Entourage enters Hollywood

Film revisits the camaraderie of friends who become high-flying power players in the entertainment industry

LOS ANGELES: The pool parties, glamorous girls and fast cars of Entourage are back in a movie spinoff of the hit HBO show. Entourage, due in US theatres on Wednesday, revisits the bromance between a group of friends from Queens, New York, who become high-flying Hollywood power players. “The theme of friendship is universal and really doesn’t change,” said Entourage creator and director Doug Ellin. “But Hollywood, the players, where the money moves, obviously shifted.”

Four years after the HBO show concluded with eight seasons, Entourage returns with movie star Vince Chase (Adrian Grenier), whose ambitions have now turned to directing. This allows the film to explore the behind-the-scenes world of movie-making, especially the challenges of financing, as Vince’s posse struggles to produce a $100 million remake of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde.

It was off-screen camaraderie of the show’s core cast and team that brought them together again for the reboot. Producer Mark Wahlberg acts in the film, and Jeremy Piven reprises his Emmy-winning role as fast-talking industry mogul Ari Gold. The film is meant to act as a standalone to the series, with the hopes of drawing new fans, Ellin said.

As befitting a movie about movies, the Warner Bros film features dozens of celebrity cameos, from rapper Pharrell Williams to financier Warren Buffet. For Grenier, the appeal of Entourage lies in its insight into the glamorous but flawed world of Hollywood. “It’s really about this fun ride that most people don’t have the opportunity to see,” he said. 

Published in The Express Tribune, June 4^th, 2015.

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