"The best ones are always emotionally connected with you," says 'Winning Time' actor John C. Reilly about Paul Thomas Anderson, Martin Scorsese, and others

The versatile actor spoke about working with the best in the business and one common factor among them all

John C. Reilly

Very few actors in Hollywood have achieved the range and reputation that John C. Reilly has. His eclectic work boasts of intense dramatic roles to the also super comical, almost-buffoonish kind, and practically everything in between. Unbeknownst to Reilly himself, there is a strong and loyal fandom to the actor's name that is only growing in size with newer generations encountering his vibrant work. John C. Reilly is back in the limelight for his first major TV role in the new HBO original 'Winning Time' in which he plays former Los Angeles Lakers Jerry Buss whose radical vision for the NBA team redefined sports and entertainment.

In a recent off-the-cuff interview with Vulture, John C. Reilly spoke at length about his exciting TV debut, the art of balancing comedy and drama, and his associations with master filmmakers like Paul Thomas Anderson, Martin Scorsese, and Adam McKay. Reilly's filmography brims with top names and in the interview, he reveals that though he never designed his career to take a specific shape, the best filmmakers have always managed to spot something unique in him.

Interestingly, this phenomenon began to show in his debut film 'Casualties of War' wherein Brian de Palma, easily the hottest director of the '80s, found something bright about him and even extended his role. As Private First Class Herbert Hatcher, John Reilly struck a chord with the audience right away and made many heads turn as result. Filmmakers suddenly realized that they sought an actor exactly like him and although his tall, slightly droopy but very authentic didn't fetch him lead roles straight away, he was certainly an integral member of every cast. From Tony Scott to Danny DeVito, John C. Reilly found the rare opportunity of working with some of the best in the earliest phase of his career, and the chance to share the screen with the likes of Jack Nicholson ('Hoffa') and Johnny Depp ('What's Eating Gilbert Grape') surely came as a juicy perk.

"Well, those directors all discovered me one at a time. Brian De Palma literally did discover me, Reilly got his first big break in De Palma’s 1989 film, Casualties of War. He’d been hired for a small role and was promoted to one of the leads. and after that, the others were like, “Oh my God, I found the perfect person for this role. I don’t know where this kid came from, but he’s perfect.”," said John Reilly in the Vulture interview.

One of John C. Reilly's best and most memorable roles came about in 1996 when Paul Thomas Anderson cast him as the lead of his debut 'Hard Eight'. This was to be the first of three back-to-back collaborations between the two and many would cite this as one of the most significant and fruitful phases of the actor's life. While the early films helped him make a name for himself, P.T. Anderson lent him one-half of the niche that he still owns. In the same interview, he shares:

“Paul Thomas Anderson was the first one who put it all together, who was like, ‘I know you from this movie, and this movie, and this movie. And I know you can do more than you’ve been doing, so I wrote this part for you.'. And I can tell you what it’s like to work with Paul. He’s someone who’s so excited to see what you’re going to do next. That sounds like an obvious thing, but having one person’s complete attention while you’re acting is important."

In fact, he adds, most filmmakers are known to get carried away by the pressures of their job and do not forge an emotional connection with their actors. The best ones, like Paul Thomas Anderson or Martin Scorsese, maintain a unique synergy with their actors and extract the best only by letting them do their best without much hindrance. "Martin Scorsese is the same way: He hires great people, and he lets them surprise him,” he goes on to say about his 'Gangs of New York' director.

'Winning Time: The rise of the Lakers Dynasty' is a ten-episode chronicle of the Los Angeles Lakers NBA team's rise through the '80s (popularly referred to as the Showtime era). Along with John. C. Reilly, the show also boasts of Adrien Brody, Jason Segal, Gaby Hoffman, Jason Clarke, and Rob Morgan. 'Winning Time' is available on Hotstar.

Share