John Stamos details huge learning curve for 'Big Shots' role
John Stamos's basketball acumen severely lacked when new Disney Plus series Big Shots was first floated to him.
The Full House legend pushed beyond his apprehensions and studied infamous former Indiana and Texas Tech head coach Bob Knight as well as beloved Los Angeles icon Jerry West.
"When I got the call, it was like, 'You're gonna get on this new David E. Kelley show,' and I was like, 'Oh, great, am I gonna play a lawyer or one of these great characters on Big Little Lies or something?'" Stamos said during a lengthy Jimmy Kimmel Live segment this week. "They said, 'No, it's about basketball,' and I went, 'Oh, no.' God gave me a lot of things, but athleticism was not one of them."
Stamos and Kimmel then reflected upon their respective "band geek" days—the 57-year-old actor admitted he's "terrible at sports" despite having a full-fledged basketball court at his house—before Stamos asked if Kimmel bought him as a coach "because this was the one thing I was really afraid of" and Stamos revealed how he wrapped his head around his character Marvyn Korn, a disgraced NCAA basketball coach to lead a high school girls basketball squad:
"I did a deep dive on Bobby Knight. I found him really fascinating. Very funny, too. 'Cause my character throws a chair, and that's how I get kicked out of the NCAA. I studied him a lot. And then a friend of mine knew Jerry West—the great Jerry West—and she said, 'You should talk to Jerry West?' And I said, 'Who's Jerry West?' He was a Laker, and the [NBA] logo. And he was kind enough to invite me down to hang out.
"I got there and said, 'Mr. West, thank you so much for inviting me to this rehearsal today.' He said, 'Stop right there, son. It's not called a rehearsal. It's called a practice. Those aren't costumes. They're uniforms.' I mean, that's where I had to start."
Big Shots will hit Disney Plus on Friday with Stamos co-starring alongside Yvette Nicole Brown:
Stamos also relayed to Kimmel why the series means so much to him:
"I'm really proud of this. We started this show two years ago, and we had no idea that this month would be the time when women's sports, women's basketball, is in the headlines. The inequalities that were going, [and] the NCAA had to apologize. Plus, the pandemic. Who knew that we really were gonna need a show like this at this time? The reality of a character like Korn, going into this situation and releasing his assumptions and connecting with these girls, I really think it breaks down stereotypes."
Watch the full Jimmy Kimmel Live interview below.
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