He probably doesn’t want to admit it, but Jeremy Piven is at a career crossroads. Frankly, it’s not a bad thing. After hitting a peak (and snagging some Emmys) as Super Agent Ari Gold in “Entourage” it’s going to be hard to find as plum a gig. But, surprise, he might not have seen the last of the Ari Emmanuel-inspired character. It’s no secret that everyone involved on the HBO show would like to bring the whole crew to the big screen. And, more intriguingly, he’s not looking at as long a break as the “Sex and the City” ladies received.
“The one thing about ‘Entourage’ is that it’s all been pretty magical in how its worked out. So, you just have to kind of leave it up how it unravels,” Piven says. “I know they are banging Doug Ellin’s door down to write the movie, but he’s in the midst of preparing to shoot his next pilot and once I moves through that he’ll get to the script. You know what? If there is a movie I don’t think waiting five years is a great idea. I think you just put the wheels in motion and see what happens.”
In the meantime, Piven is taking all sorts of different roles. He actually plays three different parts in Robert Rodriguez’s “Spy Kids: All the Time in the World in 4D” (aka “Spy Kids 4”) in theaters today. Piven makes it clear, however, he wasn’t looking to distance himself from playing Gold-like characters by taking the family friendly 3-D flick.
“[‘Entourage’ is] great material and that’s what [‘Spy Kids 4’] is and Robert brings a whole new level to it which is mind blowing considering he wears all these different hats,” Piven says. “And then to mix it up and play a much different character in different movies is the dream. Is this premeditated? Did I want this to come out right after ‘Entourage’? No, but it is kind of perfect in some weird way.”
Piven plays Danger D’Amo (Jessica Alba’s spy agency boss), Tick Tock (a time-controlling villain) and the Time Keeper (um, a, um, time controlling villain) in Rodriguez’s latest. The 46-year-old actor notes, “I just thought it’s a feast for an actor. My only worry was I wasn’t sure I had the time to put it all together, but it all really worked out.”
After “Spy Kids,” Piven segued to the Sundance drama “I Melt With You” which didn’t exactly win critics over in Park City this past January. Audiences may find his role in the action comedy “So Undercover” along side no joke, Miley Cyrus much more compelling. Piven claims, “By far, I’ve never done anything like [‘Undercover’]. It’s one of those things where if you love the material and it’s uncharted territory you can just jump in.”
We’re not sure if Piven meant acting opposite Cyrus or starring in an action comedy, but color us intrigued.
“Spy Kids: All the Time in the World in 4D” is now playing nationwide.