HBO’s ‘Entourage’ casts cars as stars

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Product placement is an old game in Hollywood, and cars have always been big stars in movies and TV shows.

Think Steve McQueen’s 1968 Mustang GT 390 in ‘Bullitt’ or James Bond’s Aston Martin (which Q at one point figured out how to make invisible) or the trio of Mini Coopers in ‘The Italian Job.’ Or Thomas Magnum and his red Ferrari.

But the multiple car placements in the HBO series ‘Entourage’ can make your head spin. And your wallet.

In its four seasons to date, the show has burned through a pimped-out 1961 Lincoln Continential convertible, a Maserati Quattroporte, three Aston Martin DB9s, a BMW 745, a Mercedes-Benz S-Class, a Lexus LS 600h, a Hummer H2 and a Bentley Continental GT convertible. Oh, and four Ducati motorcycles.

So, does it make the cash register ring? Aston Martin Vice President and General Manager John Walton said yes but added that the company was really looking to the future.

‘We manufacture only a few thousand of these cars per year, so sales numbers don’t factor into the equation. It’s more about gaining cachet for the brand with a younger audience,’ he said. The question is whether the members of the younger audience will ever be able to afford a DB9, which comes with a $180,000 price tag.

-- Joni Gray