Michael Chiklis finally got to play a hometown god—and then had to glare at him through Lakers-colored glasses. As Red Auerbach in HBO’s Winning Time, the Boston native knew he wasn’t here to cuddle history. “Because it’s from the perspective of the Los Angeles Lakers, I was basically coming in as a principal antagonist,” he says. “With Jerry Buss as the protagonist, Red would be viewed primarily as an antagonist.” Translation: less parquet mythology, more mob-boss posture at the end of a long table. “Delicious,” he grins. “When I read the episode with ‘It’s never been a leprechaun—it’s me,’ I went, okay, I’m in.”
The trick was to play the villain without dumbing down the legend. Chiklis did the homework—The Red Auerbach books, the lore, the winning—and came away evangelizing the nuance. “Red was a tremendous collaborator,” he says. “Not dictatorial. He listened to his men and knew how to create an atmosphere that made for championship teams over and over. He gave his players a sense of agency.” The flip side? “If you played against Red Auerbach, you fucking hated him,” Chiklis laughs. “You feared him. You knew he was formidable and a gamesman who would do everything inside the rules to beat your ass.”
He loves the show as a study in worldviews as much as a soap opera with short shorts. “On one hand you have the East Coast philosophy—discipline, integrity of the sport—that’s Red and his guys,” he says. “On the other, Jerry Buss comes in late in life from a fan’s and businessman’s perspective. He sees the potential of the business. They couldn’t be more philosophically divided. What they have in common is they love their guys and support them. Everything else is different.” Cue his surprisingly spot-on John C. Reilly impression mid-monologue (yes, he knows it’s good).
Ask him why Auerbach still matters and he points to Bill Russell. “Here were two men who had no business being friends on paper,” he says. “But they became best of friends through mutual respect, admiration, and collaboration. Red didn’t say, ‘Shut your face, this is my team.’ He understood he got the best out of his guys by collaborating, making them feel valued and like they had a say in their own lives.” It’s the kind of forward-thinking leadership that outlives eras and playbooks. “I’ve seen so many teams that on paper should beat everybody,” he says. “If you’re lacking chemistry in the dugout, on the bench, in the locker room—you’re not going to make it. The fish rots from the head.”
And then there’s Magic. Chiklis met the real one on the Fantastic Four set, which makes him uniquely qualified to judge Quincy Isaiah’s TV version. “He does a tremendous job,” Chiklis says. “Magic is this incredible mix of fun and charisma, but wildly savvy and street-smart. Incredibly well-rounded. Not just a big smiling face—he knew the room, saw the big picture. Quincy nails that.”
So he got to play a hero, just not the one he grew up with. He played the one the Lakers dreaded: the cigar-waving chess player who made you hate him precisely because he kept beating you. “I’m hopeful as things progress they get into Red’s three-dimensionality even more,” Chiklis says. But for now? Antagonist suits him fine. It’s never been the leprechaun.
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