The WinningTime actor told The Times about working himself into a 'frenzy' to play Jerry West, who has threatened legal action against HBO.
Everything you need to know about the fight over “Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty,” all in one place.Tell us a little bit about what struck you about his autobiography [“West by West: My Charmed, Tormented Life”]. Was there anything that surprised you or stood out as, “Oh, this detail really crystallized the character”?Well, yeah, that was the first place I started. I had looked at some pictures first, and then I went and I read it.
When we meet him, it’s not making him happy. He talked about it in his book: He’s not a nice man. He’s very hard. He’d been through all those years of getting beaten by [Boston Celtics player] Bill Russell. And it’s not that he hates his job. He cares. I mean, he talks about it in his book, that he cares so much it hurts.
Those losses to Bill Russell — I kind of likened it to boxing, the way he describes it. And if you box, it’s like that last 30 seconds in the championship round, it really hurts. You’re just taking it and taking it. In terms of really kicking off strong, everyone’s got a Jerry West story in L.A. Before people knew that I was playing him, I could have conversations about what’s going on. And I heard a lot of stories about, he’s just always got an inner monologue going. So I would talk myself into a f—ing frenzy.
Do we want to take it to 11 or maybe just 10½? I was very relieved when we weren’t going to go for a 9. You can get that. It’s a charmed, tormented connection to the way you are and to winning and losing. And then you throw the competitiveness in there and, you know, as professional athletes, I can’t imagine.’'Cause you just can’t stop competing. You live for the compete. You live for that couple of seconds where it’s on the line and you want to be the man, Mr. Clutch.
Everybody’s got a Jerry story. The one thing I did notice was that he’s well loved. There’s just something about that cranky, hard to get to know, but he’s also loyal and endearing, and he stays with you. He treats you with respect if you treat him with respect, I guess. And I also love hearing him talk about Elgin Baylor. I mean, those guys started the Lakers. When you go back into how the Lakers came about, I mean, Los Angeles was just a dirt ball, so were the Lakers. They were nothing. He couldn’t get anybody to come out and even watch them. They were like this team out West where nobody was. And he’s been there through all those times from the ’50s to the ’60s to the ’70s, crazy days.
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