A couple of days ago, it was revealed that all was not bro-tacular in the land of bros that is “Entourage,” and the developing big screen movie. Producer Mark Wahlberg revealed that “greedy” people were holding things up, while Vinny Chase himself, Adrien Grenier, took to Instagram with a missive that he just wants to make sure that united they bro, divided they bro (translation: he wants everyone to be equally and/or fairly compensated). And it seems that means getting paid like Ari Gold.
THR reveals that source of discord among some of the cast of “Entourage” has been caused by the pay of Jeremy Piven versus everyone else. Apparently, Piven has already closed his deal for the movie, and that includes some backend pay if the movie is a hit. It’s a usual tactic taken in Hollywood these days, one that pays off big time (please see Robert Downey Jr. and the $50 million he pocketed for “The Avengers“). And more over, Piven has long been paid more than the rest of the cast as the ostensible “star” of the series (because seriously, no one is Googling clips of Turtle). But Piven’s pay is causing friction at this point, and even more, the project is on a ticking clock.
The production has already qualified for tax breaks if it shoots in California (and really, where else would it shoot?), but it needs to be rolling by January 2014 or else it won’t be eligible for those rebates. The other monkey wrench is that Warner Bros. wants to the total budget capped at $30 million. And sharing the loot of the movie with one person is fine, but with four more dudes? Yeah, we could see that negotiation getting sticky.
Meanwhile, Kevin Connolly told TMZ (via FilmDrunk) that everyone was in line and ready to go to staring shooting in January, though he hadn’t signed a contract yet because, “it doesn’t work like that.” Uh, what?
Anyway, this probably will get sorted out because these things usually do and because there’s more upside than downside to making this movie, particularly for some of these cast members. Either way, it looks like the world of real life movie-making and fake movie-making continues to overlap with the show.
