The boys are back! “Entourage,” the much-anticipated big-screen version of the hit HBO series, reunites the hit show’s original cast including Kevin Connolly, Adrian Grenier, Kevin Dillon, Jerry Ferrara, Jeremy Piven, Emmanuelle Chriqui, Perrey Reeves and Debi Mazar, amongst others. The movie picks up where the series ended. Six days later, to be exact. Vince, having flown from Los Angeles to Paris in order to marry the woman of his dreams, is now on his honeymoon, alone. Well, not quite alone. Rather, he is cruising the Mediterranean on an enormous yacht with a couple hundred beauties in bikinis, minus his soon-to-be-ex-wife. Check it out in theatres on June 3.
Chriqui returns, of course, as Eric’s love interest (and now co-parent.) And we got to talk to her about reuniting with the guys, her love for film and the new era of TV, and how she dreams about working with "Birdman" director, Alejandro Gonzalez Iñárritu one day. What can we say? She’s the coolest!
Latin Times: How was it different to work on a movie than the HBO show? Did it feel like a reunion?
Emmanuelle Chriqui: Yes, a hundred percent. It felt like an amazing reunion. We just picked up where we left off and it really didn’t feel that many years had gone by. When people tell me it was three years and a half between the show and the movie, it’s just so unbelievable to me because it just didn’t feel that way. And then when we all got together it felt that way even less. To this day it’s like nothing has changed. We see each other and it’s so much fun, it doesn’t ever seem to dwindle.
LT: Do you feel like the boys changed at all over those few years?
EC: Honestly, I feel like, not much [laughs]. I’m certain on a personal or spiritual level, all of us have gone through ups and downs, and I think it’s impossible to not evolve over the course of four years, but coming together it was just like everybody came back in fine form, with their A game, ready to give their best performances for the movie.
LT: And in terms of your character, Sloan, do you think her relationship with Eric has become more mature and reached a point of stability?
EC: I think so. I think having this momentous together... Here’s the thing, in life, if you decide to have a child together, whether that relationship works out or not, you are forever bonded to that person because you have a child together. So he and Sloan have sort of crossed that threshold, where, come hell or high water, they’re parents together. Are they going to make it as a couple? It remains to be seen. Small possibility, but at the very least these two were meant to be in each other’s lives.
LT: Let’s say you were an outsider from the show and the movie, as Emmanuelle, which one of the boys would you be?
EC: Wow, that’s so tough! Honestly, I feel like it would be a combination of Vince and Eric, with a little Turtle in there too [laughs].
LT: In terms of your career, and after working in Broadway, what would you say is your favorite between TV, movies and the theatre?
EC: Gosh, I have to say I love it all. I love it all; I love what I do and love being able to do my craft in any format, whether its television or film or theater. Even though I was raised and trained in the theatre, I’ve just done much more work on film and TV, and there’s so much more that I want to do in all of them. But my hunch, intuitively, is that I’ll do much more work in theatre, probably at another point in my life. I’m really into the film and television thing right now, and my passion and first love was always film. In my life I’ve been moved and inspired by film, and I’d say definitely in the last five years, TV has taken such a turn that is so exciting. I feel like we are in the golden age of television, and I feel like as a woman, the roles that are being available to us, are unparalleled. And you see the trend; so many women from film going into TV because the caliber of characters that is available are something we use to only dream about.
LT: Who are the directors or actors you dream about collaborating with, if possible, in the near future?
EC: Oh my God, the list goes on and on [laughs]. Listen, I had the good fortune of filming a movie in Paris two or three years ago, and I really hope that my career can always have an international element. I’m wild about Latin directors like Iñárritu; I’d love to work with Pedro Almodóvar, and of course some of the great American directors like Scorcese, Ridley Scott, and I would love to do a Cameron Crowe romantic comedy; that’d be really cool. And in terms of actors, the list is immense. Do you have five hours? [Laughs]
LT: Tell us what’s next for you. What are you up to these days?
EC: I’m currently shooting a television show on TNT called “Murder in the First” and it’s starring Taye Diggs and Kathleen Robinson. I just joined for its second season, which airs on June 8 and I’m crazy, wild about my show. It’s a Steven Bochco show, you know, he’s written “Hill Street Blues” and it’s just classic television. Our show is a cop but our show is edgy, and it’s cool and it’s outside the box. My character is amazing, she’s half Latin, half Israeli and she’s such a badass and so street smart.
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