Adam McKay is taking his talents back to HBO and his first subject is… Showtime. The Showtime Lakers, to be exact.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, McKay is working on a scripted drama about the Lakers dynasty in the 1980s. The script will be based on Jeff Pearlman’s book about the team — Showtime: Magic, Kareem, Riley, and the Los Angeles Lakers Dynasty of the 1980s.
The scripted drama will be Adam McKay’s first project since splitting his creative partner Will Ferrell. It seems important to note that McKay wasn’t involved in 2008’s Semi-Pro, which featured Ferrell as owner/player Jackie Moon. Which really is too bad. But what’s perhaps most interesting about the show is that, according to THR, they’re debating having real Lakers players of the era appear as actors on the show.
McKay and Kevin Messick will exec produce for the former’s currently unnamed new company. McKay will also direct the pilot, which is already exploring casting options for actors to take on the roles of NBA favorites Magic Johnson, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and head coach Pat Riley.
Borenstein, Hecht and Jason Shuman will also be credited as EPs on the drama, which HBO describes as a fast-break series chronicling the professional and personal lives of the 1980s Los Angeles Lakers, one of sports’ most revered and dominant dynasties — a team that defined its era, both on and off the court.
Abdul-Jabbar is currently involved in the industry as a writer for the Veronica Mars reboot, and the newly-unemployed Lakers exec is currently hanging out in Los Angeles tweeting about basketball. So it’s entirely possible to make at least two of those happen.
“Jeff Pearlman’s book and Max Borenstein’s script of the story of the Showtime Lakers really knocked me over. Sexism, racism, tragedy, redemption, no-look passes and a giant cultural shift in America,” McKay said according to THR. “I can’t wait to start filming.”
The series adds to McKay’s long relationship with HBO. He was an executive producer on Succession and worked on HBO’s Eastbound & Down with Ferrell in the past.
