Interview: Rob Morgan on the Brilliance of ‘Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty’

Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty told the story of how the legendary team changed the professional basketball landscape and what happened behind-the-scenes in order for the team to get there. One of the standout performances from the second season of the series was Rob Morgan stepping back into the shoes of Earvin Johnson Sr., Magic Johnson‘s (Quincy Isaiah) father.

Awards Radar had the opportunity of interviewing Morgan due to his work in the second season of the series, where the actor was eager to talk about his process for bringing Magic Johnson’s father to life. The Smile star was ready to bring his own style to the screen, as Earvin Johnson Sr. dealt with how his son quickly became one of the most famous men on the planet. You can find the highlights from the interview below:

Awards Radar: How do you think sports culture has changed since the time when Winning Time took place?

Rob Morgan: The exposure has grown to a higher level, especially with social media and people getting ways to show themselves on various levels, and you get to watch them grow. You can watch a kid learning basketball on the third grade getting picked up for the team in high school and watch him get to college and to the pros. I think the enthusiasm and the excitement have measured up to where we are now. (…) I don’t think it was pushed in your face like it is today. I’m excited to see the sports arena get a rejuvenation and be a part of it. The culture and sports bringing us together, like it used to back in the day.

AR: Did you have any personal history with the L.A. Lakers before you joined Winning Time?

RM: I was around in that era. I had dreamed of playing ball. I watched the games on television as a child, with my uncles and everybody. I was definitely inspired by the level of commitment that those guys were showing. The grit that they showed on the court. I tried to emulate some of that in my game, but one day I realized I wasn’t growing taller than 6’1, and I didn’t have the handle Magic Johnson had. I put my hoop dreams to the side and focused on my academics (Laughs).

AR: Salli Richardson was heavily involved with the second season of Winning Time. What was it like working with her?

RM: It was amazing working with Sally, specially growing up, admiring her as young lad, with her poppin’ in and out of films with phenomenal talent. Having her direct this gem of a show and watching her do it with such grace and poise was amazing. And to see how you can still be yourself and win in this business. Because she’s definitely still a Chicago girl. I think her ability to create that safe space on set with her confidence and what she was doing just made it all a wonderful experience.

AR: From Chief Powell in Stranger Things to Earvin Sr. in Winning Time, you always deliver very nuanced performances, with your characters allowing contradictory ideas coexist in themselves. What’s your approach for allowing a character to have multiple layers to them?

RM: The approach is to read the material over and over and over and over again I have a theater approach, because I was in theater and that is what brought me into the business. American theater in West Harlem in New York City, and it helped me understand the idea of the more we read and understand the material the more it will speak out loud to us and we can allow ourselves to play in that world. By reading it over and over again, I just pick out details I can keep learning about what other characters say about my character and that informs me where we’re at. The time of the year, what my charactet was doing to the scene where I was previous to where we are now.

I try to get into the spirit of what the writers put on the page. Hopefully, after you’ve learned the lines, it just starts speaking out to you. And when you show up on set and try to show the director what you have fantasized in your mind, it’s either something they can accept and play with or something they might see and turn into something else. It’s like a “teamwork makes the dream work” thing for me. I like to prepare so I can deliver what I imagined in my room, by myself. But then, once I get to set, the actors opposite of me present somehting different. They tell you how they felt about their characters. It’s a synergy that comes about. It’s a synergy that comes out once I get to set.

AR: You’re working on The Rivals of Amziah King with Matthew McConaughey. How is this project different from everything you’ve done before. What makes you wake up in the morning, excited for it?

RM: Aw, man. Matthew McConaughey and I working together was a thirty-year-circle. It comes around for the very first time I ever worked background on a movie set. It was a film called Contact and it had Matthew McConaughey and Jodie Foster. When I went and saw it at the theater, it blew my mind so much to see myself onscreen. That that was really the shot of my arm, which led me to get to this journey. about becoming a full-time actor. It was such an amazing experience. When I shared this story with him, he was like “Hey man, I’ve been making my way for thirty years to work again with you, too!” (Laughs)

Both seasons of Winning Time are now available for streaming on Max. This interview was edited for lenght and clarity purposes.