So how did you break your leg?
Kevin Connolly: We were doing a scene where we’re playing football on the beach and Russell Wilson, who’s actually a Super Bowl-winning quarterback, threw me a pass and I just came down the wrong way and ended up breaking my fibula in two places. So, ouch, yes, it hurts. It feels good when it’s elevated like this, though [Laughs].
How has it affected the filming of the movie?
Kevin Connolly: Not at all, not at all. Just my jeans are weird, my jeans have been altered to fit the cast, and we’ve just been shooting around it. But we’re certainly not writing it into the script or anything like that, we’re just kind of dealing with it. It’s good that it happened later on as opposed to early on, we’ve probably would’ve had to shut down but it was enough that we could just kind of get through it.
Have any walking scenes become dragging scenes because of that?
Kevin Connolly: Not yet, no. We haven’t had to change anything just yet, so we’ll see.
Talk a little bit about from when you got the script to what we’re seeing. How much changed along the way on the script and for your character?
Kevin Connolly: Well, like most screenplays, it takes lots of different forms. There’s been a bunch of different drafts, it’s evolved a great deal, and it continues to evolve, it never stops, we always get new pages. Doug [Ellin]’s the writer and director, and particularly writer/directors have a tendency to do that, they’re always writing and they’re always trying to make it better where they and when they can.
Has there been anything major, or more like tweeks?
Kevin Connolly: No, just tweeks here and there, nothing too drastic.
Where is he (Eric Murphy) at the start of the film, where do we find him as compared to where he was at the end of the show?
Kevin Connolly: We find him just a little bit further down the road from the show, with Sloan, working it out, doing the best that they can to make the best out of a difficult situation.
How does it feel to be back in character and working with the cast making a movie?
Kevin Connolly: It’s great. We always said eight years and a movie, how many people can say that? So few people can say that, so we’re a lucky bunch, not one person has taken one day on this set for granted so we’re all just happy to be here. It’s a bummer that I’m spending my last week in this cast because I was really looking forward to kind of the last week and that sort of stuff. It’s been a tremendous experience, and again, we’re so lucky. There’s a lot of great shows but very few great shows have parleyed that into a movie, so it’s quite an accomplishment.
How does the industry respond to Vince [Vincent Chase] wanting to direct and how does he have to fight for that?
Kevin Connolly: He’s got a 5000lbs gorilla behind him in Ari Gold, so that’s his ace in the hole there.
But does Ari want him to direct?
Kevin Connolly: Ari’s skeptical of it at first, but he gets behind him, because he’s loyal.
The relationship between Eric and Ari was always a little difficult, has that changed at all?
Kevin Connolly: He still has a lot of terrible things to say. Don’t worry, insults are flying all over the place.
What do you think it’s about these four guys, their trials and tribulations, that fans have resonated with for the past decade?
Kevin Connolly: I think – and this is nothing against myself or my fellow cast mates– that there’s an average quality about the guys that people just sort of relate to. I think people watch the show and think, ‘These guys are nothing special, if these guys can make it maybe there’s a hope for me out there.’
Have you learned anything from the characters?
Kevin Connolly: I’ve been in this business for 35 years or something crazy, so I’ve had a pretty good insight to the business. If anything, I like to think that maybe the characters have learned a little something from me, maybe the opposite. But I’ve certainly learned different sides of things, but I’ve been around a while.
Talk a little bit about getting to film here, what locations did you guys get to use?
Kevin Connolly: One of the things that was always special about Entourage was the locations were always the sixth character. Every day to wake up and to go to the Earth Café or the Farmers Market, just all places where you frequent in your everyday life. It just always felt very special to me and one of the greatest things about the show is being able to go home.
Can you talk specifically about where you got to go for this movie? I know you went to like some mansion in Malibu, but what other real world places did you get to film at?
Kevin Connolly: We were in Miami, we shot in Miami for Ibiza. So we were in Miami, we spent the week in Ranchos Palos Verdes which is where the ankle incident happened; and we just cover pretty much all of LA. We didn’t want to get too far out of LA because the show is Los Angeles.
When the show left off E was moving to New York and he was gonna have a kid, is E “the dad” a different guy?
Kevin Connolly: Well, he’s not a dad at the beginning of the movie, that’s sort of something that maybe happens later on towards the end. So yeah, that’s in the movie, you’ll learn about that. Even though you guys are allowed to know I feel like I’m gonna get in trouble for saying something.
Talk about the relationship with Sloan a little bit. Can you talk a bit more about that in the film and working with Emmanuelle [Chriqui]?
Kevin Connolly: Emmanuelle is a doll, we’ve worked together for years obviously, I think the world of her. She’s been very supportive of my foot, she’s always offering food or dinner over or anything that I may need. At the end of season eight it’s funny because people would come up to me and make reference to us being back together, but that was not my understanding, I always was of the opinion that the ending was ambiguous and that we were going to try to work it out; but it didn’t feel like we were back together and it turns out that Doug agreed with me.
So that’s sort of where the characters are, they wanna do the right thing by their newborn baby so they’re just trying to see if they can figure it out and get past some of the terrible things that they’ve done to each other, so that’s their struggle.
The end of the show was getting used to the idea of how to wield power, what that is, what it really means. Has E gotten better at it, and in this film with Vince having so much on the line, how is he backing him?
Kevin Connolly: Well, he has a lot on the line too because he’s producing the movie. I think more than any of the seasons this is the most that the guys have had at stake. There’s a line in the script where Ari actually says to me, ‘If you guys screw this up there’s no coming back from this. Not for me, not for you, or Vince. The three of us are done if this doesn’t fly.’ The stakes are as high as they’ve ever been in this movie, so we’re just trying to make the best movie possible.
When you guys were doing the show, social media was not exactly as prevalent as it is now. During filming there’s been a lot of Instagram pictures that Doug’s been putting up, but I’m curious how that plays into the movie. Have you guys been working that in?
Kevin Connolly: It’s amazing how, and you guys know this, but it’s just amazing to me when we first started, we shot the pilot in the Fall of 2003, there was nothing, there was no anything. There was no TMZ, there was no Perez Hilton, there was no online presence at all, you were either in the NY Post or the National Inquirer but that was it.
Now it’s just like instant kind of information across the board, it’s changed so much and I think for the better. It’s nice to have that sort of information at your fingertips, sometimes it’s a little tricky, and you guys all know I’m sure. We don’t tackle social media that much per se in the movie, but certainly in real life it’s had its effect on how we’ve approached this movie and what we’re allowed to Tweet, not Tweet, Instagram; there’s all sorts of guidelines and rules that we’re learning as we go along.
It seems that when the series ended Doug had more that he wanted to say about the show and these characters, thus the film. Did you feel like you had more that you wanted to do with Eric, that there was more to tell with these stories?
Kevin Connolly: I’ve always said I would find a 50 year contract for Entourage, it’s such a good gig and I would be around for as long as they would have us. You always feel like in a forum as rich as Hollywood there’s stories that can go on for years, I certainly was in no rush to put the character to bed, that’s for sure.
Could you see a sequel, a trilogy coming?
Kevin Connolly: From your lips to God’s ears. A trilogy, I like the sound of that.
I am curious about where you end the movie. How much do you leave open, how much of a cliffhanger?
Kevin Connolly: I don’t know necessarily that there’s much of a cliffhanger, I think the question that people will ask themselves is whether or not Hyde is a good movie. Of course the guys think it’s good, but according to Doug and my opinion Hyde is a great movie; now how successful it is, we’ll see. But the actual quality of the movie is good, which is important.
Talk about some of the subplots. We know the main plot is this Hyde movie, but what else is kind of going on, on the side?
Kevin Connolly: There’s the main plot, I’m dealing with Sloan and the arrival of a newborn baby and trying to get that relationship squared away. Turtle is dealing with his newfound success and millions of dollars. Drama gets himself in trouble as always. Ari is trying to take over the world. Then there’s Vince and Eric who are directing and producing a 100 million dollar studio movie, which is no small feat.
Does that put a strain on your friendship?
Kevin Connolly: It always does, but we work through it. Our friendship is actually less strained in this movie than it has been in the past.
Is there enough there that people who didn’t watch the series are gonna be able to pick up and understand the movie as its own movie?
Kevin Connolly: Yeah, one of the stipulations in making the movie was that you don’t need to have seen an episode, you can just watch the movie and they bring you up to speed pretty quick.
How much of Hyde have you shot for the movie within the movie?
Kevin Connolly: There’s a good chunk, there’s a good chunk. The things that I’ve seen from Hyde are mind-blowing.
Is there ever a moment that you’re filming like this is a little too meta? You’re an actor playing a producer who’s producing a movie within a movie. Is there a moment where you take a step back?
Kevin Connolly: Over the years people have asked me about the life imitating art and like the blurry lines kind of thing. When it was happening I didn’t really feel that way, and then when the show ended and I had a few years to look back at it I realized how those lines really were blurred and how life was imitating art all over the place. You just don’t realize it when it’s happening, it’s something that you kind of feel after the fact.
So is it weird to get back into that?
Kevin Connolly: Yeah, yeah. It’s fun but it’s like, ‘Here we are again.’ We’re at the Warner Bros. lot, we have a big lighting balloon flying over our heads making sure that we look nice in this light.
I’m very curious about the last time the four of you guys went out just as friends, and the way you get treated by real people?
Kevin Connolly: Yeah, I think people get a kick out of seeing us together in a social situation. Lot of people offer to buy us drinks and wanna take pictures, people are so nice to us and are very gracious and supportive of the movie, so you wanna make the best movie for them too; you certainly don’t want to let anybody down.
From what you’ve seen of what Doug’s shooting, has the look changed from the TV show. Is it more cinematic?
Kevin Connolly: Yeah it’s more cinematic, there’s more scope and I’ve said before it’s an episode on steroids. That really is the best way to describe it.
What scene has been your favorite to film so far?
Kevin Connolly: I was having fun shooting that scene right up until I broke my leg, honestly. Seriously, playing football with Russell Wilson on the beach, I was living the dream for a second, but that came into a crashing halt.
Did you guys actually film enough that day to get the shot?
Kevin Connolly: We got it, we haven’t missed anything. There’s been no missed shots. I worked for three days on a broken leg, which probably wasn’t the smartest thing to do.
What’s been your favorite cameo on this film?
Kevin Connolly: Listen, I’m a huge sports fan, and we had Tom Brady, we had Rob Gronkowski, and Russell Wilson. So I’m always gonna be partial to the sports cameos, so once again to go back to those, that day was the day for me. Too bad I was limping around and whining.
How difficult was it working with a guy who plays a character called Johnny Drama?
Kevin Connolly: Working with [Kevin] Dillon is fantastic. My fear, if anything is to watch him eat. It’s unbelievable, this guy can eat and it doesn’t go anywhere. Kevin is our commander in chief on the set, he’s the veteran and we all look to him.
