'Entourage' Creator Doug Ellin Picks the 8 Episodes You Need to Watch Before the Movie

It's been almost four full years sinceEntourage literally sailed off into the clouds on two private jets, an apropos ending for a series known for wish fulfillment. That's enough time to make fans start yearning for a movie and lo and behold, the boys from Queens will finally get their big screen adventure later this week. Inevitably though, the impending film just serves as a reminder of how long it's been since you watched an Entourage episode, or worse, exposes those Philistines who have somehow missed out on eight seasons worth of bromance. If you fall in either camp and have your shit together, then you probably got on your marathon game early and have fully prepared yourself for Wednesday's return to Hollywood.

But, more likely, you totally wanted to finally watch the series or catch up on a few episodes, then forgot, and now release day is right around the corner. Don't worry, we've got you covered with a brief enough primer or reacquainting to have you ready for an opening day roll through with your own entourage. Or rather, Doug Ellin himself does. We hopped on the phone with the creator of the series, and the movie's writer/director, to get a marathon playlist straight from the source. Read on as Doug picks episodes from each season that stand out personally for him and together form a good enough understanding of the show so any newcomers won't be totally lost in the theater. If you're one of those rare human beings that doesn't actually have HBO, you still have no excuse. Head over toHBO Now for instant, standalone streaming access and get your life together. "I don't really go back very often and watch them because I've seen them so many times," Doug told us. "I went back, for the movie, and looked at the first two seasons because I really wanted to capture the tone of the early seasons." As in, the best years of the show. Get familiar, then get excited.

As told to Frazier Tharpe.

The one where: Vince goes on Jimmy Kimmel Live!

"The first two [episodes] were a learning curve, I've gone back and watched them and I'm very happy with them but the third is where I think we really found our groove and everybody kind of got to where we wanted to go. That's where I felt like we really had something special. The first two [episodes] were simpler, that one started getting into multiple storylines at the same time and doing a lot of things in a half an hour, the script was a little longer. At first I was getting notes [from HBO] that the scripts were too long and then the episodes were so short, because I was having everyone speak so quickly. The tone—there's some real heart to it and, I think, some great comedy. Getting Jimmy Kimmel gave us this validity that these guys were really where [we said] they were, living this L.A. lifestyle. The first season kind of propelled from there."

The one where: Vince and Mandy Moore's relationship implodes; Ari gets fired; "Tsetse fly"

"My goal with the movie was to go for a season two type of vibe, so hopefully I did. 'Exodus' is my favorite, the second-to-last episode of season two. That's when Ari gets fired. There are lot of things about this one that I like, the first one being that this was the first script I handed into our executive at HBO...and she told me she hated it. Actually, [Jeremy] Piven called me and said it was one of the best scripts he'd ever read. I was wowed, because it was actually the easiest script I'd ever written. I wrote that the quickest of any episode in the history of the show, it just kind of flowed out. Piven was so happy with it, then the executive we were dealing with basically said she hated it. And I ended up—we were shooting the Comic-Con episode ('I Love You Too')—and I was sitting on a couch with Julian Farino who was set to direct the next episode and he's like 'what's the matter?' I'm like 'The HBO executive hates this script, I don't know what to do.' He said 'It's fabulous, don't worry about it.'

"And then he spoke to that HBO executive about the first cut of an episode that we were working on. And whatever she said to him, the next thing you know, the two of us are sitting on the couch, depressed before we're supposed to go shoot this big episode. Wahlberg, who wasn't on set all that much, he happened to come in and ask what's going on. We told him and he's like 'Are you crazy? We're killing it, everything's great!' We got a big pep talk. And then that script got nominated for an Emmy. I honestly remember it like it was yesterday—'I have a lot of problems with this' was the comment. I don't remember changing it all that much, but I remember second-guessing a lot of stuff. After the second season, I didn't get many notes."

The one where: Vince fires Ari.

"I did twenty episodes this year, and I thought I was gonna die. This was when I realized that I probably wasn't cut out for network television. Chris Albrecht who was awesome and a huge supporter of us said, 'I want as many episodes as you guys can do.' I said, 'I'll do as many as you want' and he goes, 'How about 20?' And it was tough. Don't they fire Ari in season three? Yeah, that's my favorite. I remember the shot when Ari is walking away at the end of the episode. Julian Farino, such a great director. Again, what I always wanted to do from the very beginning of the show—whether anyone appreciated it or not—I really wanted to have heart and fun at the same time, which are two tough balances. And I felt like we got it here, I remember getting emotional when I saw it. Seeing that we could do stuff and split these guys up, the network was very supportive in letting us try stuff at this point. I've never had a strong gameplan, it was always, once we figure out the ending of an episode then we go on to the next one. It wasn't necessarily arc'ed out, in terms of when we'd get Ari back."

The one where: The on-set drama of Medellin is captured mockumentary-style.

"The Medellin [mockumentary] episode is obviously a complete departure and a different type of tone. Heart of Darkness is one of my favorite documentaries ever made and Rhys, who plays Billy Walsh, is one of my favorite characters."

The one where: The gang, fresh out of options during Vince's career rut, returns to Queens to regroup.

"I always wanted to take them back to New York. I never knew if it would be possible, but to really see their roots and see where they're from was important to me because this isn't a show about rich guys. This is a show about working-class guys who made it in a fantasyland but really always remember where they came from. Seeing the mothers, Drama getting his bar, all that stuff I love."

The one where: E finally makes a big move on Sloan; Matt Damon bullies Vince for a charity donation.

"My friend from elementary school said he could get me LeBron and Matt Damon so it was a real Entourage-type situation. One of my favorite things we ever did, was the post-credits scene with Matt Damon. He basically said 'Feed me anything.' And so I'm just throwing things at him like, 'Cry now!' and he was so unbelievable, and watching his process to just be able to switch from laughing or crying. So, my friend Kenny said, Matt will do it if you can get his charity in the show. We came up with this idea that I enjoyed [of having him pester Vince], so that was really great. I think every time we did a season finale, [the fans] thought it was a series finale. Sometimes I thought it was also." [Laughs]

The one where: Vince's drug binge gets him duffed by Eminem; Vince and Sasha Grey, predictably, implode.

"I got some flack for this season, but I enjoyed it. It was a thrill to have [Eminem] on the show, he actually put some lyrics about the show in one of his songs about Entourage and Johnny Drama. Paul Rosenberg called me and said Eminem would love to be on the show, you just need to give him an idea that he likes. You get a little nervous when you have to get on the phone with [someone like] Eminem, I don't know what he is or isn't going to like. So I said, 'What if Vince gets drunk and says something to you that you don't like and you punch him in the face?' And he goes, 'I love that.'"

The one where: Vince is suddenly set to be married; Ari makes a big career choice; E makes a last-ditch attempt at Sloan.

"The finale's my favorite episode. 'Going to California' is a song we always dreamed of getting on the show, Led Zeppelin's my favorite band. It was a culmination of knowing—we're not just talking quality here, everyone can judge that as they please. When we started, I didn't know if we'd get one episode done. The 96th episode—we shot the last scene on the last day with the whole cast, everyone came who's been on the show and it was a special moment. And Led Zeppelin, Scott Vener said he'd get it, I said he'd never be able to then he did and it was just great.

"I don't care [if anyone's mad about the marriage being undone in the movie.] Hollywood stars get married all the time and get divorced days later, people change their minds. The show, to me, is not—I think the movie has a good plot—but it's about the energy, it's about the feel, it's about the friendships and relationships. If you're going to spend your time searching plot holes instead of just having a good time, then I don't know what to say. Most people with a good sense of humor are going to have a fun 90-minute ride and they're gonna feel like how it feels when they hang out with their own friends or when they go back and have high school reunions with guys or girls that they cared about growing up. That, to me, is what it's all about. I've done worse things [than undoing Vince's marriage]. Ari had three kids at one point; Dana Gordon was pregnant, then she wasn't. Drama and Vince had the same father in season 1 but I was obsessed with having these three mothers get off the plane [in season three's 'Aquamom'], I didn't want to watch three fathers get off a plane. I wanna see mothers and I wanna hear 'Feelin Alright' and let whoever come after me. Which, they did. I had people saying Doug Ellin's a moron, he doesn't remember that Vince and Drama share the same father. It's creative license. All I'm trying to do is hopefully give people an entertaining, fun ride where they don't take it so seriously, they have a good time, and they leave the theater with a good feeling."