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 Jeremy Piven took plenty of heat after he bailed on a Broadway revival of Speed The Plow because of mercury poisoning from too much sushi. He’s hoping his turn as a used car salesman in The Goods (left) will help in the rehabbing of his image. |
As his acerbic new comedy The Goods gets ready to deliver, Jeremy Piven is happy to report that he is hale and healthy, thank you.
The mercury poisoning that seriously laid him low and forced him to withdraw from a 2008 Broadway revival of Speed the Plow has been treated. His body is recovering.
“I haven’t had a piece of fish in about 11 months,” the sushi-loving Piven tells Sun Media. “I can re-introduce it back and I’ll just be smarter about it. I was eating nothing but fish for 20 years. I was in pretty grave danger. I was told by a number of doctors to not get back on stage.”
Piven, despite his extensive theatre background, found himself the butt of jokes, the object of derision as a wuss. Even Mamet reportedly wisecracked that Piven, with his mercury content, was leaving the play “to pursue a career as a thermometer.” Funny, but cruel. Some celebrity media was worse.
“Unfortunately, in the United States right now, they’ll jump on something and take the low road,” Piven says. “It is a sign of the times.” While many people reacted with concern and exclaimed, “Oh my God!”, others attacked: “Come on, are you kidding me? That’s the worst excuse I ever heard!”
So the debut of The Goods is crucial in his rehab. So is the continued success of the popular TV series Entourage, in which Piven plays smarmy agent Ari Gold. Positives need to outweigh negatives, Piven tells Sun Media.
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“That’s why it is good to bring the attention back to what I do. This is the summer of the best season of Entourage. And now The Goods is here. So they can forget about sushi-gate!”
The full title of the new movie is The Goods: Live Hard, Sell Hard. It was directed by Neal Brennan, a Dave Chappelle collaborator. The producers are Adam McKay and Will Farrell, who adopted the project — with the New York-born, Illinois-raised Piven attached — and turned it into one of their own. That means it follows the lead of Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy, Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby and Step Brothers.
But with a significant difference: While Ferrell does a cameo, The Goods belongs to Piven. He plays a hard drinking, whoring hellion who heads a team of mercenary used car salesmen. When a car lot is in trouble, the Piven team swoops in. In the movie, James Brolin’s California lot desperately needs their help. Let the comic capers and politically incorrect jokes begin.
“There is also some depth in the low-brow comedy that is The Goods,” Piven correctly reports. “You had to know it was possible because it was from the guys who brought you Talladega Nights. You had to know you were in good hands.”
Piven says good comedies come only from having good talent at the top, including writers, producers and directors. “The fish stinks from the head down!” In the case of The Goods, there is no stink, he says.
On a personal level, Piven is eager to see The Goods hit the big time, like The Hangover (and the two movies share four actors, including Ed Helms). Since making his screen debut in Lucas in 1986, The Goods is one of the 44-year-old Piven’s few leading-man roles, even if he plays a nut job.
“My character is totally delusional but your heart goes out to him and he represents this kind of road-dog, type-A grifter that exists out there. For the people who like Ari Gold and gravitate toward my portrayal of that, they won’t be disappointed because I get to tap into the kind of work-on-your-feet, aggressive salesman thing.
“At the same time, I go through a complete life crisis so you’re able to get more bang for your buck. Because Ari would never go through that. So it’s a little more juicy, I believe, and a little more interesting for me to play.
“It’s so interesting that it’s called The Goods — and it is the goods. I mean literally and figuratively. For me, I couldn’t think of a better title at this moment in my life. It’s a fork in the road for me right now.”
bruce.kirkland@sunmedia.ca