Actor who plays Larry Bird in new HBO series: 'He was almost a part of me'

INDIANAPOLIS — Sean Patrick Small, 6-4, dirty blond and not the fastest guy on the court, wore No. 33 playing high school basketball in California. He wore the number because he wanted to emulate Larry Legend.

Small's love of Larry Bird had as much to do with a strange inner connection he felt to the guy people said he resembled as it did with Bird's stellar play on the court.

Friends and strangers would tell Small: "You know, you kind of look like Larry Bird." Small never shied away from the comparison. One time, he dyed his darkening hair blond and grew a wispy mustache.

Small always had the Bird look. But not long ago, he needed to figure out the rest of Bird. His mannerisms, the accent, the way he walked, the way he spit his chewing tobacco.

Small needed to figure it out because he'd landed the role playing the legendary Bird in the HBO series "Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty," which debuts March 6.

First, there were the YouTube videos, hundreds and hundreds. Small devoured them, searching for any little detail he could uncover about Bird.

There was the video from March 30, 1979, as Bird sat in the grass in his powder blue Indiana State jersey, waiting to play in the College All-Star game.

It was a classic Bird story he was about to tell CBS' Rod Hundley — a story that showed no matter how big a star he was, Bird would never forget French Lick, the place he came from.

"Why, as the best college player in the nation, are you even playing here? You have nothing to prove." Hundley said to Bird.

"Well, you know, I made some commitments early in the season," Bird answered in his slow, southern-tinged drawl. "I told a couple guys from the Pizza Hut back home that I would play in it."

"You know, I don't have nothing to prove," Bird said. "But, you know, I told 'em I'd play in it and I don't want to go back on my word."  

That, Small thought as he watched the 47-second clip more than 100 times, was exactly the Larry Bird he needed to be.

'You kind of play like him'

"Winning Time" isn't about Bird, necessarily. It is a 10-episode series about the professional and personal lives of the 1980s Los Angeles Lakers, one of sports' most dominant dynasties.

But that era cannot be told without Bird. The 1980s brought intense rivalry between the Lakers, where Magic Johnson was the star, and the Boston Celtics, where Bird was the star. Between the two teams, they won eight championships that decade — the Celtics won three, the Lakers five.   

"Winning Time" would be full of game scenes and that was perfect for Small. He had played basketball from second grade through varsity in high school. He had the athleticism, the know-how and the Bird lookalike physicality on the court.  

"People would tell me, 'You kind of play like him. You move like him on the court,'" said Small. "I was never the fastest or the highest jumper or anything like that. But I knew to be in the right spot at the right time with the ball."

Still, HBO wanted to be sure. The series' producers had Small work with the same trainer who works with Stephen Curry and other NBA All-Stars to perfect his "Bird game."

And every day on the set, as Small walked out in his basketball uniform or as a civilian Bird in a flannel shirt and cowboy boots with a baseball cap plopped atop his head, he pinched himself.

"This is much more than an honor," he said. "This is a lifelong dream that actually gets to play out. I think I was in shock a little bit in the beginning on set that I was really doing this."

To say Small was destined to play Bird would be an "understatement," said Small's promoters. "And not just because he looks just like the man widely regarded as one of the greatest basketball players of all time."

But because Small had also been studying Bird, researching him and writing about him for years. Long before "Winning Time" had even been thought of.

"He's been a part of me," Small said, "for so long."

He'd already written a Bird script

While Small was in high school, he took an acting class and was hooked. Once in college, as an aspiring actor, writer and basketball lover, Small decided he should write a script about Bird.

"I've heard I looked like Larry Bird. I played basketball," said Small. "Let's see if there is a good story for a screenplay."

Maybe, Small thought, he could play the role of Bird and be behind the camera, too.  

Small read a book a friend lent him in college, "When March Went Mad," by Seth Davis. "I was like, 'OK, this is definitely really captivating stuff,'" Small said.

The book captured the early playing days of Bird and Johnson and the trials the future superstars faced. Small bought the rights to the book and wrote a script, a miniseries.

Small's script follows Bird and Johnson from the beginning of their storied rivalry, Bird at Indiana State and Johnson at Michigan State. It culminates at the historic 1979 NCAA championship game where the two faced off.  

As Small shopped his script around, he learned about a casting call for the Larry Bird role in "Winning Time." The HBO series on the Lakers began close to where Small's script left off.

Actor Bo Burnham had been cast as Bird, but dropped out of the project.

This was Small's opening, his chance to play his favorite basketball player — and his lookalike.

More: Why Larry Bird won't be portrayed by Bo Burnham in HBO's Los Angeles Lakers series

'Keeping it low-key like Larry Legend'

Small began going deep into Bird character. He would walk around his house saying, "basketball's my whole life," "basketball's my whole life," over and over again with a Bird drawl. It was a phrase Bird has said in many interviews through the years.

His wife, Emily, finally told Small, "I get it. Basketball's your whole life."

Within two weeks of his first meeting with casting directors and after showing just how Birdlike he could be, Small won the role. It felt perfect.

"I had done research and writing about Larry Bird for so long, he was almost a part of me at that point," Small said. "I have the back story. I have the emotional depth. It was just making sure..."

"I wanted to portray Larry Bird as the human being that he was."

Getting to meet Bird was not a part of playing the role, Small says laughing. "The research that I've done on him, he’s not public facing."

When "Winning Time" debuts Sunday, Small plans to watch his performance in Bird fashion. He and his wife will have some close friends over, order some catering and have a quiet watch party.

Sticking to the role, Small said. "Kind of keeping it low key like Larry Legend."