The race by the AMPTP and the WGA to get a deal done by sundown had plenty of folks thinking back to a very memorable episode of Entourage — Doug Ellin, included.
The creator of the HBO comedy was reminded Sunday on X about how the weekend negotiations between the AMPTP and the WGA sounded “like an Entourage storyline.”
Ellin replied, “And on Yom Kippur it sure does.”
Not sure what he’s talking about? Think back 16 years ago to the season 3 episode dubbed “The Return of the King.” The 2007 episode kicks off with the boys at the race track while Ari Gold (Jeremy Piven) is arriving at temple before the start of Yom Kippur. That’s when he runs into Nick Rubenstein (Adam Goldberg), the neurotic son of movie producer Phil Rubenstein who is making the movie Medellin with Paul Haggis.
The rub: Benecio Del Toro has walked away from the film so the Rubensteins want Vince (Adrian Grenier) to take over the lead role. The trouble is, studio head Arthur Gatoff (Harris Yulin) has given Nick until sundown to hire Vince or the movie dies. And Ari no longer reps Vince; Amanda Daniels (Carla Gugino) is his agent now.
That doesn’t stop Ari and Nick from trying to make the deal.
“Jesus Christ, it’s Yom Kippur,” Ari’s wife (Perrey Reeves) shouts at him in temple.
After a comical attempt by Ari and Nick to confront Gatoff at his own temple, sundown comes with no deal for Vince (though he later ends up joining that hot-mess-of-a-movie that goes straight to DVD).
Fortunately, life didn’t imitate Entourage art on Sunday because the WGA got its deal.
