LOS ANGELES -- Four guys from Queens living large in Hollywood: that's Entourage, from its first season in 2004 to this weekend's film, four long years in the making. Their cavalier attitudes toward women, money, fame -- and yes, that undying friendship -- have won the HBO show legions of fans and, frankly, a whole new generation of haters.
Well, go ahead and hate the game. These Hollywood players are just keeping it real.
It's a very poorly kept secret that most of the situations, storylines and characters in Entourage were ripped right from the Hollywood rumor mills, if not the very lives of the cast and creators.
All the stuff you see onscreen goes on here: the sleazy hookups at all-night parties, D-listers leveraging tiny shreds of fame for sex, tempestuous power struggles, utterly absurd excesses of the rich and eccentric ... it's not fiction. It's been fact in Hollywood for time immemorial, and it's not going to change.
Probably the most realistic thing about Entourage is that millions of dollars are routinely lost to hurt feelings in this town. Egos, loyalties and betrayals drive business decisions just as much as market research and talent, and if you don't believe that, take a deep dive into emails from the Sony hack.
But don't take my word for it. Just listen to the cast and creators of Entourage, with whom we caught up at the red carpet premiere Monday in Los Angeles (see the video above).
Note that some say Entourage is "heightened," but that just means it's condensed and amplified to keep the action moving along -- besides, who wants to watch those three-day hangover recoveries and monthslong chill-outs between movie shoots? We only get the good stuff, and that's what makes it fascinating, maddening, entertaining and eye-opening.
How realistic is Entourage? The real answer came from Emmanuelle Chriqui: "More than we'd like to admit."
BONUS VIDEOS:
To be fair, Jeremy Piven says his character Ari Gold is a realistic version of a Hollywood archetype -- but is not anything like him:
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Kevin Connolly, on the other hand? Harder to say.
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