  Jeremy Piven calls his sleazy, magician-turned-snitch Smokin' Aces' character 'the best film role I've had in my life.'
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HOLLYWOOD -- Considering how many years he spent as a wallflower, you can forgive Jeremy Piven's excitement now that he's been asked to dance.
Even if that means he sometimes tramples a foot or two.
There is the recent interview, for example, the once cinematic second banana gave one magazine in which he indicated his friendship with best pal John Cusack has ended because Cusack is jealous of Piven's abrupt, Emmy-winning success on HBO's hit Hollywood satire Entourage. Or there is the observation he makes to the Sun during this interview, conducted prior to the public pronouncement of a Cusack-Piven split, that the series' forthcoming fourth season will be its best yet because "I get to do so much (in it)."
Which is pretty much what you'd expect from Ari Gold, the obnoxious, egotistical uber agent he plays on Entourage, right? Except Piven, realizing what he sounds like, stops himself with a smile."See -- that doesn't print. Irony doesn't print. That just makes me look like a bad guy."
Which is, truth be told, probably what most people expect from the 41-year-old Chicago native, since he inhabits Gold with such convincing, scene-gobbling aplomb.
And, for better or worse, it's an image that's unlikely to change much with his latest film, Smokin' Aces, in which he plays Buddy Israel, a motor-mouthed, self-absorbed showbiz scumbag -- albeit one far darker than Gold.
Still, Piven sees more differences than similarities between Gold and Israel and his enthusiasm for the movie is undiminished.
He calls it "the best film role I've had in my life. (My character) Buddy 'Aces' Israel is the most emotionally accessible, tragic culmination of everything I've done. I'm just thrilled it came about ... I could have started (my career) with the emotional, tragic stuff and then people would have been asking, 'Can he be a verbal stunt pilot?' The reality is the verbal stunt pilot is more in demand because they're harder to find ... There's not a lot of guys who love to do that."
In the movie, Israel is a mobbed-up Las Vegas magician turned snitch who ends up targeted by an assortment of oddball assassins, all seeking to cash in on the bounty on his head (and heart, which one mob boss instructs be delivered to him). Working with director Joe Carnahan (Narc), he recalls "there was this moment where Joe sat with me and said, 'Do you want to go deep?' That's the moment you wait your entire life for."
Still, don't think Piven is about to bolt from the show that made him famous.
Asked if he plans to stick with Entourage until the end, he counters, "Why not? I'm a fan of The Sopranos and Curb Your Enthusiasm and Deadwood. Those are the kind of people I'd love to work with," he says of Entourage's siblings on HBO. "One of the many reasons I did the show was that Hollywood is filled with incredible, eccentric characters and the situation seemed so fertile, I knew we were onto something. (In the pilot) I had one scene; my character was not part of the entourage. So to now kind of emerge as a real strong voice on the show is very gratifying."
As is, one suspects, being on a hit show at all. For a time, Piven, a veteran of 10 different series and more than 50 films, struggled to land a steady gig. Take Cupid, the seldom-seen series he starred in in the late 1990s on ABC. Heard of it? Didn't think so.
"It was such an original show. We were so ambitious, it was cool. But we were on Saturday nights at 10 o'clock opposite Walker, Texas Ranger, which beat us every week handily ... Had we been on HBO (instead of ABC) we'd be talking about Cupid right now."
And while he may have finally graduated from sidekick to member of an entourage, there's one thing that continues to elude him. "I'd love to get the girl in something, if that's possible."
FROM THE PIVEN FILE
Jeremy Piven, who's best known for his role as scumbag Hollywood agent Ari Gold on HBO's Entourage, plays a self-absorbed showbiz scumbag in the movie Smokin' Aces, which came out in theatres Friday.
With Piven's star rising, we trace this veteran character actor's humble beginnings:
Age: 41
Birthplace: New York, N.Y.
Early Years: Attended Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa, and worked for the Piven Theatre Workshop, which was founded by his parents, Byrne and Joyce Hiller.
Career: Won an Emmy last year for best supporting actor. Starred and produced the short-lived ABC series Cupid.
Hollywood films
- Smokin' Aces
- Keeping Up With The Steins (2006)
- Two For The Money (2005)
- Chasing Liberty (2004)
- Runaway Jury (2003)
- Serendipity (2001)
- The Family Man (2000)
- Say Anything (1989)
TV credits (edited):
- Entourage (2004-present)
- Hosted Saturday Night Live (Jan. 21)
- Cupid (1998)
- Ellen (1995)
Source: Wikipedia.org
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