'Winning Time' showrunner explains how Jonah Hill directing the second episode led to a Scorsese 'influence'

• Jonah Hill directed episode 2 of "Winning Time."
• Showrunner Max Borenstein explains how Hill did the episode's restaurant scene.

"Winning Time" — the HBO series on the rise of the Los Angeles Lakers dynasty once the team was bought by Jerry Buss and drafted Magic Johnson in the late 1970s — is filled with innovative storytelling elements, from its use of different shooting formats to its unique editing style from Oscar-nominated editor Hank Corwin ("Don't Look Up").

All those things are found in the show's pilot episode, which aired last week, but long before the public saw it one of its earliest fans was Jonah Hill.

Friends with John C. Reilly, who plays Buss in the series, and Adam McKay, who is a producer on the show and directed the pilot, Hill saw a rough cut back in 2019 and was floored by what the show was doing.

"He flipped out," Max Borenstein, the "Winning Time" showrunner, told Insider. "We had this meeting where he came in and he was just enthusiastic."

Borenstein said during the meeting, Hill told the show's producers that if they were looking for series directors he wanted to be considered.

Though known for his acting work in comedies and dramas, recently Hill has turned to directing, including music videos and his 2018 feature debut "Mid90s."

Borenstein said he and the "Winning Time" team were excited Hill wanted to be involved, but then the pandemic hit and production on the series was halted for almost a year. When the world began to reopen and filming became possible, Borenstein said Hill was on the top of their list to direct the second episode.

"In its own way, the second episode is also a pilot for the series because it had been a year and everyone had to get the rust off," Borenstein said.

In the episode, Buss as the new owner of the Lakers is getting acclimated to wheeling-and-dealing in the world of the National Basketball Association, and that includes meeting with the league's legendary Boston Celtics owner Red Auerbach (played by Michael Chiklis). The meeting would spark the rivalry between the two teams that would span the next decade.

A highlight of the episode is when Buss takes Auerbach out to dinner. Hill crafts a sequence that feels reminiscent of his filmmaking idol Martin Scorsese. Buss navigates Auerbach through the restaurant, obviously trying to impress the Celtic great, by chatting it up with the patrons. The vibe of the scene has a feel of Scorsese's 1990 classic "Goodfellas" when Henry Hill (Ray Liotta) brings Karen (Lorraine Bracco) to the Copacabana.

"Jonah did this beautiful shot and you feel his influence from Scorsese," Borenstein said of the sequence. Hill worked with famed director in the 2013 movie "The Wolf of Wall Street."

And if you look closely, you'll see that the lounge piano player Buss walks over to is Beastie Boy member Mike D. Borenstein said Hill asked the hip-hop legend to do the cameo.

"That whole sequence Jonah was into that idea that the scene would be a transportive thing to take you into the era and Buss' world," Borenstein said. "He pulled it off."

"Winning Time" airs on Sundays on HBO and is also available on HBO Max.