I wish I had interviewed Adrian Grenier after seeing Goodbye World at the Los Angeles Film Festival because I would have had a lot more to analyze about that film. I spoke to Grenier by phone the week before the festival for the documentary he produced, How to Make Money Selling Drugs. As the title suggests, director Matthew Cooke presents the drug war as a how to manual for an aspiring dealer to learn how to make the most money possible in this illegal but lucrative system. Grenier himself has become a filmmaker directing the documentaries Shot in the Dark and Teenage Paparazzo, but is best known as Vincent Chase on “Entourage.” How to Make Money Selling Drugs opened New York Theaters June 26, L.A. theaters June 28 and is currently available on VOD.
CraveOnline: In becoming a filmmaker, why have you gravitated towards documentaries?
Adrian Grenier: I just find them so exciting. Truth is stranger than fiction, and also they’re so present and tangible, I love peering into the lives of real people.
Are you passing on acting offers to focus on these documentaries?
No, no. I’m just looking at a couple offers here right now. I’m actually in L.A. for the L.A. Film Festival. I have a movie premiering there so acting, and of course obviously hoping that the Entourage movie gets going because I miss the guys.
How did you and Matthew hit on the “how to” format as a way to take on the drug war?
This is really Matthew’s brainchild. I met Matthew several years ago, many, many years ago. In his house he had an idea board with all these different ideas and thoughts. The one that clearly popped out at me was this card that said, “How to Make Money Selling Drugs.” He told me what he wanted to do and I sort of immediately told him that I would support him and help him in whatever way I could, and here we are. Of course the title had popped on the idea board and it certainly has popped now, and I think that was sort of our goal, to create a film that was accessible to young people and exciting and to use the language of pop culture and didn’t talk down to its audience. That was our first and foremost goal, and of course to tell an honest story about the realities of drug policy.
Does a tired old argument like “drugs destroy lives” need a twist like “here’s how you can make a lot of money,” even as an ironic perspective, to get people thinking about it differently?
Oh, certainly and I think it’s unproductive to make grand assumptions like “drugs are bad.” It sort of obliterates all the subtlety and ability to have an educated decision about real life choices. Suddenly people who do drugs are all bad, they’re all thrown away in jail as opposed to looking at not the drugs themselves but the reasons that go behind people’s choices, why they get lost in drug use and drug abuse. Really, it’s not the drug use per se that destroys lives. It’s drug abuse. Also the black market that was created that bolsters violence and crime, that’s to me what’s bad. Yeah, we need to throw it on its head because these drug policies are actually doing more damage than the drugs themselves to our community and to society at large. I would say just say no to the drug policies.
That’s a really good point that a sweeping statement like “drugs are bad” ignores so many subtleties. Would it be more productive even to say “drugs can be harmful?”
Yes, drugs certainly can be harmful and we all know that. I certainly personally know that from friends and family who I’ve lost to drug abuse. If you ask anybody, many times people will either know somebody who’s been in jail for drugs or has had a loved one with drug addiction. You walk down the street and people are smoking cigarettes willy nilly and boozing it up at local bars. Specialty cocktails and mixology have had a boon and there’s a lot of alcoholism. I think we’re very familiar with how bad drugs can be, but can we really take a brave look at how the supposed fix, the cure is actually not helping and it’s distracting us from real recovery for a lot of people?
When did you and Matthew hit on the idea that it could be like a video game also, achieving higher levels in the drug trade?
This is all Matthew. He also created much of the look and feel, the graphics behind the film so he’s the one who I guess was having all the fun in the edit during the whole process.
“Entourage” obviously had characters who enjoyed marijuana. Was this an interesting counterpoint to explore it from this angle?
Absolutely. I think if you watch the DVD extras, I have a little commentary on that very topic. I spent eight years sort of promoting indulgence, consumer indulgence and also drug indulgence. Can you imagine if Vinnie got busted and had to go to jail, like many people do? What would happen if Vince went away for four years for a joint?
