Hey folks. Capone in Chicago here, with another one of the Windy City's favorite sons, Jeremy Piven, the star of the new comedy THE GOODS: LIVE HARD, SELL HARD, a film concerning one Mr. Don Ready--the man you call in when you are desperate to move cars off your lot and your own team of car salesmen just aren't getting the job done. Don and his crew swoop in and stop at nothing to sell you a vehicle. I wonder how Ready & Co. would have worked the Cash for Clunkers program into their pitch. I'd pay money to see that.
If you've been reading my interviews over the years, you know I have a particular interest in talking to actor who were part of the Chicago theater scene in the 1970s, the era of David Mamet, Steppenwolf Theater, Stuart Gordon's Organic Theater, and the list goes on. Piven was a little young to be part of that scene, but his mother Joyce and late father Byrne founded the Piven Theatre Workshop, which training and sent out into the world such performers as pretty much anyone with the last name of Cusack, Hope Davis, Jeff Garlin, Lara Flynn Boyle, Rosanna Arquette, Aidan Quinn, Harry Lennix, Lily Taylor, and Kate Walsh, to name a few. So clearly, if there is such a thing as Chicago acting royalty, the Pivens are the the royal family.
Although most people know Jeremy Piven from his superb work as Ari Gold on "Entourage" and perhaps supporting parts in recent works like SMOKIN' ACES and ROCKNROLLA, the guy has been around playing a wide variety of roles in TV and movies since the mid-1980s, just like his longtime buddy, frequent co-star, and former roommate John Cusack. I remember getting interested in Piven from his early TV work on such shows as "The Larry Sanders Show," "Ellen," and one of the great underrated shows of its time, "Cupid." In film, he was popping up in memorable roles in PCU, HEAT, GROSSE POINTE BLANK, VERY BAD THINGS, THE FAMILY MAN, RUSH HOUR 2, OLD SCHOOL, CHASING LIBERTY, and THE KINGDOM.
I made a decision just before the interview began that I wasn't going to bring up Piven's recent incident involving his having to drop out of the Broadway production of "Speed the Plow" because of a health scare, for the simple reason that he's currently being sued over the matter and probably wouldn't be able to talk much about it anyway. But if I had decided to talk about it, I would have led off with the simple statement that I 100 percent believed his reasons for dropping off for many reasons, first and foremost is this: Jeremy Piven is a trained theater actor who, like every stage actor, has had a dream of being on Broadway that he would never jeopardize for any reason other than a serious one. He's also a guy from Chicago--there is no way in fucking hell he would have dropped out of a David Mamet play unless the reasons were very real and very serious. That might be an oversimplification of my beliefs, but there you go. There's no way that this particular guy dropped out because he didn't think he could hack it or because his alleged party lifestyle was interfering or whatever horseshit reason the tabloids have created.
As far as my research reveals, the guy has never missed a call or rehearsal in his entire career. And based on what I'm hearing about the treatments he's going through to avoid mercury poisoning, this guy was probably scared for his life for many months. And so many people seemed very ready to pull him down and call him unprofessional. I have no way of knowing what his behavior was like during rehearsals for "Speed the Plow," but I have yet to hear anyone accuse him of bad behavior during that part of the process. I've never spoken to or met Piven before this interview, so this isn't me defending a friend or acquaintance. But when I started to hear the stories that he dropped out of this play, my initial thought was, "Man, I hope the guy is okay."
His work in THE GOODS is solid, his delivery is crisp and funny, he's surrounded by a stellar cast of the funniest people he's every worked with, and Piven is the definitive lead in his first Hollywood film, from producers Will Ferrell and Adam McKay (who just happens to be married to Piven's sister Shira). The film has a lot of laughs and even a little bit of story mixed in. But mostly, THE GOODS is about cracking you up with some dirty talk and shockingly rude behavior. Leave the kids home for this one, folks. And please enjoy my talk with Jeremy Piven, a genuinely nice guy, who made me an offer early in our talk that I couldn't say no to. Read on…
Capone: Hi, Jeremy. How’s it going?
Jeremy Piven: Good, man. What’s happening?
Capone: Not much. Where are you calling from?
JP: I am in Hollywood as we speak. Where are you?
Capone: I’m back home in Chicago here.
JP: I will see you soon. I’ll be there on Wednesday.
Capone: That’s right. I heard you were coming to town.
JP: Yeah, I’m going to do a little…In fact, you’re welcome to come, Wednesday, at the River East…
Capone: Tomorrow, Wednesday?
JP: Wait, hold on. No, I’m sorry. Thursday, at the River East at 7:00. If you care to come or hang out or whatever, we’re gonna to do a premiere there.
Capone: Right, right. Are you doing some sort of Q&A thing, or just introducing the movie?
JP: You know what, I think I will introduce it. And, if you…Why not? I could do a Q&A, if we’ve got time to fill up. I don’t care.
Capone: I'll come watch that.
JP: Let’s do it. If you want to host it, we’ll do it.
Capone: [Laughs] If you're serious, I’ll talk to the representative about it. That’d be great.
JP: Well, let’s do it then, because, you know, it’s the last screening before the movie opens. It’s my hometown, and it will mean a lot to me.
Capone: I appreciate it. Yeah, let me talk to her when we’re done, and I’ll see what I can do.
[Lovely Paramount representative Tamar hops on the line, "We’ll totally work it out. We’ll figure it out."]
Capone: Jeremy, I actually went to Northwestern, so I’m intimately familiar with your childhood town.
JP: Evanston, man, it’s so beautiful, a beautiful place.
Capone: So, when was the last time you played a character that wasn’t sort of overflowing with confidence?
JP: It’s so interesting you said that, because if you look at so much of what I did leading into “Entourage,” these characters…If you look at anything from, let’s say, THE FAMILY MAN with Nick Cage, where I’m playing this kind of underwhelming, suburban dad who’s telling Nick Cage, “For the love of God, don’t you cheat on your wife,” or any of these put-upon sidekicks, if you will, from SERENDIPITY or any of these movies…I mean, I’m playing guys that couldn’t find confidence if you put a GPS in ’em, you know what I mean?
And, then, there I am…I do “Entourage, and then this character [Don Ready in THE GOODS], and people assume it’s the only gear I have. And, it’s just…it’s fantastic, it’s wonderful, it’s, like, you know, I was 40 movies into it by the time I did “Entourage,” so I welcome anyone who feels like, Well, this Ari Gold thing, that’s not only him, but kind of what he’s capable of, because, as you know, growing up in Evanston, being a part of the theater from the time I was a kid, there’s nothing better than playing a wide range of characters.
So, Don Ready goes through a change in this movie that Ari Gold would never do. That’s not his world. So, in the beginning, I think audiences will gravitate towards it, if they like that, if they…Audiences are incredibly smart now, as you know. They’ll see something, they either think it’s funny, or it’s not. They either believe the cast is capable of doing it--or not. And, I think, what’s in our favor right now is I do think we genuinely have a funny movie, and I’m very proud of it.
But, also, you might take a look at this character and go, You know what, I can see Jeremy playing this. I can do it. which is really great, because then they’ll come in, and then we twist it up. And, you’ve got a guy who is seemingly so confident, the rug gets pulled out from underneath him, and he’s completely lost and then has to make that journey, which as an actor you just love.
Capone: Of course, I’m kidding when I say that about your playing nothing but confident characters. But, there definitely has been a sort of shift in the last few years since “Entourage.” But, I remember going back to something like “Cupid,” which was such a great TV show, where you’re playing a guy who could very possibly have some serious mental problems. So, obviously, range is important to you, and you’re just at one end of that range right now.
JP: Right. I mean, listen, I’ve played aggressively gay characters in RUSH HOUR 2 or the completely nerdy, fast-twitch checkout guy in SINGLES, do you know what I mean? It’s a whole host of different types of guys. But, I think what happens with those guys, from what I can tell, is because they might be the character in your life who you kind of step over possibly, they’re not really incredibly memorable. And then, once I play a character that takes up all the oxygen, this is what gets noticed--I guess, I don’t know. I’m not very good at this.
Capone: With this character, Don Ready, were able to work with [director] Neal Brennan in shaping the guy a little bit? Or, are you playing him pretty much how he was on the page?
JP: Well, the good news is that it was kind of a page-one rewrite from [producers] Adam McKay and Will Ferrell. It was all laid out there--and even more so. There’s a lot of backstory and even language that didn’t quite make it to the film, because there’s only so much amount of time, you know. But, one of the things that they had written in the script that didn’t make it to the screen is here’s a guy who, literally, cannot eat unless he’s in a strip club. I mean, he’s not physically capable of eating. You know, it’s like you can’t have tater tots without titties. His body won’t digest it.
And, even when he’s in the desert wandering around because he’s never had a woman use him for a one-night stand--he doesn't know how to process it, and he’s lost his mind, and he’s wandering around the desert--and because he also killed his best friend, Will Ferrell, he is so hungry, but he can’t eat because there’s not a strip club. He has to go find a strip club in order to eat.
And so, you know, I mean--Adam and Will would never admit it--but, it’s, like, their characters are very low-brow and funny and great slapstick and all that stuff. But also, there’s other stuff going on as well. They’ve created so many characters that are these unique American prototypes that also are…They’re these kind of privileged characters at times that feel like the world owes them something, or tragically flawed ones that have confidence issues, like in this movie--characters that are going through things. They’ve hit the wall: What is love? Can they have love in their lives? They need to somehow shake this Peter Pan syndrome. They would never admit to any of it, but that’s part of what is going on with this movie. And, at the same time, it’s just a raucous, laugh-out-loud kind of ride.
Capone: What is the difference, would you say, between a run-of-the-mill car salesman and what Don and his team do?
JP: First of all, Don thinks he’s a rock star, that he’s on the level with Kid Rock and Bruce Springsteen and anyone else, and he can create an event. And, he gets a celebrity, and he gets a DJ, and he makes it happen. And, this is his life. And, he’s a little delusional. This is what’s so fun to play and to watch. And, if you just get yourself entrenched in his beliefs, then when everything flips on him, it’s that much more funny. Listen, I’ve made 50 movies. It’s the funniest movie I’ve ever made. It’s the thrill of my life to work with Will Ferrell and Ed Helms and Dr. Ken [Jeong] and Craig Robinson, and all of these guys. Every one of them could take the lead in any comedy and crush it. Even Conan [O'Brien, whose show Piven was on the day before our talk] said, “Man, I’ve never seen a cast like this, comedically; everyone in it is solid.”
Capone: It's kind of a new thing for you to surround yourself with such a group of great comic actors. You certainly don't shy away from ensemble casts, but it was just kind of cool to see you in a situation like this. How do you hold up with guys like Ken and Craig, who are the kings of stealing scenes?
JP: Well, they are the kings of stealing scenes. And, they all make me look so good, because they’re just so genuinely funny. And, the movie had the first time that I’ve ever been a part of anything in which it was, literally, too funny. Like, people couldn’t hear the movie, they didn’t know what was happening, because the laughs were going too deep into the next scene. So, we had to find that fine line of just kind of the right amount of laughs and then hearing the story. It’s a pretty great problem to have, by the way. Yeah. I mean, It’s, like, "We’ve got too much gold. We’ve been mining for gold. We’re on our hands and knees in the river, and there’s too much gold. Let’s throw it back!"
Capone: The one person that really floored me--and, to me, was a little bit of a discovery--was Kathryn Hahn. I know I’ve seen her before, but she’s so damn sexy, it scared me a little.
JP: She’s a combination of everything. She’s incredibly sexy, a great actress, and now, I believe, going to be kind of one of the new queens of comedy. If you look at the way she’s playing the scenes, she’s almost on the verge of tears in these scenes. She’s so emotionally invested, and yet, she’s in love with a 10-year-old boy. So, it doesn’t make any sense, you know what I mean. If they ever did a comedy class, I would use her as an example of how to play comedy: you play it a little more serious than the serious stuff. I mean, she’s just a lesson to us all.
Capone: I would be defenseless against someone like her, there’s no doubt about it. So, how did Adam and Will come to you with this film? Did they ever discuss with you how…?
JP: You know, I actually went to them.
[At this point in the interview, Piven had to break off to do another interview, but he insisted that at the end of his press day, he was going to call me back, which is exactly what he did a couple hours later. He was slightly more distracted on the call back because he was literally going to talk to me on the phone until it was time to go on the air for some ESPN show, but I managed to get a few more nuggets out of him before he had to leave.]
Capone: You sound further away than when we talked before.
JP: I'm actually in a parking garage, and we're going up to ESPN. So I'm going to talk to you until the moment I go on the air. And then I'm going to have a complete emotional breakdown, and then they're going to put me in Bellevue. So I can say that this is my second-to-last interview ever.
Capone: So you were telling me that you were the one to actually go to Adam and Will about this film. Pick up the story from there, please.
JP: Yeah, I saw the script and went, "My God this is genius. How do I do this, and who would be best to do this?" And I remember reading a script called AUGUST BLOWOUT that Adam had written that's actually set in the world of car selling. It takes place in a month like August where everything must go type of battle. Adam's such a genius writer, and that movie, for some reason, got stuck in turnaround, so I sent this to them and I knew it was in their wheelhouse. They really responded to it, and things just came together, every single cast member, the director Neal Brennan. I felt really blessed.
Capone: Let me ask you one question about "Entourage" if you don't mind. We still have a few more episodes left in this season. I've really enjoyed the interplay between Ari and Andrew Klein, and it must be such a thrill coming out of Chicago to be working with Gary Cole [who began his career as a member of the Steppenwolf Theatre Company].
JP: That's why I will say that I think this is my best season, because of Gary Cole and because of this storyline, where basically Ari Gold has stuck his neck out for this guy, and he's going to flip the whole thing on his ear and make Ari's life a living hell. So this is just really, really fertile comedic ground to play off of. And Gary Cole is so good, he's going to make me look better, just like Will Ferrell is a genius who makes me look better. Same with Dr. Ken and Ed Helms in THE GOODS, and all the guys in "Entourage." I just think that Gary Cole is a superstar, and we're just so lucky to have him.
Capone: How do you think Don Ready would have incorporated the Cash for Clunkers program into his sales pitch?
JP: He probably would have said, if you can bring in a handgun with your clunker, we'll give you an extra $250 off.
Capone: What circumstances must be in place for Don Ready and his team to agree to take a job? They seem like the SWAT team that brought in when everything else has failed.
JP: That's a great description for what they do. Basically, you call him in when you have failed to do your job, when you're incapable of selling the metal, you've got to bring in these pros. And they come in and they consider themselves rock stars, certainly Don Ready does. He's going to create an environment that people want to be a part of. Shit is going to go down.
Capone: Why has no one on his team told him he can't sing for shit?
JP: I think that's one of his tragedies and that's why we love him [laughs]. By the way, I didn't have to fake that at all; my voice needs a little bit of work.
Capone: Do you still make it back to Chicago on a regular basis?
JP: I try to visit my mom as much as possible. She has a theater there, and she still is incredibly active directing plays and teaching all the time. Joyce Piven is incredibly active, and she's been my acting teacher since I was eight years old. She's dedicated her entire life to the arts. I mean, she's my mom, so you have to take everything I say with a grain of salt. But her entire life is dedicated to teaching kids and giving everything she has. And so many people have come out of her work and gone on to do many different things. I know one who who's a professor in Washington, and he said that he learned so much about himself from doing improv that he studied with my mother. And so much of his evolution came through studying theater. It's not just for people who want to become an actor; it's for many different reasons, so I'm extremely proud to have come from the Piven Theatre.
Capone: I don't have to take what you're saying about your family's accomplishment with a grain of salt. Your mom and dad's work at the theater is well documented.
JP: Well, I thank you for that. This is one of those moments where it's a fork in the road for my career, and my father always said, "Success means being able to possibly have a choice in what you do as an actor." I mean, with 99.9 percent of all actors, you don't have a choice. You're just trying to be a working actor, and the idea where you get to the point where you actually have options is something devoutly to be wished for. I am insanely grateful for this entire journey, you can bet that. And I appreciate you putting the word out there because the reality is, you know where I come from and unfortunately a lot of people, they make assumptions based on characters you play or the court of public opinion or whatever. But I'm glad to have people like you who know what went down and where I come from and let the word be known.
Capone: Jeremy, I'm going to let you go now if only to let your voice recover before you go on the air.
JP: Yeah, or maybe just take a breath without using it to answer a question, just to see what that's like.
Capone: Enjoy that.
JP: Not to get used to it. Thank you, man, I really appreciate it. I'll see you in Chicago.
Capone: Thanks. See you then.
-- Capone
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