‘Ballers’ Star Omar Miller On Why The Series Is About So Much More Than Football

When I call Omar Miller, famous for his roles in 8 Mile, Get Rich or Die Tryin’, and as art theft expert Walter Simmons in the later seasons of CSI: Miami, he’s down in the Magic City golfing in 95-degree heat for charity, answering my questions about his latest gig on Ballers, between do-gooder drives and putts. Like his character on the new HBO sports comedy, it’s immediately apparent that Miller is sincere and couldn’t be more excited to talk about the series that holds the potential to be the show of the summer we never knew we needed.

Marketed as Entourage‘s sporty cousin (featuring Stephen Levinson and Mark Wahlberg as executive producers), the trailer for Ballers — which makes Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson out to be a womanizing wheeler and dealer — isn’t necessarily doing the show any favors, inviting more than a few eye-rolls from critics who are still coming down from bashing the outdatedness of the Entourage movie. Yet those who judge a show based on its promos are surely missing out on a series that has plenty to say about the current conflicting state of sports stardom while also allowing us to feast our eyes on the good life for a half-hour each Sunday night.

On Ballers, Miller plays retired Tampa Bay Buccaneers lineman Charles Greane, who may have walked off the field a tad too early in his career to start the next chapter of his life as a family man. Being thirty-something and retired, however, doesn’t necessarily make for peace of mind, especially when your only valuable career asset is your former reputation on the field. That helps Charles land a gig as a Chevy salesmen, but it also puts him in a damning position among his inner circle of current and former players. Boredom and a slow-churning identity crisis make for a troublesome concoction, and soon Charles is struggling to keep it all together as he lets go of the glory days. Miller sheds some light on how he got into the complexity of his (totally lovable) character, the real-life issues surrounding the NFL, and what he’s looking forward to next.

Decider: How does it feel being back on television after CSI: Miami?

Omar Miller: It feels good being back on TV as far as working on TV. It’s a very good feel. It’s different, but it’s a good feel. Whereas, it’s going to be very interesting to see how people receive my character versus my CSI: Miami character [Walter Simmons].

Even after only seeing the first four episodes of Ballers, your character is definitely the most complex next to Spencer Strassmore (played by Dwayne Johnson). Can you talk about how you got into the character of Charles Greane?

I really appreciate the writers and the producers in trusting me with that because, as an actor, that’s a serious vote of confidence. It was really tough for me to get into Charles’s character, and I went back and forth a lot with them because one of the notes I would consistently get was, “He’s less confident.” It’s really interesting because, this guy is really vulnerable at this stage when you first meet him. Then what ends up happening as the season goes on is that you see different things that rob him of and, in turn, restore his confidence. For me to watch, that’s a great thing. I love it when I see that on TV.

Not to give too much away, but there’s a scene in Episode Four where Charles is heading home and makes the decision to drive past his house and meet up with the woman he met at the party. What do you think was going through his head at that very moment?

I think he’s just confused. I think one thing that gets established early is that if these guys are not associated with football, a lot of their identity is lost. It takes so much time and focus to get to that level of professionalism. So when that’s your whole identity and you invest so much of yourself in that… Now that that’s finished, what do you do? Who are you? In this case, Charles Greane is trying to figure out who he is. It kind of goes back to that Chris Rock bit, “A Man Is Only as Faithful as His Options.” When he runs into this situation, he now has options and has to determine what he’s going to do while looking for his moral norms. I’m really interested to see how you feel about how it plays out. For me, my favorite episodes to shoot were four through eight. I particularly liked eight.

At some points, the show takes a very real, very dramatic turn. How do you think the series is working to comment on the real-life controversies surrounding the NFL?

I think there is a lot of truth being said in jest here. I think that it’s not just hitting the controversy. I think we’re hitting multiple angles of these complex athletes that so many people idolize. And there’s such a veil of secrecy around them. Obviously it’s a fictionalized version, but as an actor, my job is to make you believe. So if I can make you believe, we’re in a good spot. Even for you to contemplate, “Wow this got realer than I expected,” to me that means we did a successful job. For you to contemplate these real-life issues, we’re already off on the right foot. I just want to give these guys — meaning professional football players — a fair shake. I think that there is a lot of controversy and one-sidedness that gets represented in the media, while there are some guys who are actually out there doing the right thing. That’s why I was so excited to play this particular character because my guy is one of the good guys. And yet, you get to see how difficult it is to be a good guy all the time, even for someone who is an innately good person. For me, that’s where I started from: with the idea that he’s an innately good guy.

How has it been working with a mix of seasoned actors, like yourself and Dwayne Johnson, in addition to those who are just starting out, like London Brown, Donovan Carter, and John David Washington?

I liked it a lot. Obviously DJ is a veteran. But even with his many, many films, this is a new wrinkle for him and I’m excited to see how people accept it. I think one of the reasons he wanted to do the show was that this is a real person. He doesn’t have to save the universe; he doesn’t have to do anything but keep his shit together like we all have to. Which, we come to find out, is the equivalent of saving the universe for yourself. As for working with him, he is one of the most humble, kindest people you’ll ever meet. Everybody else — there are so many young, hungry people — from the actress who plays my wife, Jazmyn Simon, to Donovan Carter. I mean, I watched Donovan and John David shoot their very first scenes ever. Their very first professional scenes! That’s awesome! And then there’s guys like Troy Garity. Troy’s awesome and a great actor.

Assuming that Ballers will be picked up for a second season, are there any other projects that you’re working on that you’re particularly excited about?

I had a travel program on the Esquire Network, and I’m really interested in that space. It was a mini-series scenario, and we’re going to figure out where to do more of that because I love to travel, I really do. Right now, I’m working on a couple of things: writing stuff and pitching movie ideas to studios. And I’m just going to let this thing land and see where it goes, because I’m willing to gamble on myself that people are going to love this show and love my character.

 

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Photos: HBO