IN CONVERSATION JOHN G.REILY

The actor thinks audiences just want to be surprised. He'd do (almost) anything to oblige.

- LANE BROWN

JOHN C. REILLY has played lots of sidekicks, supporting the ambitions of great men like Dirk Diggler and Ricky Bobby. But in HBO's Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty, he's the one with the vision, starring as Jerry Buss, the real-estate mogul who bought the L.A. Lakers in 1979 and—with the help of cheerleaders (rare in the NBA back then) and a fast-break offense-turned pro basketball into a show. Winning Time executive producer Adam McKay directed pivotal Reilly performances in Talladega Nights and Step Brothers and here again shows us new sides of the actor (including most of his torso, on display under a period wardrobe of wide-open shirts). Over two conversations in mid-April, Reilly shared the secrets to a 70-plus-role career. It's not the industry that typecasts actors, he said, “it's the audience. If they don't want to see you in a certain kind of part, you won't be playing it for long. And my audience has let me do all kinds of different things.”

You were offered the part of Jerry Buss in Winning Time just a week1 before you shot the pilot.

That’s right. Seven days.

Buss seems like a difficult role to step into. He was a beloved public figure with a complicated personal life, plus in addition to owning the Lakers, he was a real-estate baron, chemist, aerospace engineer, and poker player. How do you become somebody like that in seven days?

First of all, I was lucky I kind of look like him with the help of hair, makeup, and the right clothes. Once I had all that, I was like, Okay, what did this guy do in his life?