‘Entourage’ star tells students he has a responsibility to be a ‘worthwhile schmuck’

Adrian Grenier, the 35-year-old actor who played the fictional Hollywood It Boy Vincent Chase on HBO’s Entourage, was at Biscayne Bay Campus last week, discussing his experiences and thoughts on fame as part of the second lecture in the Student Government Association-BBC Lecture Series of the semester.

The star of HBO’s 'Entourage' discusses fame and media at BBC. Photo: Facebook.com/FIUMagazine.

For eight seasons, Grenier navigated the “hyperrealism” of Tinseltown, much like the up-and-comer he portrayed on TV did. The actor strove to balance it all, to understand the here-today-gone-tomorrow aspect of his industry and to survive it.

On March 7, he shared with FIU students what it was like to live the life of an actor “in a hall of mirrors.” He spoke about walking into a room and feeling “that immediate and almost complete sense of approval” and what that does to the ego, as well as his thoughts on the cult of celebrity, images and the media. He highlighted the importance of self-expression, especially in this day and age.

To illustrate his point, Grenier brought a visual aid: his 2010 documentary Teenage Paparazzo, which screened before his lecture.

The film – which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival and features a slew of celebrity commentary by the likes of Paris Hilton, Lindsay Lohan and Grenier’s Entourage co-star Kevin Connolly, among others – followed then-14-year-old Austin Visschedyk, a budding paparazzo, and the friendship he and Grenier developed.

Visschedyk, the way Grenier puts it on film, was a kid who, lured by the excitement of Hollywood parties, started “papping” and achieved quick notoriety, but never fully understood the game into which he was getting. He didn’t dig past the superficial and thus had a first-hand brush with the business’ ephemera. No, Visschedyk didn’t end up in rehab somewhere – his papping brought him attention from news outlets and even a contract for an E! reality show that ended up stalling.

It was when Grenier showed him and his mother a rough cut of Teenage Paparazzo that Visschedyk finally began to realize the effect the scene was having on him. He came off as a brat – and he didn’t like it. Grenier, too, understood the influence he and his peers can have on a younger generation.

“It’s not enough to be a passive consumer of media,” the actor said during his guest lecture in the Mary Ann Wolfe Theater. “The rules of media are very particular. You gotta learn to play by them, know how it works.”

Knowing the difference between his reality and his character’s helped Grenier cope with stardom. Developing real human relationships was key. So was being aware of his situation and staying as well informed as possible.

Grenier on the news media

Grenier said he didn’t attend college, but was impressed to be in the company of a full house of students who are, perhaps, studying to tell stories, report news and better understand the ever-changing world in which we live.

“News media was supposed to be objective, the authority, but I’m not sure that was ever 100 percent true because everyone has a bias of some sort,” he said. “That’s why I find user-generated news fascinating, but I’m somewhat affected by all of it, too. I don’t know as much as I used to, but I’m also not sure knowing everything that’s going on is necessary – but that’s me.”

He said it is ultimately the consumer who is responsible for digging deeper, past the superficial, as he explored in his documentary, to develop an informed opinion on a matter that they can express.

“It’s really up to us to find as many perspectives on something as possible and piece it together and understand a story,” he said. “It is getting more difficult to decipher the truth, though.”

It was his intention to help – to clear the clutter of information out there and replace it with some knowledge – that led the actor-turned filmmaker to make Teenage Paparazzo in the first place.

“I have a responsibility to not just be a schmuck up there on the screen, but to be a schmuck and do something worthwhile,” he said.

After Grenier’s lecture, School of Journalism and Mass Communication student Yani Ibarlucea told us via Twitter she was impressed by the actor’s thoughtfulness and what he said about the proliferation of images and their impact, especially on the tech-savvier generation.

“He asked all of us to take out our phones to take pictures of what we could see in front of us and of ourselves for a project he’s working on. If I’m not mistaken, every single person whipped out their phones and went to their camera application. That in itself really tells you something,” Ibarlucea said. “Where were we before cell phones?”

The public relations freshman agreed with Grenier: If we have all this technology at our hands, why not use it to do bigger things than just update our status on Facebook?

“Social media allow us to have a voice and they also give us a great opportunity to really express our creativity, so why not?”

Up next, the SGA-BBC Lecture Series will feature journalist Sam Sifton for the last lecture of the semester. The New York Times national editor will discuss “Election 2012: How The New York Times Covers the Run for the Presidency” as part of the New York Times Leadership Program at FIU.

Sifton’s lecture is scheduled for Thursday, March 22, at 1:30 p.m. (doors open at 1 p.m.), in the Wolfe Theatre.