‘Winning Time’ Star John C. Reilly Was Shocked by How Hard Lakers Owner Jerry Buss Would Party: ‘That’s a Strong Guy’

In the first episode of “Winning Time” Season 2, audiences see Lakers owner Jerry Buss (John C. Reilly) flipping through a scrapbook of his love interests just moments after a heated exchange with his kids — in which they call him out for ditching them for “p–y and fun.” He’s later seen wooing an old flame named Honey with a lavish date in Episode 2, and she’s even invited to the family’s game night in Sunday’s latest episode.

Buss, who is often seen in the HBO drama series with a drink and cigarette in his hand, was known for hosting extravagant parties at the Pickfair mansion, which he purchased in 1980 and is showcased throughout “Winning Time.”

Actor John C. Reilly, who plays Buss on “Winning Time,” said his “appetites” were the most surprising thing he learned while preparing for the role.

“If I had the kind of partying weekend that Jerry Buss had, it would take me about two weeks to recover. And it was something he just did every single night almost without fail,” Reilly told TheWrap in an interview conducted before the SAG-AFTRA strike. “The drive inside a guy like that to have sex that much, to like partying and living the high life and experiencing these extreme adrenaline peaks, it takes a strong constitution to be that way. Once I got to know how his daily life really went, I just really admired [him] and I was like, ‘Man, that’s a strong guy.’ I couldn’t do that.”

He called the opportunity to portray Buss a “huge, huge honor.”

“This is one of the best characters I’ve ever been given and it just landed in my lap like seven days before I was supposed to start. So it’s been a lot of fun,” the actor added. “The character as portrayed in our show has so many highs and lows, from being like a good time Charlie to being one of the most psychotically angry people you will ever meet and everything in between. So that’s been really fun.”

The second season dives deeper into the relationship of Buss and his daughter Jeanie, who is portrayed by Hadley Robinson.

“It was great being a flawed father,” Reilly said. “He’s not this perfect superhero of a guy. He’s an incredible person and he accomplishes a lot, but he’s got some big blind spots too. So that was really interesting to play with.”

Robinson added that there’s “so much meaty, juicy stuff” in their relationship that plays out over the course of the season.

“It’s always really interesting to me when characters have this much love for each other, and yet the relationship is so tumultuous for whatever reason. I find that relationships kind of happen that way, the more love sometimes, the more conflict,” she added. “I think [Jerry and Jeanie] definitely have that and things get complicated and tricky, but that’s a reflection of the human experience and what’s so interesting about relationships like these, especially father, daughter relationships.”

To prepare for her role, Robinson said that she listened to podcasts and read any stories she could to learn more about Jeannie.

“Jeannie is an icon and legendary in the sports world,” Robinson added. “She’s also just a fascinating human being and… she’s just lived a really incredible, interesting life and made interesting decisions and she’s not a very niche person. She’s highly intelligent and she’s great at what she does, but she also has sort of a sweetness and softness about her and she goes on so many adventures.

“There’s so many great stories about her. It’s hard to incorporate all of that into one season of television, but hopefully [audiences will] see glimpses of that throughout,” she added.

In addition to Reilly, and Robinson, the series stars Quincy Isaiah, Adrien Brody, Jason Clarke, Gaby Hoffmann, Jason Segel, Sean Patrick Small, Michael Chiklis, DeVaughn Nixon, Solomon Hughes, Tamera Tomakili, Brett Cullen, Stephen Adly Guirgis, Spencer Garrett, Molly Gordon, Joey Brooks, Delante Desouza, Jimel Atkins, Austin Aaron, McCabe Slye, Thomas Mann, Gillian Jacobs and Rob Morgan.

“Winning Time” is executive produced by Adam McKay and Kevin Messick for Hyperobject Industries, showrunner, writer, and co-creator Max Borenstein, writer and co-creator Jim Hecht, director Salli Richardson-Whitfield, Scott Stephens, Rodney Barnes and Jason Shuman.

“Winning Time” airs on HBO and streams on Max on Sunday evenings.

The post ‘Winning Time’ Star John C. Reilly Was Shocked by How Hard Lakers Owner Jerry Buss Would Party: ‘That’s a Strong Guy’ appeared first on TheWrap.