By Barb Oates
Thursday, July 28 – Day 2 of press tour featured AMC, BBC America, National Geographic Channel, Nat Geo Wild and one of the tour’s biggest draws, HBO. Some of the top talent of the day included the cast of Entourage in their final appearance as an ensemble cast (executive producer Mark Wahlberg was also along), Alan Ball, Anna Paquin, Stephen Moyer, Gloria Steinem, Laura Dern, Luke Wilson, Mike White, Harry Belafonte and others.
Taking home today’s honors of best quotes from the day are the following:
1. Jeremy Piven (Entourage, HBO)
On fans who take a role a little too seriously:
“Oh, I have had actors that have told me they fired their agent because they didn’t think they were enough like Ari, and I’ve had to tell them that this is a fictional character. So there’s been a few awkward moments. So, yeah, it has had somewhat of an impact.”
2. Robert Popper (Dinner and a Movie, BBC America)
On his source material for the hilarious new series:
“I grew up in a household where my father would just refuse to wear a shirt, ever. And it was just normal to us. But my friends come around and say, ‘Your dad doesn’t wear a top.’ … And he has eaten from the dust bin before – the trash can. So I started thinking, hum, there’s something in this, yeah.”
3. Mike White (Enlightened, HBO)
On whether the series was based on his life:
“Well, like, yeah, did I have a nervous breakdown and — no. Like, yeah, I guess when the show, when I did my last show, I kind of like had my own, like, you know,”F You guys in the hall” and, like, started reading self-help books and meditating. And I just thought it would be funny to do a show about somebody who comes back from a real publicly humiliating experience and was like, ‘I’m not crazy.’
4. Mark Wahlberg (Entourage, HBO)
On what’s next after the series?
“A wife and four children 7 and under. I was just away working on a movie in Boston. Shot two movies ths year. And so I’m looking forward to having the summer off and then going bak to work in the fall.”
5. Alan Ball (True Blood, HBO)
On rumors about leaving the show:
“Well, everything ends. I mean, there will be an end for me on this show at some point. But I just — you know, I just finished — I just closed a deal to do another season. And I don’t have any desire to leave, because I’m having more fun than I’ve ever had in my life.”
6. Matt Smith (Dr. Who, BBC America)
On whether a fan can catch up with the show if they haven’t seen the other Dr. Who editions:
“I think there’s all those sort of elements to Doctor Who where it’s, you know, even if it’s complicated, even if there’s a lot of stuff going on, there will be some running and an explosion and some great gags and some pretty people. You’ll enjoy it. You know, it’s always entertaining by every means possible. I used to love, absolutely love the American show The West Wing. I never had a clue of what was going on in it because I didn’t understand anything about American politics. They all seemed to understand it, and that was fine by me. They’d walk very fast down long corridors and say really weak stuff and say, ‘We’ve got to do this with Congress and a thing.’ And I’d say, ‘What’s a Congress?’ Then they’d say, ‘We’ve done it. We’ve got an affidavit,’ or something. I’d say, ‘ha,’ so relieved. I wonder what happens next week? I wonder what happened this week? That I think is the way Doctor Who can work for anyone because it’s fun. If you don’t understand all of it, join the rest of the audience.”
7. Dominque McElligott (Hell on Wheels, AMC)
On what it’s like to be on testosterone-fueled set:
“She’s a fairly strong character that I’m playing. She’s a strong woman. I think, on a lot of shows and features, women are outnumbered, you know. There’s a lot more men, maybe five, six men, to one woman in a lot of stuff. So I’m kind of used to it. And there’s also ‑‑ there is a couple of female characters that are ‑‑ that are coming up in the season. So it’s ‑‑ there’s starting to be more of a balance now. So it’s not as bad as it was, not that it was bad.”
8. Kevin Dillon (Entourage, HBO)
On favorite scene/episode of Entourage
“I would say shagging a squirrel in a rabbit costume.”
Great stuff, Barb. Love the comments from Matt White about “West Wing.” Even when you didn’t understand what they were talking about, it was still very entertaining.