I don’t know about you, but I’m bloody freezing. And I’m sick of it! It stopped snowing in March and it started again at the end of November. I must have sneezed and missed summer because I can’t remember anything more than the odd warm day. Not hot. Warm. Rubbish! Now it’s January. I get up and it’s dark. The sun offers a few miserly hours of piss poor sunshine and then it’s dark. Again. I’m a sun lover. I admit it. If the sun was shining I would happily spend every second of the day with my shades on and lubed up with cooking oil. So I hate this British weather. And I’m too poor to move anywhere warmer. So I’ve taken to dreaming of warmer climates and better times from the comfort of my own settee. I’ve bought every series of Entourage. And I love it. A little slice of Tinsel town in my very own Welsh home.
Entourage follows Hollywood’s latest rising star, Vinnie Chase (Adrian Grenier), and his closest pals as they tread the sidewalks, juggle the politics and climb the Hollywood ladder. The boy from Queens is joined by his childhood best friends, Eric (Kevin Connolly) and Turtle (Jerry Ferrara), and his ex-TV C-list actor brother, Jonny ‘Drama’ Chase (Kevin Dillon). With Eric taking on the role of Vinnie’s manager, Drama his nutritionist and Turtle his driver the boys live the Hollywood high life smoking weed, reading scripts and looking for Vinnie’s next big job and payday. As well as trying to bed as many ridiculously hot women as they can.
Aiding the boys in their Hollywood dream are a range of movie business types that every star needs – Vinnie’s explosive and hilarious agent, Ari Gold (Jeremy Piven), Vinnie’s publicist, Shauna (Debbie Mazar), as well as financial advisors, assistants, personal shoppers, make up and wardrobe teams, hookers, shop girls, fans and all other manner of loose women. Along side the usual faces are a whole host of real life stars as caricatured cameos of themselves including James Woods trying to kick down the boys door to get to Drama, Vinnie’s on and off relationship with Mandy Moore, Paul Haggis, James Cameron, Martin Scorsese, Mark Wahlberg, Dennis Hopper, Gary Busey, Chuck Liddel, Jessica Alba and Larry David amongst others. Entourage sports more stars than the night sky over LA.Each series follows the boys from Queens as they search, fight and bargain for Vinnie’s next big job amidst a range of trivial obstacles such as running out weed, a city wide blackout that hinders people trying to see Vinnie’s new movie and the obligatory attempts at getting women in each episode. Vinnie, a true Hollywood star, struts around seemingly without a care in the world as Eric panics, reads scripts, takes meetings and takes the full of brunt of the business side of Hollywood and more specifically, Ari. Vince just spends money and beds women.
Drama’s obsession is primarily with himself and getting his star back on the rise before he dies as the brother of Vinnie Chase rather than one of the Chase brothers. Turtle’s main concerns seem to be keeping the weed stocked and getting laid using Vinnie’s star power. More often than not the boys get themselves into a corner or a situation and there lack of experience hinders their attempts to get out of it. In steps Ari. As the man who makes the moves, pushes the buttons and strikes the deals he sweeps through Hollywood, his office and his own home like a one-man whirlwind of profanities, abuse and enough charm to get the pants off anyone. The series usually ends with the boys heading off to join Vinnie on the job they have been chasing and the following series resumes when they arrive back in LA.
Entourage is the dream and the goal for an aspiring filmmaker like myself. They live in immensely huge houses with swimming pools over looking LA, get paid more per hour for work than one of Wayne Rooney’s hookers and seem to bed anything woman that wanders within grabbing distance of them. It’s a fantastic and idealistic imagining of Hollywood and I want to be a part of it. With the shows key themes of male friendship and the Hollywood lifestyle each thirty-minute episode is full of boys, toys, and banter. Amongst the jokes, wise cracks and giving each other a hard time are some genuine moments of male bonding as they stick together through thick and thin. Which is nice. And of course there are the women. Scantily clad and everywhere.
Now into it’s seventh series and commissioned for an eighth, Entourage has followed Vinnie’s career as it’s negotiated the fickle world of Hollywood film. Vince’s star has rocketed to him being a studio blockbuster star in a James Cameron movie and then fallen to the point of him sinking his every penny into a bad indie movie that bombs at Cannes. The boys have partied at the Playboy mansion, bought a desk off Gary Busey, fallen out with Warner Bros, caught a lift to Cannes with Kanye West, played golf with Mark Wahlberg, Turtle has a relationship with Jamie-Lynn Sigler, Drama gets back on TV, Vince goes off the rails, Eric starts his own management company and a thousand other stories that usually coincide with bedding women.For the budding filmmaker sat within the same four bloody walls watching their obsessively big DVD collection over and over again whilst the rain lashes against their window Entourage is a breath of fresh air. It offers a glimpse of Hollywood, sunshine and better things to come. As a budding filmmaker I can imagine having lunch with my agent on Wilshire Boulevard, being a success at Sundance and lounging around the pool in my huge house that once belonged to Marlon Brando. As well as allowing me to dream it also gives me a kick in the arse. A voice in my head says ‘Oi dickhead! We could be doing that if we get our arse into gear!’ Maybe we can.
Carving a career in the film industry is no easy task and in a city like LA where everyone from taxi drivers to lawyers are budding filmmakers or film stars it’s no doubt more difficult again. But slothing on my settee in my jammies and a duvet eating my own body weight in crisps doesn’t help. I suppose Entourage is a double-edged sword for me. It gives me hope, gives me goals and gets my creative juices flowing. But at the same time I’m sat achieving sod all as I plough through series after series. I’m currently about to start series 5 despite the stack of things I should be doing. But its cold. And I can’t be arsed.
It would be an understatement to say that nothing of any real integrity happens at any point throughout all 7 series of Entourage, but that’s part of the charm. The stories are not too difficult to follow or any more complex than remembering your name and date of birth. The issues, difficulties and obstacles facing the boys range from trying to find weed to a code red at LAX meaning they can’t get to Cannes. In almost every crisis, and I use the term loosely, the boys come up smelling of roses thanks to Vince’s ‘everything will work out’ attitude, Eric’s hard work and Ari’s scheming. Then again, I’m not one for integrity anyway. If I could swap my own Mother for a Hollywood career She would have friction burns on her arse as I boot her out the door.On shitty and cold January nights with the news screaming stories about recession, cuts and job losses Entourage offers that little bit of escapism that allows my brain to inhabit a place where the sun shines, the champagne flows and no matter what happens something will always come along and make everything better. And with the new year's sales dropping the price of a series box set to under ten pounds it’s a steal. Pass the remote. I’m living the American dream!
D.J. Haza
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