Arsenal legend Thierry Henry to get Entourage-style TV show based on glamorous life in football

Posted Friday, September 18, 2020 by Thesun.co.uk

ARSENAL legend Thierry Henry is to be the focus of a new Entourage-style show about his glamorous life in football.

The ex-Gunner is working with the creator of the original hit Hollywood series Doug Ellin to make a similar show about the world of football.

Doug said the show will be inspired by Henry's life - just like Entourage was based on the life of actor Mark Wahlberg.

The HBO show was based on Mark's experiences as a young actor in Hollywood and the wild parties and excesses of the LA scene.

Ellin revealed: “It's a show set in the world of football. We’re actively trying to get that going right now.

"Thierry Henry was in the Entourage movie so I’ve known him a long time. And Darren Dein, who is his long-time manager, is a good friend of mine.

"It’s the friendships, the family dynamic, all that stuff behind the scenes.

"It’s inspired by Thierry’s life, similar to how Entourage was inspired by Mark Wahlberg.

"We've just finished the script.

"The world is closed down, and my opening scene takes place at a full Wembley stadium. But we can do that with cardboard cutouts and CGI.

"Thierry will consult as well as his manager to help us to make it as authentic as possible."

The Hollywood producer shared the story of his success with new men’s lifestyle site Mr Feelgood, which features inspirational stories, wisdom and pragmatic health advice alongside style tips and celebrity interviews.

He revealed how he never liked the idea for Entourage but was coaxed into doing it by his manager.

"A friend of mine told me I should try the TV business, which I'd never done anything in. I said, ' How do you get into that?’

"He said write a spec script for a show I loved. So I wrote a Curb Your Enthusiasm spec script, which means I just wrote something that interested me.

"And my manager, who is Mark Wahlberg's manager, liked that script and said, ‘We're kicking around this idea about Mark and his friends.' And that’s where that started.”

He added: “I actually hated the idea for Entourage. And my manager just said, ‘You'll figure it out.' So I went and thought about it, and then spent about 18 to 24 months getting the script into a place where HBO finally said: ‘OK.’

"The thing that didn’t work for me, which is why I think the show worked, is the idea of an ‘entourage’ is not really my thing.

"I think of entourages as being about people using each other for things. But the idea of friendship is my thing.

"The friends that I've come up with, and that ultimately these characters became based around, we've always stuck together and try to help each other out.

"So it was much more important to me that this is a family and that everybody had a real purpose. Even if it was Turtle being the driver.

"It was far from smooth sailing. The first script that I handed in, which we felt really good about, they (HBO) hated it.

"And I said to my manager, 'What don't they like about it?’ And he said, ‘They don't like any of it.’ So that wasn’t good.”

Henry, 43, retired from football in 2014 after a hugely successful career which saw him play at Monaco, Juventus, Arsenal and Barcelona - as well as winning the 1998 World Cup with France.

He moved from Barcelona to the MLS where he played for New York Red Bulls before becoming manager of AS Monaco and now Montreal Impact.

Ellin has a new podcast called "Victory The Podcast" where he and Entourage star Kevin Dillon discuss the show.