"The amazing thing is people say to me 'I didn't even care about basketball, I don't know anything about basketball, I'm not even into sports, and I love this show!'"
John C. Reilly's new show Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty is available to watch with a NOW Entertainment Membership right now, and while the majority of his fans might primarily known him from his sterling comedy work in the likes of Step Brothers, Talladega Nights, Walk Hard or Wreck-It Ralph, it is important to know that he has a massively impressive dramatic CV, too.
Reilly kicked off his career with supporting roles in Casualties of War, Days of Thunder and What's Eating Gilbert Grape, before stealing the limelight in the likes of Boogie Nights, Chicago and Magnolia.
Recently he has been returning to that work with The Lobster, Stan & Ollie and The Sisters Brothers, but for his latest project, he's actually re-teaming with Adam McKay - the director of both Step Brothers and Talladega Nights - for something completely different.
Meanwhile, McKay has recently had a career turnabout too, being the Emmy-and-Oscar-magnet behind the likes of Succession and The Big Short.
We recently caught up with Reilly for an Irish exclusive interview about the show, which you can check out right here:
The show also stars Jason Clarke, Gaby Hoffmann, Rob Morgan, Jason Segel, Julianne Nicholson, Sally Field, Michael Chiklis, Gillian Jacobs and Adrien Brody, all telling the story of this truly jaw-dropping time within the NBA.
When we spoke to Reilly, he told us why Irish audiences and viewers around the globe will love the show:
"I think audiences in Ireland and all over the world are going to find the human story of this surprising.
"They'll go into it maybe with some knowledge or a lot of knowledge or no knowledge of basketball, and I think the drama of it and the true story of this miracle that happened between 1979 and 1980 is going to be a really compelling thing for people to check out."
"It's funny because this story is very well known in LA, and the rivalry between Magic and Larry Bird is very well known nationally in America, but the actual story of the behind the scenes for this team is not very well known in America. And the kind of amazing thing as this show has been rolling out - and it has great success already in America for the first few weeks we've been airing there - the amazing thing is, people say to me, one after the after, 'I didn't even care about basketball, I don't know anything about basketball, I'm not even into sports, and I love this show!'
"Because the show is really about what it feels like to be in those intense situations. Not so much about what team won or what the statistics of the game were, it is more about what did it feel like to be a kid from rural Michigan come to LA, who is gifted at this sport, what would that feel like?
"What would it feel like to suddenly have the attention of the country on you as you're trying to win these games? And [for my character] what would it feel like to leverage everything you have in the whole world.
"The show is called Winning Time, and who doesn't like to win?"
Check out our full exclusive interview with John C. Reilly above, and you can watch the first five episodes (of the ten that the series will consist of, the rest arriving weekly) are available to watch with a NOW Entertainment Membership.
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