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Date: 6/5/2015
LOS ANGELES, CA – With two movies coming out this summer, Chicopee native Sabina Gadecki readily admitted with a laugh, “I’m a little overwhelmed, but I guess it’s what we work for.”
Gadecki is a co-star in the cast of the movie version of the popular HBO series “Entourage,” playing the girlfriend of Kevin Connolly’s character “E.”
She told Reminder Publications that landing that role in a prominent summer release was the culmination of “years and years working my butt off.”
Gadecki has done modeling and has acted in a variety of projects ranging from feature films to episodic television shows to hosting a poker series. The last two years, though have been very busy for her, as she has acted in three very different films.
While “Entourage” is a big budgeted studio film, Gadecki also acted in “Dark Was the Night,” an independent horror film that will be released in theaters and on video on demand later this summer. She also had a top role in “Outlaw Prophet: Warren Jeffs,” a Lifetime movie that co-starred Tony Goldwyn from the television series “Scandal” and Oscar winner Martin Landau.
Gadecki said she has always feared by being typecast and celebrated the opportunity of having “three back-to-back different experiences.”
“The films had different budgets, different schedules. It was a great learning experience,” she added.
Although she has gone through many auditions processes, the one for “Entourage” was unique. She explained her first audition was in December 2013, with the second one being the following month of January 2014. At the second audition she read for a different part than at the first one. She was subsequently called back two more times.
At the fourth audition she read lines with actor Kevin Connolly to see if there was chemistry between the two actors, as she would play his girlfriend. She still didn’t know she had the job, though.
With each audition she noted, “the more your heart gets invested” in getting the part.
For the fifth time, she summoned to the Warner Brothers lot for a table read. The entire cast was there to perform the entire script. Gadecki saw that besides the production crew and cast, executives from Warner Brothers were in attendance. There were cameras taping the table read to use as a possible extra for the DVD release.
“It was the most intimidating,” she recalled.
Each audition required hours of preparation from learning lines to working to an acting coach, she explained.
She is happy with the result, though, and believes that both fans of the HBO series as well as people new to “Entourage” will enjoy the film.
“Entourage,” a reunion of the original cast, tells an inside-Hollywood story of an up and coming movie star played by Adrien Grenier and his group of friends including his manager played by Connolly. The HBO series was a satire of the Hollywood scene and ran from 2004 through 2011. According to reviews, the film continues the tone of the series and it was written and directed by the series creator Doug Ellin.
Gadecki believes the film does a good job at connecting new audience members to the established characters.
It was a bit intimidating for a new actor to join such a tight-knit group, Gadecki said, “I was nervous to be the new girl.”
She soon learned however “everyone from the director to the actors bent over backwards to make me feel welcome.”
When her mother visited Los Angeles, Ellin not only sent a car to pick her up to bring her to the set, but made sure she had a vantage point on the set to see what was happening.
For Gadecki there was one moment in the film that did provide some concern: a nude scene. She had never done anything like that before and called it “the elephant in the room.” She told her parents well in advance to seeing the film and they supported her decision. As she noted, she is an actor and this was part of her character, the new girlfriend to the Connolly character.
“I’ve just got to own it,” she said with a laugh.
Her participation in “Dark was the Night” was quite different, but enjoyable, as well. She auditioned via Skype, got the part and boarded a plane to New York City a week later.
The film, which is set in small rural community suffering from attacks by an unknown animal, was shot in the Hamptons in the middle of winter.
“It was pretty desolate,” Gadecki recalled. Although a popular tourist area in the summer, in the winter it was deserted.
“It was a little bit eerie, but a really cool experience,’ she said.
She is not a horror film fan – “personally I’m a scaredy cat” – but she enjoyed working on the film.
Her role in the Lifetime movie took her to New Mexico to shoot, another positive event for her.
Of the three films she said, “Not a single one was better than another” in terms of the experience it gave her as an actor.
“I studied really hard for a long time, worked really hard to be an actress,” Gadecki said. Although she had hoped to establish a niche for comedy, she was grateful for the opportunity to play three very different roles.
“The further you play from yourself, the easier it is,” she noted.
She is now busy promoting “Entourage,” with appearances at both the premiere in New York City and Los Angeles. There was a red carpet at both events with people shouting at her “Who are you wearing?” At the Los Angeles premiere there were fans seated in bleachers, calling her name and asking for autographs.
“It was a weird exciting experience,” she said.
Also a different experience for her is to have her name pop up in a variety of websites concerning a dating relation with Connolly.
“This the first time I’ve experienced that,” she said. Gadecki added the reports prompted calls from her extended family.
“I don’t want to it to take away from my working so hard,” she said.
Gadecki said the “whole experience [of promoting the film] has been a whirlwind.”