For Sean Patrick Small, playing Boston Celtics forward Larry Bird in the HBO drama series “Winning Time” was a “dream come true.”
“I get to act, play basketball and get paid to do so, while being one of, if not the, greatest [basketball players] of all time,” he told TheWrap in an interview conducted before the SAG-AFTRA strike.
Small’s preparation for the role unknowingly started in 2014, as he worked on a miniseries focused on Bird’s life from his senior year of high school to his senior year of college.
“His whole back story really surprised me because he was at Indiana University for a short amount of time, dropped out, didn’t ever think he was going to go back to college. Was working for the county, picking garbage up weekly and painting park benches and loving it with his friends… and his father tragically passing, all this type of stuff informed what he is as a Celtic, but also all of that is so deeply internalized within him that you might not see it until this season,” Small said. “We get to dive back into that and peel back those layers and see who he is as a person, where he comes from and what we have gotten today from all that.”
When it came to the biggest challenge in the series, Small admits it was portraying Bird playing basketball in jeans in Episode 3. The actor had previous experience playing the sport recreationally on his high school varsity team.
“It was a lot hotter than playing in shorts, that’s for sure,” he said. “It was something that I made sure to practice. I don’t think anyone ever actually thought I was going to come to rehearsals in jeans, but I knew that I had to do that in order to make sure that it felt real the day of,” Small said. “So being able to do that just amplified my confidence, which amplified Bird’s confidence, which amplified the trash talking and it was this snowball effect of getting the most out of that scene, the most out of Bird as a character.
“I just love shooting those scenes where I’m doing the no look, slap passes and I’m hitting one legged shots over two or three different people and just showcasing who Bird was as a player back then because he was unstoppable,” he added.
Small worked closely with Michael Chiklis, who portrays Boston Celtics coach Red Auerbach. Chiklis noted that he watched the rivalry between the Lakers and Celtics happen in real time while attending Boston University from 1981 to 1985.
“My only regret this whole process is that my father is not allowed to see it because he was the biggest Red Auerbach fan of anyone,” Chiklis said. “I grew up listening to him preach the gospel of Red Auerbach and he really was a big believer in him as a coach, as a man, in his work ethic.”
To prepare for the role, Chiklis read Bill Russell’s book “Red and Me: My Coach, My Lifelong Friend.”
“It was just wonderful to hear another legend so brilliantly and emotionally and intellectually articulate about his feelings towards Red and what made Red great. It was just some really fascinating insight,” he said. “I found that it was also cool to spend a lot of time on YouTube watching him and the way he coached the guys and finding out how much the guys loved him personally.”
Chiklis said that he and Small had “an instant rapport” that helped them establish a “father, son, paternal relationship” in addition to their dynamic as player and coach.
“Being able to have that mentorship along with acting alongside of him was just a dream come true,” Small added. “I feel like I’ve said that too many times, but it really is.”
In addition to Small and Chiklis, the series stars Quincy Isaiah, Adrien Brody, John C. Reilly, Jason Clarke, Gaby Hoffmann, Jason Segel, Hadley Robinson, 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.
