“Entourage” Cast Offer Bittersweet Good-Byes

It’s last call at the final wrap party for Vincent Chase and his "Entourage.”

After eight seasons, the hit HBO series about life in the Hollywood fast lane rolls to stop with eight episodes beginning on Sunday. The buddies from Queens and their handlers - Vince (Adrian Grenier), Eric (Kevin Connolly), Johnny Drama (Kevin Dillon),  Ari Gold (Jermey Piven) and Turtle (Jerry Ferrera) - have to start preparing for the end.

As the cast prepares to break up the highly bonded team, they’ve been reflecting on the experience of starring on arguably the hippest, most-of-the moment look at Hollywood TV’s ever attempted. “A lot of the lessons I’ve learned are from ‘Entourage,’ where you start to look at the real value in life,” says Grenier. “The thing that lasts, the thing that keeps you sane and safe is not the partying. It’s the friendship. It’s the family. It’s those values, not the lifestyle.”

As for Piven, he doesn't mind seeing motor-mouthed superagent Ari get taken down a peg in the home stretch.

"It’s beautiful, and it’s about time,” says the actor, who’s claimed multiple Emmys for his performance. “That would be a very exhausting existence. I wouldn’t want to do it and I wouldn’t want to be around it.”

Rex Lee, who plays Ari's put-upon underling Lloyd, is less certain. “I have mixed emotions,” says Lee. “I'm excited and completely petrified about the fact that the next chapter of my life is about to begin, because this chapter was pretty awesome. I grew up feeling like an outsider, and being on a show that people really liked made me feel a tiny bit like an insider. That was a good feeling and I'll miss that.”

"It’s very bittersweet,” sighs Emmanuelle Chriqui of moving on from her role as Eric’s fiancé Sloan. “There are some good surprises in store. As far as the women characters on the show, listen, we've all been like, 'Make some room for us over here,' because it is the guys’ show. There was the potential to do so much with every female role that came on there, but it's a half hour show and you just can't fit it all in. So I'm beyond lucky to have had these six years on the show and had some meatier seasons than others, but overall it's just been an amazing experience. I'm actually totally sad that it's over.”

Totally sad, but maybe not totally over. “I think that there's such a sense of hope, and knowing that we're probably going to do a movie,” says Constance Zimmer, who plays Ari's colleague and occasional dalliance partner, Dana Gordon. “All the guys are friends in real life and they're all going to hang out, but I'll just be sad to see the characters go away once the movie is done."

Both Piven and Grenier say they’re willing to get on board for the much-discussed “Entourage” movie, which seems closer than ever to an official greenlight.

“I’m excited about the movie and I’m always open to the evolution of the show,” says Grenier. “We don’t have to keep it the same. We can’t - It wouldn’t be fun.”

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