The Hardest Entourage Character To Cast, According To Creator Doug Ellin
If you're a big fan of HBO's "Entourage," you know that out of every main character in the series, Kevin Connolly's Eric seemed like the most serious of them all, with a stuck-up vibe, always worried about everything that could go wrong. And yet, according to creator Doug Ellin, Eric (or "E") was the toughest one to cast for multiple reasons.
Talking to Complex in 2019, Ellin revealed that finding Kevin Dillon, Adrian Grenier, Jerry Ferrara, and Jeremy Piven was relatively easy, while Connolly was a pursuit — since he was practically retired from acting. As the creator explained, "Eric was ... the last one we found. Five weeks before the pilot, the only guys who were even close were 6'3. I needed this little feisty, fiery guy who's not scared of anything, and we couldn't find him. I had friends who knew Kevin, and they were like, 'Kevin Connolly's the guy.' Kevin Connolly, who f****** wasn't even acting anymore."
According to Complex, Connolly was busy co-writing the movie "Alpha Dog" with Nick Cassavetes and didn't even want to meet Ellin to talk about the "Entourage" pilot. But since Connolly knew Mark Wahlberg, the big-shot actor asked Connolly to do him a solid and meet Ellin and the crew. With reservations, Connolly agreed to audition.
Connolly took some convincing
Mark Wahlberg happened to be shooting "I Heart Huckabees" with David O. Russell at the time, so he had even more influence than he normally would. As Connolly told Complex, "Wahlberg and David O. Russell, one of the biggest directors in the world, are sitting at the bar like a mafia sit-down. Russell [turns to me]: 'What's the problem?' I'm like 'There's no problem.' Mark said, 'Kevin, listen. All I'm asking you to do as a favor to me is to go in and talk to the guys. And if you decide not to do it, that's fine.'"
So, meeting Ellin, Connolly was so hyped up about the role already that he wanted some guarantees. But Ellin was in no position to offer him anything as a done deal. Ellin said, "HBO's going to decide at the end of the day, but I'm like, 'You're the guy. That's all I can tell you.'" And sure enough, he was.