Entourage is Hollywood glamour on crack, says Emmanuelle Chriqui

It’s not easy being a female character in the hyper-male “Entourage” world, but somehow Emmanuelle Chriqui’s Sloane has managed to come out unscathed and not too terribly objectified. And, she insists, the training has been invaluable for when real-life movie-making gets out of hand.

The “Entourage” world can be pretty testosterone-heavy. How do approach Sloane’s perspective within that?
You know? You just have to approach whatever given situation with complete authenticity, which is all I can do as far as Sloane is concerned. There might be things that morally I don’t agree with or that Emmanuelle would never forgive, but we’re acting, we’re making a television show or a movie. And even in these situations where you go, “Oh my God, I can’t believe it,” Doug [Ellin] and the writers always wrote my character with a lot of integrity. So I kind of just never over-thought it.

She always did get better treatment, character-wise, than most female characters in the series.
A hundred percent, and I’ll be the first to admit it. I feel like Doug was particularly protective about my character. He wanted her to stand apart from the other women that came and went. Having said that, the other women characters — like Perrey Reeves character, Mrs. Ari, Constance Zimmer’s character — they’re all strong women. They’re all super-strong women in a man’s world, and that’s one perspective of this town that’s real.

I did find the extras a little distracting, though, since all of the women in the background of every scene are basically models.
I know, right? It’s like, I don’t know where to look. They’re all gorgeous. (laughs) With “Entourage,” people were always like, “Is it real?” And I’m like, “Listen, it’s real and then it’s exaggerated for your entertainment potential.” That’s it, it’s entertainment. It’s, like, the glitz and the glamour but on crack. That’s what the show — and the movie — feel like.

Does working on this series skew your own view of the entertainment industry?
Not really. I would say the only way that I feel it’s sort of bled into my life was if I’m on other sets or in other situations and it’s a heavily male-dominated set or what have you, I feel like I’ve had the best training of all. I’m like, “Don’t worry about me, I come from, like, all the boys. I’m good.” I feel like I’ve had a really good training ground to be strong, be in my body, not be intimidated by a heavy male dominance, and I’m super-grateful for that because a lot — not all, but a lot — of this business is made up of that.

Have you seen anything specific on sets that have felt right out of the show?
Oh my God. I’ve always said that what they should’ve done is a documentary of the making of this movie — of the negotiations, of how it took three and a half years to get there. That in itself was an episode of “Entourage,” or maybe a complete season of “Entourage.” Honestly, it was.

Follow Ned Ehrbar on Twitter: @nedrick