Entourage star Jeremy Piven lands lead role as car salesman
JEREMY PIVEN must feel almost like the three-time bridesmaid who has finally turned lucky and made it down the aisle as a bride.
After all, the actor has carved out a sturdy career playing supporting roles in films such as Grosse Pointe Blank, Old School and RocknRolla, and now, at the age of 44, he has finally landed a lead film role, as smooth-talking car salesman Don Ready in the comedy The Goods: Live Hard, Sell Hard.
“It was like sticking around the party for a little bit longer,” Jeremy says about playing the lead.
“It was a great thing for me, and I feel like I’ve been practising that for at least 20 years and so that’s maybe why I have something to offer. Whether I’m carrying the movie or not, it doesn’t matter, but to carve out that lead role is a great gift and I’d love to continue that.”
The casting choice could be down, in part, to Jeremy having made a name for himself playing ruthless Hollywood agent Ari Gold in US TV series Entourage.
The show, described as ‘Sex And The City for men’, follows an A-list actor, his manager, agent (Piven) and entourage of friends. On the eve of its seventh season, the show has attracted an enormous following and Jeremy has emerged as a cult figure.
“Fans see me… guys in particular… and respond to me as if I’m that character. They’ll immediately be abrasive, they’ll bark and smack me on the back, it’s just very strange. It’s a tribute to that character that people bring it to life like that,” he says.
Some of Ari can even be seen in The Goods’s Don Ready, who will do anything to sell a car.
He leads a crack team of sales specialists who spend their lives on the road, travelling to whichever car showroom needs to rejuvenate its sales.
But this isn’t a film about sales techniques, rather about the friendship between Don’s motley crew and his own personal journey as he begins to question his commitment-shy nomadic ways.
It is also packed with shocking jokes and one-liners. Don’s team-mate Babs, played by Kathryn Jahn, falls in love with a 10-year-old, a Korean salesmen gets beaten up by his colleagues in an apparent ‘hate crime’ and several scenes are set in the salacious surroundings of a strip club.
Jeremy stands by the humour, despite complaints from some quarters about its lack of taste.
“I really thought it was all very funny, I was not offended,” he says earnestly.
Jeremy’s gift for comic timing may be one of the reasons he has landed friends such as John Cusack, Dustin Hoffman and rapper Common.
But on the whole, Jeremy remains guarded about his private life, preferring to offer up a joke or an anecdote than to speak frankly about his personal affairs. Is this a deliberate move? “Yes, I think it is,” Jeremy admits. “If you parade your private life in public, I think it robs you of your anonymity. I’m just trying to figure out a way to be a decent person and a working actor.”
That said, he is frank enough to admit that he is “single right now”.
“I’m absolutely looking for someone, why not?” he adds, offering hope to the many who swoon at his swarthy good looks.
The public also got an insight into Jeremy’s life earlier this year when he was criticised for dropping out of a Broadway run of David Mamet’s Speed The Plow.
It turns out he was suffering from mercury poisoning after eating excessive amounts of sushi over a long period of time, having given up meat and poultry. He’s now eating fish again – for the first time in 15 months – having celebrated with a meal out in Nobu.
A trip to the UK to tread the boards in theWest End – and maybe find a British love interest – would be “amazing” Jeremy says.
But before that, he’s got children’s animation Marmaduke, in which he voices a villain to work on, and the seventh season of Entourage.
He even has some ideas about what he’d like to see happen to his character. “I’d like to see Ari brought to his knees.
“One of the great things about this series is you can spend all the seasons deepening a character and building him up and seeing what happens if he gets torn down, I think that would be fascinating,” he says. And maybe, just hopefully, there’ll be another lead role for Jeremy waiting around the corner.
The Goods: Live Hard, Sell Hard is released in cinemas on Friday, October 23
First Look at Zac Efron on ‘Entourage’
With the “Entourage” episode where Zac Efron makes a cameo approaching, a new still is released as a teaser. The teen heartthrob takes a break from talking on his cell phone to greet Darcy Fowers who is playing a character named Lori. His episode is titled “Security Briefs” and will air on HBO on September 13 at 10.30/9.30c.
Zac filmed his part at Niketown in Beverly Hills on June 2 morning before the store opened. An employee of the store testified, “He was filming a scene and talking on his cell phone. None of the other Entourage cast was here. He was really nice.”
On how he will be intertwined in the story, the synopsis reveals that “after Ari steals teen heartthrob Zac Efron from Adam Davies, Davies counters by offering Lloyd a job as an agent.” Also in the episode, the guys step up their security following a suspicious break-in. Drama follows up on an insider tip on Vince’s suspected stalker and Ashley grows increasingly suspicious of Eric.
Entourage TV Show Summary
Like Larry David’s Curb Your Enthusiasm, the HBO series Entourage offers a knowing and quasi-satirical inside look at the world of show business within a faux “documentary” format. Premiering July 18, 2004, the series (initially titled “Sundance Kids”) top-billed Adrian Grenier as Vincent Chase, a young, wealthy, and very “hot” movie star.
As Vincent’s hard-working agent, Ari Gold (a character based on real-life agent Ari Emmanuel and here played by Jeremy Piven), tried to keep both his client and his client’s career on the right track, Vincent tended to ignore Ari and pay more attention to three buddies from his old Queens neighborhood, who formed the “entourage” of the title. Vincent’s stepbrother Johnny (Kevin Dillon), aka “Drama,” made no secret of his intention to use Vincent’s success to further his own acting career, while his pal Turtle (Jerry Ferrara) was content to parasitically luxuriate in Vincent’s lavish lifestyle.
Only his friend Eric (Kevin Connolly) seemed to like Vince for himself and not for what he could mooch off him — and not surprisingly, Eric’s advice and remonstrations were frequently ignored in favor of the sycophancy of Vince’s other pals. Entourage was co-created and executive-produced by actor Mark Wahlberg, who was one of several A-list celebrities appearing as themselves in the course of the series.
Gay Rights Group All Praises for ‘Entourage,’ HBO Named Gayest Network
While Entourage’s most visible gay character Lloyd (Rex Lee) is currently undergoing a beating from his harsh boss Ari (Jeremy Piven) for his weight, the HBO series is just the same getting praise for its representation of gay characters.
Entourage was one of the 10 primetime shows from the cabler which was chosen as having the best content reflecting the lives of gay, bisexual, and transgender people by gay rights group Gay And Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD).
HBO originals True Blood and The No 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency were also mentioned in the GLAAD report, which cited that series reflecting the gay community comprised a little over 40 percent of the network’s programming hours. Showtime ranked second with 26 percent, where lesbian series The L Word was aired, in addition to Weeds and rookie comedy The United States of Tara.
ABC ranked third and first among the five broadcast networks with 24 percent, with shows like Brothers and Sisters, Desperate Housewives, and Grey’s Anatomy, series with at least one gay character or couple. Trailing the lot are the CW with 20 percent and Fox with 11.
“Television shows that weave our stories into the fabric of the series present richer, more diverse representations,” said Rashad Robinson, GLAAD’s senior director of media programs.
Both NBC and CBS received “failing” marks after GLAAD reviewed some 6,000 hours of primetime television and found that the two broadcast network didn’t show nearly enough representation of the lives of gay, bisexual, and transgender people on their shows.