Proud of the draft he turned in, Ellin was shocked to learn that HBO wasn't so thrilled. "What don't they like about it?" he asked Levinson. The answer? "They don't like anything about it."
"They had no notes, they hated it so much," Ellin continued. He decided to revise the script on his own time, "even though they begged me not to."
He even came to realize that his initial attempt had been too dark, since the story began at a point where Vince's career prospects were as dismal as Ellin's own had been. "HBO was right. It was depressing. Where was it going to go from there?" When he started from a more promising phase of Vince's life, "we got five years of ups and downs and building him up and taking it away."
His second try was much better received, if getting counterintuitive notes is a step up from none at all. "They wanted less story. They wanted less conflict," he said. "They wanted fun and wish fulfillment. They didn't want conflict, they didn't want heart, they just wanted to watch a ride that they'd want to be a part of."
They also wanted less Vince. "They didn't believe we could cast Vince. If he wasn't already a movie star, they didn't think he could be credible." In the end, a movie star was not cast and Ellin now believes they got very lucky with Adrian Grenier. "We had all wanted a strong man's man, a tough guy. Ultimately I think we were better served. Adrian brings a softer side to it that gives the show a bigger heart. If he'd been the tough guy, we would have hated these guys."
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