Ian McShane as Al Swearengen in the HBO series 'Deadwood.' Doug Hyun/HBO

Last week SI writer Richard Deitsch interviewed Ian McShane for the magazine's Q&A. The 62-year-old Golden Globe-winning actor (Deadwood) co-stars in Scoop, which opens on Friday. Here are additional excerpts from the interview.

SI: You moved to Venice Beach in 2003, when you signed on for the Deadwood role. Have you become immersed in any of the Los Angeles teams?

McShane: My wife is American and she's from Detroit. My teams are the Red Wings and Pistons. I am very sad that Brendan Shanahan has left the Red Wings and Ben Wallace has left the Pistons.

SI: A Hollywood guy who doesn't like the Lakers?

McShane: I can't watch a team that wears purple and gold. Excuse me, where do they get that color scheme from? Besides, Manchester [England, where McShane grew up] is a working-class town and I like the teams from Detroit.

SI: The best sports film you've ever seen?

McShane: This Sporting Life (1962) with Richard Harris. Brilliant script and brilliant performances. [Director] Lindsay Anderson really captured the world of Rugby League.

SI: Has there ever been a great soccer film?

McShane: Well, I did a soccer film called Yesterday's Hero. It was written by [Hollywood Wives author] Jackie Collins and based on the life of George Best. I used to drink with him in a club Jackie and her husband owned in London in the 1970s. Georgie was a sweetheart. It was not bad, but football films just don't work. To look like a professional soccer player is pretty impossible unless you are one. But our film was better than Victory. You had Sylvester Stallone playing a goalkeeper and Michael Caine as the most overfed prisoner of war I've ever seen.

SI: What was it about Best that captured everyone's attention?

McShane: The demon booze. He could not kick it. He always had this special place in the heart of the English press. They always sort of loved him. He was a very open guy and a very sweet guy. He was treated very gently as a sports hero. If it was somebody else, he would have been vilified because all he did was drink and mouth off about other people. My dad said he was he the most gifted player he had ever seen.

SI: One person from sports whom you've always longed to play?

McShane: I would have loved to have played Ty Cobb. The film about him was underrated and Tommy Lee Jones did a great job. I love that movie. An irascible, strange and tormented guy who played the game like no one else. But here's another one I'd love to have played that might surprise you: Mickey Mantle. I thought he was amazing.