Entourage cast interview: The TV show-turned-movie is a reflection of misogyny in Hollywood

'Everything that happens, happens in Hollywood - ironically it's toned down'

Entourage film still (Courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures)

The Beverly Hilton hotel in Los Angeles gleams under an arching blue sky, its manicured lawns trimmed and strimmed by a team of gardeners who fill the motionless hot air with the hum of leaf blowers and the drone of a tractor mower.

Nestled at the intersection of Wilshire and Santa Monica boulevards, this venerable location is steeped in Hollywood history – for starters, it has hosted the annual Golden Globe Awards since 1961 – so it is apt that it should today accommodate my meeting with the director and stars of Hollywood-on-Hollywood movie Entourage.

Entourage is a big-screen continuation of the same-titled HBO comedy-drama series that ran for eight seasons, totalling 96 episodes, between 2004 and 2011. Racking up a global fanbase, 26 Emmy, and 14 Golden Globe, nominations, the TV show was inspired by Mark Wahlberg’s exploits alongside the likes of Leonardo DiCaprio and Tobey Maguire in a 1990s rat pack dubbed “The Pussy Posse” by New York magazine.

‘Entourage’ director Doug Ellin (left) and producer Mark Wahlberg on set (Press/Claudette Barius)

Wahlberg, who produces the movie and executive-produced the show, was always in on the joke, content for his past to form the “essence” of Entourage as it tracked Queens-born actor Vincent Chase (Adrian Grenier) going stratospheric in Tinseltown. With Vince for every bump (and grind) of the journey were lifelong pals Eric (Kevin Connolly) and Salvatore “Turtle” Assante (Jerry Ferrara), who earned their keep as, respectively, Vince’s manager and chauffeur, plus older half-brother Johnny “Drama” Chase (Kevin Dillon), a D-list actor who depended on little bro to furnish him with work. The movie sees Vince now looking to follow in the Brobdingnagian footsteps of Clint Eastwood, Kevin Costner and Mel Gibson, A-list stars who really wanted to direct and won Oscars for their efforts.

First posited in September 2011, the supersized Entourage didn’t receive a green light until January 2013, with 13 more months sliding by before shooting began. Wahlberg never lost hope, saying: “It was always the plan to make a movie – a lot of fans were very upset that it wasn’t on air anymore, and everywhere I’d go, people asked me: ‘What about Entourage? When’s the movie coming?’ I just kept pushing the project uphill: every time I had a chance to talk about it in a meeting, I would talk about it. I’d have financed it myself, if I had to do it.”

Rumoured contract issues with the principal cast threatened to jettison the movie – Wahlberg publicly lambasted “them guys” for “being so greedy” – but the original cast eventually committed, while the show’s creator, head writer and sometime director Doug Ellin once more donned several hats.

A still from the Entourage movie (Press/Claudette Barius)

“You want to sell that there’s a big difference but the show was already hugely cinematic,” says Ellin, swatting aside any gogglebox-to-multiplex concerns as he peers out from beneath a baseball cap. He is sitting in a fifth-floor suite with Grenier, Connolly, Dillon and Ferrara, the leaves of a gigantic palm tree outside the window. “From the beginning, I would tell HBO: ‘This is a movie, every week.”

Grenier cuts in. Dressed down in open-necked shirt, blue jeans and white trainers, the 38-year-old actor looks, nonetheless, like the movie star that his character is, his dark, heavy stubble and darker, heavier brows colliding with tranquil blue eyes and an oddly becalming aura, like some Zen Heathcliff.

“We shot wide format from the beginning, like it was on a big screen,” he murmurs. “Fans watched four or five episodes in a row. The only difference [for the movie] is that we’ve cut out the beginning and end credits.”

Connolly sits forward. “We would have our premieres at movie theatres,” he says. “They would show two episodes on the big screen. I think that’s where the idea to make a movie came from, because it would play so well.”

Adrian Grenier starring as the lead in Entourage (Press/Claudette Barius)

“The movie has scope,” promises Dillon. “We start off with a tricky shot on this yacht. It’s a walk-and-talk shot, three or four pages of dialogue without a cut…”

“Our first day of shooting was on a yacht in Miami, with 250 girls in bikinis!” laughs Connolly.

“And some without bikinis,” adds Dillon.

Ferrara smirks: “It was easy to get back into character.”

The energy between the cast is fascinating. Connolly, Dillon and Ferrara inhabit the propulsive persiflage of the show, while Grenier is the calm at the centre of the storm. The manner in which they slot together never changes, they attest, and though life and geography prevent them from hanging out together a great deal once “cut” has been called, they do hook up for dinners and golf, viewing themselves as “extended family”.

Every bit as serene as Grenier is Jeremy Piven, the larger-than-life actor who has lit up dozens of Hollywood films since the late 1980s, and proud winner of one Golden Globe and three Emmy awards for playing Vince’s sleazy super-agent, Ari Gold. Bearded, he ambles into the room with a flamboyant silk scarf wrapped around his neck, noodles from a take-out box twirled around a plastic fork. His leisurely manner and soothing voice come as something of a shock given that Gold started off volcanic and got bigger over eight seasons.

The main crew, driving top down in a still from Entourage (Press/Claudette Barius)

Now, in the film, he is ensconced as the head of a major studio, recklessly tapping up a Texan oil magnate (Billy Bob Thornton, naturally) and his micro-managing son (a comeback role for Haley Joel Osment, the child star of The Sixth Sense and A.I. Artificial Intelligence) for $100m to fund Vince’s directorial debut. Given said debut is Hyde, a modern-day retelling of the Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde set in the world of electronic dance music, you can be sure that things will rapidly degenerate and Gold will be hitting all-new levels of radioactive rage.

“It’s a billion-dollar corporation that he has to run, everything is deep-end, he’s desperately trying to hold it together,” purrs Piven, rotating his fork with hypnotic precision. “Ari is a great role. He is so offensive and so arrogant. People love that. I think they’re very disappointed when I’m not [him]. People respond to me as they would to Ari, so very abrasively, a lot of yelling. They want to let me know what a great asshole I am, and that they are an asshole because of me. When I hear that, it makes me want to retire. I just think, ‘have I inspired people to be the worst versions of themselves?’. It’s very scary and sad to me.”

Entourage, it should be stressed, is a blast of entertainment, a funhouse mirror held up to Hollywood in order that the public might gawp at the deals and film sets, the egos and parties. But while Piven is getting serious for a moment, let’s talk about the perceived misogyny of these men behaving badly…

Film still from the movie Entourage (Press/Claudette Barius)

Grenier takes the baton. “Entourage, I think, is a reflection of some misogynistic undertones. The treatment of women is not where it needs to be generally, in the world. But we have really strong women. Sloan [Murphy’s on-off partner, played by Emmanuelle Chriqui] is strong; Amanda [Carla Gugino], my agent, is super powerful. I think it’s lazy to just dismiss Entourage as that. Sure, there’s superficial focus on pretty things, but that’s the reality in our world too. It’s our job to reflect the reality and push along the conversation.”

“Season one, we were a little more hard-core,” admits Dillon. “If you look back on some of the stuff we said, it’s really kind of harsh. More chauvinistic. We’ve cleaned it up. But everything that happens in Entourage, happens in Hollywood. There’s nothing that we make up.” He pauses. “Drama picking up Vince’s fall-out ladies? That is something I experienced when my older brother Matt [The Outsiders, Rumblefish] was a big teen idol. Matt couldn’t deal with all of the ladies that came along, so he asked me to help him out.”

“A lot of Entourage is based on a story you heard,” interjects Connolly. “It’s, like, Hollywood...”

“...legend,” finishes Ferrara.

Entourage is out 19 June

“My character is loosely based on Ari Emanuel, who is Mark Wahlberg’s agent,” offers Piven, still coiling noodles. “These guys are highly motivated sharks. They’re out there. Ari Emanuel is continuing to grow.”

Grenier grimaces. “I’ve seen some things I’d like to un-see. When you don’t have any limitations because you have a lot of money and a lot of opportunity and people won’t tell you ‘no’, then you can overstep. Doug has to tone it down because it wouldn’t seem realistic, ironically.”

“It’s 100 per cent toned down,” Ellin agrees. “These guys are pretty respectful of women. If you really spend time with movie stars who are single and see what their lives are like, it’s a lot crazier. Entourage is all about friendships.”

This last might be the key to Entourage’s success. Yes, audiences enjoy a nitro-fuelled ride around the inside track of Hollywood, with excitement heightened by a cavalcade of cameos (Matt Damon, Scarlett Johansson, James Cameron, Eminem and Martin Scorsese graced the show; Thierry Henry, Liam Neeson and Kelsey Grammer are in three of 50-odd star-spots studding the movie). But it is the bromance angle that adds an emotional undertow while counterbalancing any hollow, unpalatable behaviour.

“The amount of guys over the years who’ve come up to me and said [that] this is their crew from high school...” begins Ferrara, before Grenier takes over: “One of the things I like about this show is that it’s about how you bring up your neighbours and your friends and your family, how you support them. Even though it seems that the theme is about indulgence and materialism, it’s really not. It’s about supporting your friends.”

A still from Entourage

Ellin nods. “The Hollywood thing never works,” he says. “They’ve done shows on it, they’ve done movies on it, and it never becomes big, commercial, mainstream stuff. The reason Entourage works is because it’s about friendship, whatever the world they live in. Everybody can relate to it.”

In fact, Ellin is so confident that the movie will chime with one and all, be it hardcore devotees or unversed viewers experiencing it as a stand-alone event, that he is already talking of a sequel.

“I would love to do another one,” he beams. “The screenwriting part of it is challenging for me, but making an Entourage movie is fantasy world.”

His sentiments are mirrored by Wahlberg, who asked Ellin to start mapping out a second picture before the first even opened, saying: “This is definitely going to be a big success. It’s fantastic: the stakes are so big; you’re rooting for these guys to succeed; there’s so much humour and heart. We might get to make a lot more of them.”

“Please, let’s do another, I’m ready!” laughs Grenier. “In life, I’m a little wary of the fame thing, and I’ve always been very careful to temper how much I indulge those opportunities. The important things are not the superficial, the fleeting.” He pauses for effect. “So my social life isn’t as good as when it’s on Entourage.”

Connolly, Dillon and Ferrara, on the other hand, readily admit that they embraced the benefits afforded by the success of the show. Asked if their love lives improved dramatically, Connolly says, “If there is a plus/minus column, that’s definitely a plus.”

There is one thing I have to know. Talking of friends, are original Pussy Posse affiliates DiCaprio and Maguire fans of Entourage?

Ellin takes off his cap. “Yeah, of course,” he shrugs. “They’ve watched every single episode and they’ve both been on set.” He grins. “And I’ve never heard: ‘No, you didn’t get that right...’”

‘Entourage’ is out on 19 June