To quote Entourage’s infamous Ari Gold, “It’s game day, baby. Wake the fuck up!” One of the most successful bro shows to grace television is about to do a swag, slow-motion entrance onto the big screen. After eight wildly successful seasons and a four-year break, the boys are finally back in town. The Entourage film is like a homecoming: it feels like an extra-long episode of the show, albeit with a bigger budget.
“We hoped that the audience wondered what happened to these guys. I think the movie does a good job of picking up where the show left off,” says Jerry Ferrara, AKA Turtle. “It definitely felt a little bigger, as opposed to the show,” he says. “But I don’t think we set out to do anything different, because the show lends itself to being a movie. We always shot like we were making a short film every week.
“The show would also always play really well in theatres when we would do our season premieres and stuff, so I think that was some of the genesis of us thinking, ‘Hey, maybe we could do this as a movie.’ We really didn’t have to change much, other than have more toys – bigger houses, faster cars and more helicopter shots.”
During its run on TV, Entourage always focused on all the characters, as opposed to just its ‘star’, Vincent Chase. Although Vince was the glue that held them all together and a catalyst for their LA lives, the film seems to take this concept to the next level.
“There were 96 episodes and there were so many directions that were taken, especially with the Vincent character,” says Ferrara. “It’s so hard to find new challenges for him, and the show is called Entourage, not Movie Star. I don’t mean that as a knock towards the Vince, but I think there was a lot more to be done with characters like Johnny Drama and Turtle. Everyone has had their eight-year arc and it’s all been equally important. But I think in those final scenes, Turtle had the most room to grow, because he was so far back.”
In the time between the end of the TV series and the film, Turtle’s character growth has certainly been prominent. From his humble beginnings as Vince’s driver, he is now a vodka mogul who is courting the kick-arse Ronda Rousey. Throughout the movie, there are multiple references to how much money Turtle has actually made, and I’m still wondering too.
“You know, that’s part of the joke! There’s an ongoing bit because he won’t tell the guys and it drives them mad. I may have had off-the-set talks as ‘character research’ to find out how much he had, and there is a number… but I was told not to say,” he laughs.
The feeling of continuity that’s woven throughout the Entourage film continues right through to the conclusion. Again, it just feels like the end of another great episode. Perhaps a sequel is on the horizon?
“If we could get a second movie, then when you total it up we would have been doing this for 15 years,” Ferrara says. “Some people might find that scary, playing the same role for long. But the older I get, and the more work outside of Entourage that I’ve done has just made me realise how special it is. I would do it in a second.”
Entourage (dir. Doug Ellin) is in cinemas Thursday June 4.
