Ari Gold (Entourage)
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Ari Gold | |
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JD/MBA ) |
Ari Gold is a fictional character on the
Biography
Ari Gold (born 1967) is a graduate from
Ari is
Ari and Eric Murphy are the primary influences in Vince's professional life. Due to their lifelong friendship, Vince follows Eric's advice much more than he does Ari's, despite Ari's wealth of experience. This leads to frequent verbal clashes between Eric and Ari. While neither particularly likes the other, they realize that they are in a marriage of necessity. But as time passes, they grow to have a mutual respect for one another, which eventually leads to them becoming friends with Ari mentoring Eric as he becomes a talent manager.
In season 1, Ari tries to get Vince to do a film called Matterhorn which he describes as being like, "Die Hard at Disneyland." Vince and Eric hate the script and are interested in an independent film - Queen's Boulevard - that they've been introduced to by Ari's former assistant turned rival agent,
Ari is angry that another agent is whispering in the ear of his client and discourages Vince from doing the film due to its small budget. Unmoved, Vince insists Ari lock down the movie. Ari later claims that he has received no offer from the producers, but Vince and Eric learn otherwise when they are invited to a beach party by Josh Weinstein. Panicked that he's about to lose Vince as a client, Ari abandons his son's birthday party to go talk to Vince and Eric at the beach. He confronts Josh Weinstein and humiliates him in front of his guests. Ari then finds Vince and admits that the offer came in (a mere $40,000 that’s alot)and that he lied about it because he's trying to do what's best for Vince's career. He agrees to get the deal done provided that Vince's next movie is a big-budget studio project.
During most of season 2, Ari is fixated on getting Vince interested in doing Aquaman a mega-budget superhero action film being produced by Warner Bros. Vince balks at the offer, believing it's not his style, but Ari insists that Vince desperately needs to do a "commercially viable popcorn flick" in order to raise his profile in the wake of season 1's micro-budget indie flick, Queen's Boulevard. Vince resists the pressure of both Ari and Eric to do Aquaman until he finds out James Cameron has been tapped to direct. Vince tells Ari to lock down the film, only to find out that the role is no longer guaranteed for him as Cameron isn't familiar with Vince's work.
Ari arranges a meeting between Vince and Cameron, but is accidentally undermined by Eric who simultaneously convinces Cameron to see Queen's Boulevard, which is premiering at the Sundance Film Festival. Cameron cancels the meeting, opting to view the film instead, leaving Ari angry with Eric. Cameron leaves the Queen's Boulevard screening 10 minutes into the film, and Ari is convinced Aquaman is lost. Shortly after, Ari calls Vince and conferences in Cameron who offers Vince the lead in Aquaman.
Toward the end of Season 2, Ari butts heads with
While Ari becomes preoccupied with the business of getting the new agency set up, his attention to Vince's career begins to wane. Their personal and professional relationship shatters at the end of the
In the following episode, Ari has a friendly lunch with Vince and Eric, informing them that Vince's dream project, Medellin (the story of Colombian drug kingpin
During the 17th episode of Season 3, "Return of the King," Ari informs Vince that Medellin has officially become available. In spite of the fact that he is no longer Vince's agent, Ari tries his best to secure the lead role for Vince, but because it is Yom Kippur, the head of the studio (an elderly, Orthodox Jewish gentleman) refuses to discuss business matters, and eventually decides to shut down production on the film, entirely. Vince concludes that Amanda let the deal fall through because of their romantic relationship, since filming Medellin would have kept him busy for six months. The accusation causes Amanda to end their torrid love affair, and drop Vince as a client. In the next episode The Resurrection, Vince rehires Ari as his agent, after Ari helps Vince and Eric secure the rights to produce Medellin themselves.
During Season 4, Ari tries hard to get Vince a job, but struggles to find offers due to the uncertainty surrounding the quality of Medellin. Eventually, the trailer for Medellin is leaked, inducing a flood of offers. The film they decide upon comes from an adaptation of a book Eric gave to Ari some time ago. It is seen as a potential blockbuster for Vincent; Ari goes to
In the Season 4 season finale, Ari is confident they will receive multiple competing offers from studios who wish to distribute Medellin but runs into trouble when financier Nick Rubenstein, desperate to get his money back, demands that Ari sell the film before its screening, in case it ends up being terrible. Initially, the only such offer comes from Yaier Marx, a wealthy foreign businessman who has just launched a film distribution company based out of Dubai. Nick wants to accept Yaier's offer of $30 million, which would recoup the film's budget, but Ari and Billy balk at the offer as they want to sell to a "real studio" who will be able to properly promote the film and generate potential
In Season 5, no offers are coming in for Vince after Medellin gets a direct-to-video release. Ari informs a shaken Vince that he has been placed in "movie jail" after his mega-hyped film turned out to be a bomb. Ari expresses confidence to Vince of a looming comeback, but later confides in Mark Wahlberg that Vince's chances are only 50/50.
After a series of meetings with every studio in town ends with no one wanting to cast Vince as a lead in anything, Vince asks Ari about the possibility of pursuing a supporting role in a new big-budget film called Smoke Jumpers, a script that Eric found with Edward Norton attached as the lead. Ari attempts to secure the second lead for Vince, but finds out that the film has become property of Warner Bros., a studio that refuses to hire Vince after Vince demanded $20 million to do the Aquaman sequel and was subsequently fired from the franchise.
Ari arranges to play golf with WB studio head
While Vince begins work on Smoke Jumpers, Ari meets with Andrew Klein, an old colleague and friend during Ari's days working as an assistant to
At the end of season 5, things take a bad turn as Vince is being deliberately phased out of Smoke Jumpers by the emotionally volatile director,
During season 6, with Vince successfully back at the top of the A-list, Ari attends to internal business at the agency where Andrew Klein is suffering an emotional breakdown stemming from an affair he is having with a young female agent, Lizzie Grant. Ari counsels Andrew to put the affair behind him and to think about his children and how he wants to be perceived by them. Andrew misunderstands Ari's advice and ends his marriage. The next day, Lizzie ends the affair with Andrew who has had his financial accounts frozen by his wife, leaving him homeless and penniless. Ari discovers Andrew asleep on the sofa in Ari's office, and is apoplectic over the unprofessional display. Andrew has a meeting later that day with famed film/TV writer Aaron Sorkin, who hates Ari but is nevertheless considering signing on as a client of the Miller Gold Agency because he likes Andrew. Ari tells Andrew that he had better get the deal done. Andrew ends up in jail after a domestic dispute with his jilted wife but is nevertheless able to sign Sorkin who is sympathetic because he too went through an ugly divorce.
Meanwhile, Lloyd is offered an opportunity to become an agent by Adam Davies. He initially refuses, but eventually becomes fed up with Ari's constant verbal abuse, and accepts Davies' offer to return to TMA. Shortly after, Terrance approaches Ari with an offer to buy out his agency. After a great deal of arguing, Terrance and Ari make peace and the deal goes through. After completing the deal, Ari gets revenge on many of his enemies as he storms through TMA, paintballing all of the agents he's firing. Lloyd successfully hides from Ari, who demands that Lloyd return and swear loyalty to him and apologize in order to keep his job. Lloyd confronts Ari in his office and accuses Ari of taking advantage of him. Ari, having already had an epiphany after receiving an apology from Terrence, apologizes to Lloyd and reveals that he has an office waiting for him to go with his promotion to full agent.
In season 7, Ari has become the biggest agent in the world after the buyout of Terrence's agency. He attempts to acquire the right to negotiate the NFL's television rights (with the help of Lizzie Grant), but is caught off guard when the NFL instead offers to have him become the owner of a Los Angeles-based NFL franchise. Caught up in the moment, Ari dances with Lizzie in his office just as Ari's wife walks in. She later asks Ari to fire Lizzie for what she had done to Ari's now former employee Andrew Klein. Meanwhile, Lizzie asks to be in charge of the television division, in the wake of Andrew's departure. Ari says that she isn't ready. Frustrated, Lizzie quits and works to take down Ari after she is hired by Amanda Daniels, who is still holding a grudge for preventing her from becoming the studio head at Warner Bros. News is leaked to the press regarding how Ari treats his employees, so he tries to patch things up with everyone to no avail. The NFL withdraws its offer to Ari after the bad press, but is reassured when Amanda vouches for him. However, before she can tell Ari, Ari confronts her and publicly humiliates her at a fancy restaurant in front of his wife. Amanda then reveals that the NFL was going to renew their offer to Ari. Mortified and humiliated by Ari's actions, Ari's wife leaves him in the final episode as he tries to throw her a surprise birthday party.
In season 8 Ari is separated from his wife (who is now dating celebrity chef Bobby Flay), and – after an awkward date with a much younger woman – visits Dana Gordon and the two rekindle their decades-old romantic relationship. The morning after, Dana appears happy but is disheartened when Ari tells her that he has a marriage counseling session with his wife that day. That night Ari takes Dana out to dinner at Bobby Flay's restaurant in an effort to make his wife jealous. Dana, furious at being used, walks out on Ari.
Ari tries to avoid Dana but this proves impossible as Dana has to go to Ari's office on business. While there, she meets Ari's children, including his son Jonah, who asks her, "Are you the Dana our mom hates?" Dana feels humiliated despite maintaining that she has done nothing wrong. Ari admits to the situation being complicated, and that he isn't sure what to do. That night, Ari's wife informs Ari that she is officially filing for divorce. Later that night, Ari drunkenly calls Dana, who agrees to continue seeing him.
Ari visits his wife in one last attempt to save their marriage, only to find Flay in his house. Overcome with jealousy and rage, Ari accuses her of being dishonest with him about the nature of her relationship with Flay and storms out.
In the penultimate episode of the series, Ari continues to date Dana, who hints that she is interested in starting a family. Ari confesses that he still loves his wife and the two agree to end their romance but maintain their professional relationship. Dana is visibly heartbroken, and this marks her final appearance on the series. Ari returns to his wife once more, and tries to convince her not to proceed with the divorce, revealing to the viewing audience for the first time that her first name is "Melissa". With renewed faith in him, Melissa agrees to be with Ari again.
In the series finale, Ari informs Barbara of his immediate and permanent resignation from the agency, in order to spend time with his wife traveling around the world. During the closing credits of the final episode, the screen cuts to a shot of Ari and his wife relaxing on holiday. As his wife walks away, Ari receives a phone call from John Ellis asking Ari to replace him as chairman and CEO of Time Warner. Ari is stunned by the offer and does not reveal the nature of the phone call to his wife, concluding with him contemplating the offer.
In the 2015 film, it's revealed that Ari accepted the job offer but only as a studio-head below John Ellis after the CEO changed his mind after retiring. Despite this, Ari is now in full control of presenting projects for Vince to star in without being his agent and offers him the leading role in a modern-reimagining film of Jekyll & Hyde, under the title Hyde. Vince accepts but only if he is allowed to direct, which Ari allows despite being extremely worried, due to Vince's inexperience behind the camera. His worries are seemingly warranted as Vince refuses to let anyone see the film at a press screening and is over-budget due to needing an extra $10 million to finish. This also adds to his stress, which in turn affects his relationship with his wife, though couples counseling is somewhat helping. However, Ari's worries are put to rest after seeing a cut of the film and loving it.
But his efforts to get the extra $10 million are blocked when the main producer of the movie, Larsen McCredle, sends his son, Travis, to observe the production and watch the cut of the movie, which he claims to dislike due to Vince's performance, and demands that Vince is removed as the lead actor and director. Looking into the situation, Ari discovers that Travis is really doing this because Vince is dating Emily Ratajkowski, whom he is infatuated with. Ari presents this to John Ellis and the other studio heads, as well as Larsen, who agrees to allow the extra $10 million to go throw to finish the movie but only if Ari is removed from the company, due to disrespecting his son. Realizing he was going to be fired and that it was the only way to see the movie complete, Ari resigns from his position and waves his severance pay for a backend deal for the grosses from Hyde.
Months later, Hyde is a box office success and Ari's investment pays off, allowing him to fully retire and strengthen his relationship with his wife and kids. He is present when the film wins several awards at the Golden Globe Awards, including one for Johnny Drama. He later gives his former assistant Lloyd away at his wedding and joins Vince, E, Turtle, Drama and even Billy Walsh for some drinks, where an idea is presented to make a movie or TV series about their lives and journey to the top of Hollywood, which, Ari comments, is a bad idea.
Inspiration
Ari's character is based in part on the real-life Hollywood agent
Ari Emanuel is the brother of
Ari Gold Book
The Gold Standard: Rules to Rule By by Ari Gold is a memoir and self-help guide "that's about as legitimate and motivational as any book written by a fictitious character can get."[2] Published by Hachette Books,[3] the book is framed around 18 rules (including "Either You Know it All or You Blow it All" and "Keep a Scorecard for Favors") with accompanying anecdotes about how Gold discovered, developed and/or follows his own rules. Contently Magazine described it as "possibly the greatest piece of cross-marketing ever."[4] An Amazon bestseller, the book was written by Joey Boukadakis, Jake Greene, and Doug Ellin.
Former clients and associates
List of Ari Gold's associates at MGA, the "Miller/Gold Agency" (officially opened in season 3, episode 8):
- Barbara "Babs" Miller(Sr. Partner, Co-CEO & Co-founder)
- Andrew Klein(Partner, Former Head of Television Department, stated in season 7, episode 2, that he left for sexual addiction rehab)
- Lloyd Lee(Former assistant to Ari Gold, now Head of Television Department and Sr. Partner alongside Babs)
- Lizzy Grant(Former junior Agent in the Television Department)
Former clients of Ari Gold, both real and fictional celebrities:
- Vincent Chase
- Justine Chapin
- Nick Rubenstein
- Bob Ryan
- Billy Walsh
- Mary J. Blige
- Gary Busey
- Gwyneth Paltrow
- Sydney Pollack
- Eric Roberts
- Jon Cryer
- Jeffrey Tambor
- Johnny Drama
- Melinda Clarke
- Queen Latifah
- Mark Wahlberg
- Eva Longoria
- Lindsay Lohan
- Larry David
- Vin Diesel
- Bow Wow
- Richard Kelly
- Richard Schiff
- Rob Reiner
- M. Night Shyamalan
- James Woods
- Leonardo DiCaprio
- Hugh Jackman
- Jessica Biel
- Sharon Stone
- T.I.
- Zac Efron
- Matt Damon
- David Schwimmer
- Nick Cassavetes
- Ryan Reynolds
- Mike Tyson
- Jessica Simpson
- Aaron Sorkin
References
Where Ari Gold Ends and Jeremy Piven Begins
- ^ "Showrunner added to Wahlberg's 'Entourage'" by Michael Fleming, Variety August 21, 2003 retrieved August 23, 2006.
- ^ Santos, Elise De Los (2 June 2015). "Book review: Ari Gold's 'Entourage' book raises standard for TV show, movie tie-ins". RedEye Chicago.
- ^ "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2015-03-27. Retrieved 2016-12-01.
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: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) - ^ "Is Ari Gold's New Book the Greatest Piece of Content Marketing Ever?". Contently. May 13, 2015.