Max Borenstein (The terror, Kong: Skull Island, Godzilla versus Kong), with Oscar winner Adam McKay (The big short, Vice) after co-directing the pilot and executive producer of Hyperobject Industries with Kevin Messick, Jason Shuman, co-writer of the story, Jim Hecht, Scott Stephens and Rodney Barnes.
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This is Burnham’s first major TV project in eight years since he appeared on MTVs Zach Stone becomes famous. He then appeared in sketch comedy shows such as Key & Peel, and Kroll show. He was critically acclaimed for his directorial debut in 2018 Eighth class which earned him a Directors Guild of America Award for Outstanding Directing – First-Time Feature Film.
