Doug Ellin, creator of HBO’s Entourage, has announced that the show’s movie is coming. For the fans who’ve been on the edge of their seats awaiting the film (we assume there are people who care), this is exciting news. But, for those who’ve been scorned before by television shows adapted for the silver screen (Sex and the City, we’re looking at you), this is frustrating.

There will be model looking women everywhere. Drama will get into some sort of kerfuffle with Turtle. E and Sloan will have babies and they’ll wear teeny tiny Brooklyn Nets hats. Vince will have sex will all the models. And, there will be a lot of Jeremy Piven fast talkin’ and fast walkin’, which is all anyone wants to see anyway.

Godspeed, Entourage the movie. May you empty the pockets of frat boys everywhere.

I am proud to announce the #Entourage movie is officially a GO! Have to thank @wbpictures and @HBO for all the support to make this happen!

— Jerry Ferrara (@jerrycferrara) October 29, 2013

‘Entourage’ Creator: Movie Is a Go [Variety]

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Ari Gold, the Hollywood super-agent with a manic determination to get the very best for his clients—and himself—never quits. He also doesn’t care who he has to crush in the process. The HBO show that revitalized Jermey Piven’s career might have been named after the eponymous entourage for Vincent Chase (Adrien Grenier)—the up and coming actor inspired by the experiences of the show’s creator, Mark Wahlberg—but the real star of the show was always Piven’s cutthroat Jewish agent. And he has three Emmys to prove it.

Piven’s Wahlburg is real life super-agent Ari Emanuel—currently at the helm of the William Morris Endeavor agency, one of the film and television industry’s leading talent agencies—and like him, the fictional Ari’s subversive effectiveness in the business is legendary. But so is his nonapologetic approach and incessant sarcastic mockery—something that became one of the show’s staples when taken out on his long-suffering assistant, Lloyd (Rex Lee), who is ridiculed relentlessly for his sexual orientation and Asian heritage.

It’s easy—and right!—to be offended by Ari’s insults and abuse, but it’s your dislike for him that makes watching his outbursts so enjoyable. There’s a reason Ari outshines the show’s ‘movie star,’ but this hardly makes him a banner of Jewish values. Then again, like any number-crunching Jewish businessman, Ari has a humanizing Achilles’ heel—his wife (Perrey Reeves).

Known simply as “Mrs. Ari” until the show’s final season, his wife is the only person who can bring him to his knees, begging for forgiveness. Such penance made for one of the most memorable episodes, “Return of the King,” which took place on Yom Kippur. Entourage never shied away from Ari’s Jewishness—his daughter’s bat mitzvah became a business opportunity for Ari to showcase his star client as the cake cutter—but Ari never seemed to take it seriously and often used it as shtick in his tirades.

The episode saw Ari belligerently pestering a producer during a Yom Kippur service to try to secure a movie deal, only to see his aggressiveness lead to its destruction. Admonished by Mrs. Ari for popping a breath mint and robbed by her of his phone (and the backup he hides in his sock), Ari even tells his daughter that the beauty of Yom Kippur is being able to sin during that day and apologize by sundown.

Hollywood is, perhaps, a better place to be a Jew than many other industries, but Ari still treats it like a crutch more than anything else. His need to barter and think only about business on Yom Kippur not only ruins his deal, it also shows his lack of appreciation for his religion. When he needs to find a way to get to the producer’s synagogue and realizes that he has no cash on him, he concludes “Like our desert-dwelling ancestors, we walk.” Ari’s Judaism is, like everything else in his life, a bargaining chip, something to help him achieve greater success.

But Ari is not without redemption, and the series finale finds him abandoning his life of work and quitting his job to show his wife how much he cares for her. But then, after the credits, Ari received a phone call offering him the job he always wanted: heading a studio. Now that the Entourage movie that no one asked for (in the words of Vulture’s Josh Wolk, “The only logical explanation for an Entourage movie is that Mark Wahlberg … is taunting everyone who vocally disparaged his show in its later years”) has been confirmed, Ari is coming back. Well, as long as too much sushi doesn’t stop him.

Previously on Network Jews:

Police Detective John Munch on Law & Order: SVU

Dr. John Zoidberg, the Klutzy Jewish Crustacean on Futurama

Jean-Ralphio, the status-obsessed sidekick on Parks and Recreation.

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Gold wields his Judaism as a weapon instead of letting it hold him back in this stereotypically Jewish profession. He’s the type to feign offense at what he could concoct to be an insult or a slur, name-checking his heritage to exact leverage on an enemy when necessary. More than anything, he wants to win, whether it’s an election, a petty rivalry with a law partner, or a match of wits with his ex-wife’s new campaign manager.

The well-dressed Gold is actually played by a rather peculiar Scotland native, Alan Cumming. Known for his flamboyant nature, double entendre name, and pronounced eye makeup, Cumming is the complete opposite of his onscreen persona. The only small trace of the actor in his character is a tendency to get overexcited when passionately talking about something, which usually causes Gold’s carefully styled hair to move independently of his body. Gold is much more normal—and straight—than most of the characters that Cumming has played, and it’s somewhat shocking to discover that he’s just as fascinating when he’s buttoned up.

Gold addresses his Judaism only when provoked, and, since he works in politics, Israel comes up often. He is stubborn and opinionated, and it’s no surprise that his teenage daughter, Marissa (Sarah Steele), would inherit those same qualities. When she suggested that she wanted to move to Israel, Gold promptly rejected the idea as preposterous. Talking up Israel and name-checking his Judaism is largely superficial—Gold is definitely more of a ‘High Holiday Jew’ who’s not particularly observant.

In one example of the show’s constant mirroring of headlines in its plot lines—which have included social networking site scandals and Ponzi schemes—Gold found himself pulled in opposite directions as a metaphor for the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Though the primary thing holding Gold back from defending a Muslim student accused of killing a Jew is the threat of losing financial support from a prominent Jewish group, it’s hardly as deplorable as it seems. Gold may not be subtle about his motivations, but being honest doesn’t make him a bad person. Being cunning and conniving just puts him one step ahead of the rest of the crowd. He may be shrewd and greedy, but unlike most Jews on TV, Gold is far from nebbishy. Anyone watching would rather be him than be one of the people he yells at on a given day.

It’s no coincidence that Gold has been compared to a real-life famous Jew with a similar profession. Rahm Emanuel, former Chief of Staff for President Obama, and brother of Ari Emanuel, the basis for Entourage’s super agent Ari Gold, has quite a reputation for winning at all costs, and Gold has managed to earn that same status in what could easily have been (and originally was) merely a guest-starring role. Gold may reinforce the stereotype of Jews wanting all the power, but he’s definitely someone you’d want on your side.

Previously on Network Jews:

Howard Wolowitz, the nerdy, sex-obsessed engineer on The Big Bang Theory

Paris Geller, Rory Gilmore’s high-intensity, over-achieving friend and foil on Gilmore Girls

Kyle Broflovski, South Park’s Resident Jew

When he’s not working in the world of Jewish outreach, Abe Fried-Tanzer can be found blogging away about movies and television.

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