What do Madonna, Elon Musk, and Donald Trump have in common?
They’ve all crossed paths with Ari Emanuel.
In “Roll the Calls,” his new memoir published on Sept. 22, the Hollywood superagent, who’s also the chairman of TKO Group Holdings which owns UFC and WWE, recounts more than three decades spent making deals, building companies, and occasionally getting into squabbles on behalf of some of the biggest names in entertainment.
“Roll the Calls” is filled with juicy anecdotes and details about Emanuel’s time spent in the entertainment industry, including Larry David and Musk's near-fight at Emanuel’s wedding, Mark Wahlberg’s alleged revenge on Harvey Weinstein, and the time a director ignored his advice and pitched Madonna for “American Beauty.” Not
to mention, Emanuel shares his elaborate morning routine, which apparently includes eating live worms.
The stories in Emanuel’s memoir offer a glimpse into the relationships, rivalries, and absurdities the longtime Hollywood power broker has encountered on his way from the CAA mailroom to becoming one of Hollywood’s most influential dealmakers.
Here are some of the biggest revelations from “Roll the Calls.”
Larry David and Elon Musk nearly got into a fight at Emanuel’s wedding
Emanuel’s 2022 wedding to fashion designer Sarah Staudinger in Saint-Tropez was a full-fledged Hollywood affair, including a guest list packed with all of their famous friends. Larry David officiated the ceremony, but according to Emanuel, the “Curb Your Enthusiasm” creator nearly got into a physical fight with Elon Musk, who was also in attendance. Musk’s place on Emanuel’s guest list made sense, considering he had previously served on the board of Endeavor, a major entertainment and sports conglomerate of which Emanuel is the CEO.
Emanuel writes that David and Musk got into a heated political argument during the festivities that escalated to the point where other guests had to intervene, all of which sounds like a plotline straight from an episode of “Curb Your Enthusiasm.”
“When Larry sees Elon, he starts cursing, yelling, saying things many people would like to say to Elon. He tells Elon that he’s disgusted by his politics. He calls Elon out for recent tweets about Democrats being the party of hate,” Emanuel writes. “He gets right up in Elon’s face, before the dinner starts, before the first course comes, and demands to know, How can you possibly vote f------ Republican? Do you want children killed in schools?”
The behind-the-scenes battle of “The Departed”
Back when Martin Scorsese made the 2006 classic film “The Departed,” which would eventually go on to win four Oscars including best picture as well as Scorsese’ long-awaited best director achievement, Emanuel writes that tensions emerged between the filmmaker and Warner Bros.
Studio executives apparently had an issue with an explicit scene involving Jack Nicholson, fearing the material crossed the line into pornography. According to Emanuel, he had Scorsese’s back and made a number of trips to the film set to help smooth things over.
“Marty’s my client, so I fight for him like a rabid animal. Bring as much pressure as I dare on [Warner Bros. executive Alan] Horn without causing a rupture,” Emanuel writes. “Finally, one bleak afternoon I sit down with Marty on set. It’s not an L, I tell him. It’s not a W, but it’s not an L. We get a version of your scene, which isn’t ideal, but it’s really good. It’s the best we’re going to do. Glassy-eyed, Marty nods. I reassure him. The film, with or without the ball gag, is brilliant.”
Madonna may have cost Peter Berg “American Beauty”
Filmmaker Peter Berg, who was Emanuel’s longtime friend and client, was apparently in consideration to direct “American Beauty.” At the time, Berg was dating Madonna, and Emanuel writes that he explicitly warned the director not to suggest casting her in the film.
“She’s a good actress, okay? She really is. But I know these guys — they’re not going to want to hear that you’re thinking Madonna,” Emanuel says he advised Berg. “They’re going to want to hear someone more along the lines of . . . Annette Bening. You get me?”
Berg’s meeting with DreamWorks executives Steven Spielberg, David Geffen, and Jeffrey Katzenberg went well until until he ignored Emanuel's advice and he mentioned Madonna when asked if he had any casting ideas.
Director Sam Mendes ultimately ended up with the gig, which won five Academy Awards, including best picture and best director, and starred Annette Bening.
Mark Wahlberg allegedly got revenge on Harvey Weinstein with expensive wine
In 2000, Mark Wahlberg starred in the Miramax film “The Yard” alongside Joaquin Phoenix, Charlize Theron, and James Caan. Back then, now disgraced producer Harvey Weinstein was running the movie studio and Emanuel writes that Wahlberg was upset because most of his performance was ultimately cut.
“[Weinstein] starts showing up in the editing room, butting in where he doesn’t belong. The young director, watching his beautiful work get ruined, pushes back, and this inflames the producer,” Emanuel writes. “Finally, to punish the young director for daring to assert himself, defend himself, the producer sabotages the film, budgeting zero dollars for publicity.”
Emanuel writes that one night when he and Wahlberg were having dinner at a hotel where Weinstein was also staying at the Cannes Film Festival, Wahlberg ordered multiple bottles of expensive Pétrus wine that cost $10,000 per bottle and charged them to Weinstein’s room in an act of revenge for interfering with his role in the film.
According to Emanuel, Weinstein confronted him about ordering the expensive wine at another Cannes party. "Your client has crossed the line, Ari!" Weinstein allegedly yelled at Emanuel, poking him in the chest. “I tell Harvey to step off, and I promise that if he ever lays one of his filthy little digits on me again, I’m going to snap them off one by one,” he writes.
Emanuel says he dropped Donald Trump as a client
Long before Donald Trump became president, he was one of Emanuel’s clients back when he was working on his NBC reality show “The Apprentice,” but that all came to an end in 2017 after Trump first took office.
According to Emanuel, he called up Trump to congratulate him after the election results were in and apparently to part ways with him professionally, explaining to the president, “You can’t make me any money now.”
“I tell him I’ve never dropped a client with such ease," Emanuel writes. "And I tell him that I didn’t vote for him.”
Emanuel doesn’t pull any punches when discussing his disdain for Trump in his memoir, especially when it comes to their political differences.
“I always had differences with my former client, President Trump, but January 6 changed things. He conducted himself that day like McGregor at Barclays Center. Except the ground on which he committed his thuggery was sacred. And more people got hurt. And more lasting harm got done to the Republic,” he writes.
A morning routine that includes eating live worms
While Emanuel spends most of his memoir name dropping and divulging behind-the-scenes stories about the inner-workings of Hollywood, one of the book’s most revealing details is about his own morning routine.
The famously energetic executive describes waking up around 4:00 in the morning and engaging in stretching, breath work, meditation, sauna sessions, an ice plunge, and infrared light therapy.
Then he eats a cup of live worms as part of an effort to address bacteria in his gut.
“The astonishment people express at my morning routine astonishes me. If you want to win at life, then isn’t Job One having more life?” Emanuel writes. “I also don’t see why, in a town where half the people are on Ambien and Adderall and Wellbutrin and Paxil and coke, my gut worms are a thing.”
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Ari Emanuel reveals celebrity clashes, dropping Trump in new memoir
