{alltv} Are Anthony Weiner, Charlie Sheen 'Entourage' guest spots for real?

Wednesday, June 22, 2011

{alltv} Are Anthony Weiner, Charlie Sheen 'Entourage' guest spots for real?

Doug Ellin is in his last few days of making "Entourage," one reason a rumored guest star won't be appearing.

HBO's inside-Hollywood comedy launches its eighth and final season Sunday, July 24. Suggestions have run rampant that now-resigned, Twitter-devoted New York Congressman Anthony Weiner was in line to appear on the show before it signs off, but series creator and executive producer Ellin laughs at the notion ... and also at how the alleged news got around.

"Anthony Weiner was a complete joke," Ellin tells Zap2it. "I said it on CNBC because I was asked by ['Squawk Box' co-anchor] Joe Kernen if I was reaching out to Anthony Weiner, and I said, 'I made a phone call, and he didn't even call me back. Or send me pictures.' It was clearly and obviously a joke, and it just spun out so fast."

And if Weiner had responded by actually wanting to be on "Entourage"? "I would have wished him well," Ellin maintains, "but I didn't have any interest in having him on the show."

Another recent media magnet actually might have landed an "Entourage" slot, though. "With Charlie Sheen, I did reach out to his manager," Ellin reports. "I didn't have anything set and didn't have any specific ideas, but I said I could come up with something, and I never heard back. That was as close as it got."

An "Entourage" movie spinoff is up in the air, according to Ellin, and he should know: He'd be writing it. He's leaping right into two more HBO series, the comedy "40" starring Ed Burns, and the Mike Tyson-inspired drama "Da Brick" that Ellin will produce with Spike Lee and writer John Ridley.

"For eight years, I've kind of kept my head down and done this," Ellin reflects. "A lot of people are more capable than me of multitasking. You see a guy like Chuck Lorre doing three shows at a time; I wish I had that capacity, but it's just not in me. He's also doing 90 episodes a year, as opposed to the 12 or so I've been doing. I don't want to sit around being sad about this, though, so it's good timing."