If a biopic was ever made about former San Antonio Spurs head coach Gregg Popovich, one Academy Award-nominated actor wants the part.
Asked during a recent roundtable interview which real-life person he’d like to play in a film, Jesse Eisenberg (The Social Network) pointed to Popovich, a five-time champion coach and current president of basketball operations for the Spurs.
“I just find him to be the most fascinating person on the planet,” Eisenberg said. “Here’s this tough coach who cries sometimes and talks about the plight of America, and yet he’s also this terrifying figure who can be so mean to journalists. People like that are fascinating because, on the one hand, they’re known to be very nasty, and on the other hand they’re these bleeding hearts.”
Eisenberg has portrayed real-life figures on a few occasions during his career. He earned an Academy Award nomination for his performance as Facebook co-founder Mark Zuckerberg in the 2010 film The Social Network.
He later portrayed Rolling Stone journalist David Lipsky in the 2015 dramedy The End of the Tour, opposite Jason Segel as author David Foster Wallace; and French mime artist Marcel Marceau in the 2020 film Resistance.
In the past, Hollywood has portrayed several real-life coaches on the big screen, including Texas college basketball coach Don Haskins (Josh Lucas in Glory Road) and USA Hockey coach Herb Brooks (Kirk Russell in Miracle).
In the 2022 TV series Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty, Lakers head coach Pat Riley was portrayed by Oscar winner Adrien Brody (The Pianist).
So, what chance does Eisenberg think he has in the future to play Popovich, the winningest coach in NBA history?
“I just think I would be very low on the list to be cast as a basketball coach,” he said laughing.