To launch the next step in the brand’s Keep Walking campaign, Johnnie Walker, has partnered with “Entourage,” the new feature film about Hollywood’s favorite crew, to bring to life its perspective on personal progress. As part of this partnership, Johnnie Walker tapped show creator and writer Doug Ellin to script an original short film that reveals a new chapter for beloved “Entourage” character, Johnny “Drama” Chase. And, keeping it within the “Entourage” family, actor Kevin Connolly stepped in to direct the new original short film “Johnny for Johnnie.” “Entourage” opens this Wednesday, June 3 and here we bring you another HOMBRE exclusive as Connolly and Ellin talk all things “Entourage” and Johnnie Walker.

Ellin and Connolly hosted an exclusive private Director’s Screening of the short film for their NYC crew, from high school buddies to NFL stars, and of course HOMBRE. The pair shared that, while they just recently once again became Facebook friends (apparently Ellin blocked Connolly years back after some sort of playful disagreement), they were thrilled to get the crew back together for the upcoming film. So what can we expect on June 3? A wedding with an epic horah which Connolly insisted on participating in despite a broken leg, and cameos from everyone including Tom Brady, Russell Wilson and of course, Johnnie Walker.

“Entourage,”the  much-­‐anticipated  big-­‐screen  version  of  the  award-­‐winning  hit  HBO   series,  reunites  the  show’s  original  cast,  led  by  Kevin  Connolly,  Adrian  Grenier,   Kevin  Dillon,  Jerry  Ferrara  and  Jeremy  Piven.    “Entourage”  creator  Doug  Ellin  directed   the  feature  film  from  his  own  screenplay,  story  by  Ellin  &  Rob  Weiss,  based  on   characters  created  by  Ellin.    Mark  Wahlberg,  Stephen  Levinson  and  Ellin  produced,   with  Wayne  Carmona  serving  as  executive  producer.
The film opens  in  theaters  on  June  3,  2015.

Kevin Connolly, Doug Ellin and Master of Whisky Stephen Wilson at Johnny for Johnnie Director’s Screening

HOMBRE: What is it about Johnnie Walker that makes it so special for you guys?
Doug Ellin: It’s a brand that’s been around 180 years and it’s the ultimate men’s brand. It’s about working for success and trying to achieve your goals. That’s how the brand makes me feel, always has. That’s why it was associated with ‘Drama’ on the show, its a perfect partnership.

Kevin Connolly: To me, more than anything, it’s the prestige of the brand. It’s a brand that you are proud to tell people you’re working with. Being involved with Johnnie Walker and Diageo its just prestigious.
Doug has created this brand with “Entourage” which in our minds is prestigious. You want to keep the integrity of Johnnie Walker, but also the integrity of “Entourage” and keeping both happy is the goal.

H: How did the short film’s story-line come about?
KC: Doug is the man. He creates all “Entourage’ story-lines.
DE: They (Diageo) told me they work with Jimmy Kimmel so I thought it was a perfect place to put him on the show; to make it his dream to be the star of Johnnie Walker, which would never happen.
KC: But also there’s history on the show. Coincidentally on Season One of the show there’s this story of Johnny Drama and Jimmy Kimmel having this history. The fact that Jimmy has a relationship with Diageo and Johnnie Walker, it all sort of came together and it was a great idea.

H: And for you Kevin, how was it directing the short film?
KC: I’ve directed a couple of episodes of the show so working under Doug, and with Kevin as an actor was familiar territory. It was like doing something I’ve already done a bunch of times. Eventually Doug comes in and tells me that I’m doing something wrong (laughs). And then we get into a fight and he gets what he wants.

H: So did he let you direct? (laughs).
KC: Yea, yea, we don’t talk for 2 hours and then he gets what he wants and we go on (laughs).
DE: Some of the best stuff comes out at those times.
KC: We argue all the time. We argue over lots of things not just business related things, we argue over things that have nothing to do with this (Laughs)

H: Kevin, how has your character evolved from the beginning of the series until now?
KC: My character has evolved in life much quicker than I have in my personal life. Not just my character, but all the characters. Also, the show has always had a grounded quality about it and I think for it to have that grounded quality it has to be a grounded evolution. It couldn’t be the four us living together in a house in our thirties. At some point  everyone had to branch out and do their own thing. Whether it was relationships, marriage, whatever it is. Doug’s done a great job of letting the characters evolve while still keeping the core principles of the show.

H: You mentioned that the show always had a cinematic characteristic to it so it would be a natural progression to make a film, tell me about that.
DE: It has a cinematic quality and we try to push it in the movie. We spent a lot of time to make sure we had the most beautiful locations we could find. And LA is really a character in the movie. It looks like a big beautiful movie. We spent a lot of time making sure of that.
KC: And pardon my language, but Doug directed the sh** out of this movie. He wrote it, It was his thing, and we went  along. A couple of arguments, but we ultimately went along with Doug. He’s gotten us this far, so why not travel with him along that road a little bit longer. This is really his brainchild. Truth be told, aside from the cinematic idea of it, it was always ‘hey wouldn’t it be great if one day …’ It’s ironic because the show is so much about wish fulfillment that we would really sit around on set, on locations; we had talked about how great would it be if after we wrapped the show to take a crack at doing a movie. And people asked what’s the difference between Season Nine and a movie, and the difference is stepping it up to the next level and we have gotten so far.
DE: Just the experience of people seeing it in theaters it’ll be interesting

H: And Doug, to go back  to the beginning, how did you and Mark develop the concept of the series?
KC:  Doug was part of the “Funky Bunch” initially (laughs).
DE: Stephen Levinson is my friend from college and he became Mark’s manager and we used to hang out and Mark’s friends used to follow us around. And one day we said this would be a great idea to do a scripted version of this.

Mark Wahlberg

KC: Literally Mark and his friends were one day like ‘this should be a show.’ And to Mark’s credit he decided on Doug  and when you’re looking for someone to “make your life-story,” that’s a big decision. Mark lined up Doug and he lined up all the pieces and set it in motion and really let Doug handle it from there. You’ve seen what Mark’s done since. He’s a really smart business man and he knows when to get involved. Without Mark the movie never would have happened. We all weren’t sure what we were doing after the show ended and Mark is the one that told us ‘hey people want to see this movie.’ So he told Doug ‘Write it or I’m gonna beat you up’ (laughs). Mark gave everyone the confidence because he is so far out there in the media that he has a different take on it. When  Mark was promoting a movie at the end of an interview someone would say ‘So are we gonna see a “Entourage” movie.’
Mark knew in his heart that there was a market for the movie. Between Mark, his manager Stephen Levinson, and Doug; the three of these guys worked together to make this a reality.

For more information:  www.entouragemovie.com and Johnnie Walker Youtube channel.

HOMBRE Magazine’s Francisco Romeo with “Entourage’ star Kevin Conolly and series creator and film’s director Doug Ellin

HOMBRE Magazine’s Laura Willette with NY Giants David Diehl at Johnnie Walker’s ‘Johnny for Johnnie’ short film screening

HOMBRE’s Laura Willette with Master of Whisky Stephen Wilson at Johnnie Walker Director’s Screening