The Entourage movie is out this week, and having seen it, I’m in total agreement with Mike Ryan’s review: It’s exactly what you think it will be. That’s good or bad, depending on what you thought of the television show. While I didn’t love it, I didn’t particularly hate it, either. It’s okay, and hardly worth the effort it might take to make a fuss about it. That was also my basic opinion about the show.
However, the screening I attended was packed, so I expect it will put up big numbers this weekend (it’s tracking to earn $25-$30 million in the opening weekend), enough to even get a sequel greenlit, which is to say that Entourage probably won’t be out of your life anytime soon.
Given the length of the show’s run (2004-2011) and the interest in the film, I’m surprised that we all don’t know more about the core cast of Entourage, aside from the fact that Jeremy Piven once got out of a Broadway play because of “mercury poisoning” (and apparently had a nasty falling out with John Cusack), and that Kevin Dillon is Matt Dillon’s brother.
It was a very popular show, but I’m not so sure that the cast were ever very popular actors.
So, in an effort to get to know the cast a little better — for better (Grenier seems like a really good guy) or worse (Connelly does not) — here are 15 Facts You Probably Don’t Know About the Cast of Entourage.
1. Adrian Grenier very narrowly lost out to James Van Der Beek for the lead role in Dawson’s Creek (he also auditioned for Joshua Jackson’s role of Pacey).
2. Grenier was once the lead singer of a band called Kid Friendly, and more recently the drummer for The Honey Brothers.
3. Grenier played an entourage member of a character played by Leonardo DiCaprio in a 1998 Woody Allen movie, Celebrity. Ironically, Grenier’s character in Entourage is based on Mark Wahlberg, but also modeled after DiCaprio and his entourage.
4. Grenier’s parents met at a commune, and split right after his birth. His mom actually broke up with his father, saying that she wanted to raise him alone. As a result, Grenier’s father was never in his life. In 2002, he made a documentary, Shot in the Dark, about the search for his biological father.
5. In 2011, Grenier launched his own line of craft beer, Churchkey, which required a church key to open it. Some critics suggested that it was the “most hipster beer in the world.”
6. A couple of years ago, Kevin Connelly — who plays Eric on Entourage — had something of a Facebook meltdown when he found out a writer for Guyism was posting his flirty direct messages on her Facebook page. The writer’s followers began attacking Connelly, and he responded in kind:
When the writer took issue with Connelly, he called her ugly and berated her. Classy.
7. Most people know that Kevin Connelly used to be in Leonardo DiCaprio’s entourage. But did you know he also used to have terrible bleached blonde hair?
8. A very young Kevin Connelly played a bully who used to pick on Rocky Balboa in Rocky V. He got his comeuppance.
9. Everyone knows that Kevin Dillon’s (Johnny Drama) more famous brother is Matt Dillon, but did you know that his great uncle is Alex Raymond, who created Flash Gordon?
10. In Kevin Dillon’s 2006 wedding, Jerry Ferrara (Turtle) was his best man, and Kevin Connolly walked his wife down the aisle after Dillon shouted “VICTORY!” in reference to his Entourage character.
11. Jerry Ferrara, who plays Turtle, is also part owner of the NYC restaurant Fat Sal’s. They put fries and/or mozzarella sticks in the sandwich.
12. Turtle may have had issues with dating women, but Ferrara has not. In addition to dating Jamie-Lynn Sigler (who also played his girlfriend on Entourage), he’s dated Katie Cassidy (from Arrow) and is currently seeing Breanne Racano, who appeared in the Entourage movie.
13. Jeremy Piven’s younger sister, Shira Piven, is married to Adam McKay (Will Ferrell’s writing partner and director of Step Brothers and Anchorman), making McKay Piven’s brother-in-law. It also means that Pearl — from Funny or Die’s “The Landlord” short — is Piven’s niece.
14. In 1990, Piven (and Adam Sandler) starred in a terrible TV pilot called Dog Police that was based on a terrible music video.
15. In the 1990s, Debi Mazar (Shauna, Vince’s publicist) dated Paul Reubens (Pee-wee Herman) for six years. Reubens credited Mazar for pulling him out of his depression after his theater masturbation incident.
