Actor and comedian Mike Epps will play the boundary-breaking comedian Richard Pryor in new HBO series that chronicles the professional and personal lives of the 1980s Los Angeles Lakers.
Originally, in 2014, it was announced that Epps had been tapped to play Pryor in a biopic directed by Lee Daniels. That project, however, never happened. “I met Richard and felt like I was in Oz the whole time,” Epps shared in an interview back then. “It’s hard to describe what he means to me or any stand-up comic. You could say he’s paid the dues for everything we do up there.” Luckily, The Upshaws star will get his chance to play the comedy legend after all.
The untitled L.A. Lakers series cast includes Rory Cochrane as Jerry Tarkanian, Danny Burstein as Vic Weiss, Austin Aaron as Mark Landsberger, Ta’Nika Gibson as Debbie Allen, Gillian Jacobs as Chris Riley, Wood Harris as Spencer Haywood, Brett Cullen as Bill Sharman, Jason Segel as Paul Westhead, Michael Chiklis as Red Auerbach, Sally Field as Jessie Buss, Adrien Brody as Pat Riley, John C. Reilly as Jerry Buss, Jason Clarke as Jerry West, Quincy Isaiah as Magic Johnson, Solomon Hughes as Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Tamera Tomakili as Earletha “Cookie” Kelly, and Bo Burnham as Larry Bird.
