Volgende week verschijnt de film Entourage wereldwijd in de bioscopen. Complex magazine heeft zojuist de cover onthuld in een soortgelijke sfeer alleen dan met Jeremy Piven en Kid Cudi. Beide jongens spelen een prominente rol in de film – als Ari Gold en zijn nieuwe assistent – én de twee vertellen in het bijbehorende interview meer over hun rol en de muziek-industrie. Hieronder een deel van het interview. Lees het hele cover-artikel op Complex.

Was playing a role so deferential to authority a challenge then?

KC: It was exciting. I would never be an assistant, let alone for someone as powerful as Ari Gold. But being someone else for a little bit, exploring someone else’s world? I might not have done it in my own life, but I thought it was interesting for the character to develop something. Even though he may not have had a lot on the page. And thank God for Jeremy, who matched me on that. He could’ve improv’d some shit. Most people see Kid Cudi the all-powerful on stage, the mighty “I Answer To No One” Cudi. It’s just cool to play this little, timid character.

JP: That’s what acting’s about: taking on roles that have different status. In this country, people fall prey to profiling you. You even felt it from those—who shall remain nameless—who said: “Cudi’s too cool. He can’t play that role.”

Right. In the music world, Cudi doesn’t take orders, but he played someone reacting to higher status in the movie. Do you prefer playing characters in positions of power, Jeremy?

JP: I actually play better reacting off lower status than higher status. The irony with Entourage is that Ari Gold was the smallest character on the pilot. I was in one scene. At the time, I was being offered leads, but this show came along, and I was fascinated by it.

Why?

JP: Because the backstage life of Hollywood is Shakespearean. It’s such a great, fertile premise. I needed to do it. I knew who Ari Emanuel was, so I knew that there was a great prototype for this character. I thought, HBO is the place to be. You get street cred from the jump. If you could get in there, put your ego aside, and forget about where you think you should be and play this small role, there’s a lot there. My first 40 movies, I was playing small roles, and seeing a way to make them bigger. I was always the underdog. And by the way: once the underdog, always the underdog.

Tags: Complex Magazine, Entourage, Jeremey Piven, Kid Cudi