No, it’s not that Ari Gold

Ari Gold makes his feature film debut at Sundance today. But this isn’t an episode of HBO’s “Entourage” in the making. Jeremy Piven’s smarmy Hollywood agent doesn’t appear in the comedy “Adventures of Power,” which was written and directed by a New York-based filmmaker with the same name as Piven’s character.

To complicate matters just a little, Vincent Chase, er, make that actor Adrian Grenier, a friend of Gold’s, does appear in a supporting role in the film. (To set the record straight, Gold met Grenier pre-”Entourage,” when he worked on Grenier’s 2002 documentary “Shot in the Dark.”)

“Adventures of Power” focuses on a dreamer (Gold) from a small copper-mining town who aspires to be the best air drummer ever. Gold admits that the idea germinated from his love of playing the air drums as a kid, especially to Rush’s “Tom Sawyer.” When asked how many times he’s been asked about Piven comparisons or “Entourage” references, he says, “every time and every day.” His name’s already given him trouble. When he broke his arm during the production of “Adventures of Power,” “two out of three doctors didn’t return calls,” he says. “[The doctors] thought they were getting crank calls.”

So only time will tell if the Ari Gold appellation will be a blessing or a curse for the filmmaker. “When I wake up on the right side of the bed, I find it amusing,” he says. “But when I wake up on the wrong side, not getting an appointment with an orthopedist isn’t ideal.”

-- Christine N. Ziemba