Photo: HBOWe feature all kinds of people on this blog – drug dealers, prostitutes, even academic economists – but readers are always complaining that we don’t have any movie stars. Today that changes.
Below we are soliciting your questions for Adrian Grenier, the actor who plays Vincent Chase on HBO’s Entourage and has appeared in The Devil Wears Prada and other films. Grenier also makes documentary films – Shot in the Dark (2002), which chronicled his search for his estranged father, and Teenage Paparazzo, which premieres on HBO on Sept. 27. (The Sleb Suit, meanwhile, is already available.)
Teenage Paparazzo is a film about the paparazzi industry, yes, but it is also a film about the price of fame; it focuses on Grenier’s intriguing relationship with a 15-year-old paparazzo named Austin Visschedyk. I saw the film a few months ago at the Gen Art Film Festival, and thought it was quite good. Visschedyk is a fantastic character; as a celeb himself, Grenier is in a good position to assess the state of fame; and the film also features trenchant commentary from folks like Mark Crispin Miller.
The best indication that Grenier has good taste as a filmmaker: even though he interviewed me for a couple hours for this film, he left it all on the cutting-room floor. That said, I very much enjoyed speaking with him; he’s got a curiosity about the world that I find uncommon among entertainers.
Grenier has agreed to field your questions about paparazzi, fame and the lot, so leave your questions in the comments section below and, as always, we’ll post his answers in short course. I am guessing you might throw a few Entourage questions at him as well, e.g.: Was that really you jumping out of that plane, or a stunt double?
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When your (TV) character on Entourage, as a movie star, denigrates TV actors, do you feel the sting of irony that you are ironically, at that moment working as a TV star?
A few questions, Adrian. Thanks for taking them-
How accurate is the portrayal of the actor\agent\manager relationship on Entourage?
What chapter did you find most interesting in Freakonomics and\or Superfreakonomics?
What are the primary negatives of being a visually recognizable celebrity and what do you do to off set these negatives?
Don’t you think that you could benefit professionally by legally changing your name to Vincent Chase? Vince has instant name recognition and already has a huge fan base. Do you think this could take you to the next level as an actor?
Do we need so many paparazzi pictures of celebrities arriving (or departing) at LAX? It strikes me as the height of laziness for photographers to hang out at the airport because they know sooner or later almost every celebrity in town will walk through there. Does this collective obsession with the minutia of celebrity lives have an upside?
Quick question, Adrian hos does it actually feel worknig on a set in where women and alcohol are related compared to working with freakonomics? What was your opportuninty cost while working with freakonomics? And another question, how do you feel as a world wide known celebrity?
O by the way, I LOVE ENTOURAGE!
As a teenager, it might have been a dream to have sex scenes with an attractive porn star, like Sasha Gray. Now that I’m older, I don’t think I would enjoy or appreciate the pairing much. I would be thinking about diseases, or how crazy she must be.
Anyway, I’m not going to ask you if you like sharing the screen with Sasha, because I wouldn’t know if you were answering politically or from the heart in your response if you said you did. So instead I’ll ask this: If you had an actress playing the part of a porn star, rather than an actual porn star would that make a difference to you? Or are most of the girls in their 20 somethings as promiscous as a porn star, thus defeating any purpose of my email…that’s assuming there’s a purpose behind it in the first place?!?!? Best of Luck to you in the future.It’s a bright one for sure.
What qualities do you possess that separate you from less successful actors? What weaknesses do you have that separate you from more successful actors? How do you go about utilizing your strengths and improving your weakness on an ongoing basis? Do you ever sit down and analyze the decisions you have made in interesting ways?