Jeremy Piven Mocked By Former Castmates

Almost a week after Jeremy Piven abruptly pulled out of Broadway's "Speed the Plow" citing a high mercury count, the story continues to develop.

Piven's theatrical castmates Raul Esparza and Elizabeth Moss have now joined playwright David Mamet in making fun of the "Entourage" actor and implied they are happy he is gone.

Fox News had a spy at Sunday's matinee and reports:

Sources say that when the matinee was finished yesterday, Esparza suddenly addressed the audience...

According to those who saw this, Esparza -- famous for being outspoken -- reamed Piven while Moss, my sources say, "sobbed."

"'He said, I'm sure you've read the headlines about the silliness in our show.' Then he said, Today was the first time I really enjoyed playing this show.' I hope you weren't expecting a big TV star." It was pretty emotional."

Esparza has a reputation for being lively -- and much of a diva himself.

Meanwhile actor Fisher Stevens has come to Piven's defense:

"I believe him. His numbers are off the charts," Stevens, who suffered from mercury poisoning this year, told Page Six. Stevens says that while he was producing his upcoming Sundance entry, "The Cove," a documentary about the slaughter of mercury-loaded dolphins in the Far East, he ate fish four or five times a week. "I started feeling really sluggish and had no energy. It turns out the larger the fish, the higher the levels. I only eat small fish now."

Comments

[RyokoMocha]

Famous actor pulls out of a show because he says he is dangerously sick.

His doctor releases a press statement saying he is seriously sick.

People then post on the Internet: "That guy is such a jerk! He isn't really sick, I've heard how much of a jerk he is from this guy I know he says who knows a guy who saw him be a jerk once!"

Yeah. Very classy.

[unfettered]

Sorry Mr.Piven and yet you found the strength to post.

[UsofA]

LOL

[sunny25]

sounds like a big baby to me! at least now they have a really actor norbert leo butz!

[JustForComments]

Wish I had a job so that I could go see Norbert Leo Butz in the role!

[alkamm]

We're doing to fish what we did to birds. We're eating them to extinction. The passenger pigeon was a big bird, great meat for the city markets. Gone. Then they went after less tasty birds. Gone.

We need to boycott seafood for our own good, if not the fishes'.

[audeo03]

What logic displayed by Fisher Stevens! "It turns out the larger the fish, the higher the levels. I only eat small fish now."

How about not eating fish? Our oceans are about to collapse..­.

[Roses]

I suppose they would contain more.....i­f you ate the entire fish!
Seriously, maybe it's because the larger fish are bottom fish?

[onemorecraig]

Sorry Roses,
the reason the bigger fish are more toxic than the smaller ones is because the toxicity is exponentially increased as the food chain reaches the apex predators. Albacore eat the small fish which eat the smaller fish which eat the krill which eat the plancton. each level of this food chain increases the level of mercury. Imagine how toxic the whales are, especially the Orca and dolphins.
So, eating the whole fish or parts of it is irrellevant. It is an cumulative exposure to this toxicity that is causing Piven's mercury poisoning. He was eating it too often.

[rudiy]

Interesting that in another article that since Piven left sales of tickets have substantially dropped. When you put fannies in the seats, you get some leaway. That is entertainment including sports. Who is laughing now.

[susumar]

I have no idea as to why Piven left the show but the really appalling behavior here is Esparza's. I have never heard of an actor actually addressing the audience in this manner - saying that this is the first time he really enjoyed doing the show. Esparza sounds like he's making it all about himself now. At least Piven didn't use his castmates as as excuse to leave the show.

[Horus]

Exactly. I've seen Piven in numerous interviews and on a show where he starred as himself called Journey of a Lifetime and he seems like a very straight forward kinda guy to me and I happen to be a fan of his. I think he has a kinda arrogant confidence that weak a.ss schmuc.ks can't handle being around and that other men respect and understand, unless you're a drama diva like this guy Esparza apparently is. And for Esparaza to address the audience like that was classless.

[jerseywolf]

I'm an actor and a playwright. I must say that I've never heard of an actor speaking in this way to an audience after someone left a show. Esparza is a fine actor (I saw him in The Homecoming and thought he was outstanding). But his comments here are profoundly unprofessional. I think the honorable thing for all parties here is to take Jeremy Piven at his word, wish him a quick recovery, and simply move on. Esparza's comments to the audience only remove focus from this play and this ongoing production - it is misplaced drama. Of course, a major player leaving a show very suddenly is stressful to fellow cast members (and it doesn't help that some people do not believe Piven's story). But they should have purged all these feelings with each other and just soldiered on. People leave shows all the time. Even if Piven faked an illness to leave the show, Esparza should not have addressed the audience in this way (and if Piven faked an illness to the leave this show, which had been reviewed quite favorably, then he is sick in some other way).

[Rrhain]

Huh?

It's called, "a joke." What part of "making fun" in the original story do you not understand?

[BGM1906]

If he didn't have the balls to say something to Piven face to face, then he shouldn't make those comments to the audience..­.he seems like a coward to me.

[greenlightwilly]

Huh? The part where it never mentioned anything about 'making fun' or the mention of the words 'a joke'.

[entopticon]

Golly, illness is just so funny. What a laugh riot all you people are for making fun of a guy with debilitating heavy metal toxicity.

Gee, maybe next you can all make fun of Patrick Swayze for his cancer.

What's wrong with you people? Are you seriously so naive that you think there is no such think as mercury poisoning? Are you even aware of the fact that it is extremely serious if a small mercury thermometer is broken, and if a larger one is broken it calls for an evacuation of the area until hazard waste specialists can come clean up the area?

The ignorance here really is very ugly.

[erinker]

Piven may very well be very sick and if so, I wish him a speedy recovery and denounce those who make fun of his illness.

However, I had the displeasure of meeting Piven once at a local children's charity event and he was a complete jackhole, not just to me but to just about everyone he came in contact with. He was arrogant and just completely contemptuous of everyone that had the audacity to be in his exalted presence. This was before he was even on Entourage so I can't imagine what he is like now! So distasteful was my run-in with Piven that it tainted my view of John Cusack (who I absolutely ADORE, both professionally and what I know about him personally). I kept wondering how someone like Cusack (who seems to be a good guy, and some friends in LA and Chicago who have run into him confirm) could be such good friends with such a d o UC he bag.

[Brillig]

Welcome to America. Home of the never sick, never say die...that only happens in the third world, right?

Home of the unspeakably cruel.

[Rrhain]

So you're saying that Piven can't take a joke? You really think Esparza was being serious?

Are you that deficient in a sense of humor?

[BGM1906]

Well its almost impossible to tell intent through written words...so by reading the article and then the posts, how is anyone supposed to know it was a joke? And actually it says mocked not joked....h­opefully you know the difference btwn the two.

[entopticon]

No I'm not deficient in a sense of humor, but apparently you are more than a bit deficient in basic reading comprehension. There was no joke there. As the article stated, Esparza reamed Piven while his costar sobbed. If you find that funny, get help.

[greenlightwilly]

Are YOU Esparza? Or some shill of his? Get off your high-horse. Yes, most of us don't see any evidence of humor in his comments.

[doubtingdavid]

Another self absoebed Hollywood prima donna! Who cares!!

[jood42]

We'll be sure to show you the same derision when you contract mercury poisoning.

[RoveRoveRoveYourBoat]

...you care, as you did bother to select this article.

[tjirish44]

I like Jeremy Piven as an actor. I enjoy his performances. But I have heard enough stories about the guy. The guy is a D_ck. Which hey if he wants to be a D_ck I guess he can be one at this point in his career. The Aspen story from a couple years ago... During Sundance Piven and others showed up at swanky restraunt without reservations during the festival. Very crowded and Piven and his enotourage got kinda shoved in the back against a wall. So Piven left an Entourage DVD as a tip. The waiter threw it at him. That's a d_ck move. You have no reservations in a crowded swanky restraunt your gonna most likely get a bad table. Take it like a man. Don't be a d_ck. His interviews­... Piven comes off as a self absorbed actor now that he has gotten some fame. I still like watching him act.

[girlattorney]

Good story, but Aspen is in Colorado and Sundance is in Utah---which doesn't mean that Piven isn't a jerk--he always seems like one when interviewed on red carpets, etc.

[personalpolitical]

Ari Gold is fanfrickintastic, these other people can suck it.

[euthman]

As a pathologist, I find this mercury story rather questionable. It's one thing to have "levels above normal" (which are often the result of tests done by unscrupulous labs that cater to homeopaths and other quacks), but quite another to suffer sufficient dietary exposure for an adult to become clinically ill. I suspect he wanted out for some personal reason, and the fish story was simply cover.

[TRichards]

Let's see now. You're opining "as a pathologist" about a case for which you have absolutely no first-hand knowledge. Very professional. Not since Bill Frist publicly opined on Terry Schiavo's case (again with no first hand knowledge) have I seen such a bulls**t behavior on the part of a professional who should know better.

Let's suppose, just suppose, the Piven's levels are as he reported them. Then what would you have to say. Mr. Authority?

[pubs4o]

You sound a little aggressive. Are you actually Jeremy appearing here incognito??? Lighten up - this guy sounds as if he's a pain in the neck to work with. Everybody's come across the type, no matter what their line of work is.

[joebiz]

http://men.style.com/gq/features/slideshow/v/121508DICK?loop=0&slideshowId=slideshow51920&iphoto=1&nphoto=8&play=false&cnt=1

From a recent GQ article

[SandWedge]

The article contradicts itself about Moss. Did she just sob or did she make fun of Piven? I like her either way, I'm just wondering.

[Valalala]

According to accounts of regular theater folk in the audience (as reported on AllThatChat) she did not sob, or say anything. They feel she got misty eyed and looked like she was reacting to a rough, tense week that was finally over.

[jerseywolf]

That sounds more believable. I'll bet this has been a pretty stressful week for her.

[Brillig]

Wow, SHE is not sick, but we are all getting misty eyed ourselves because the poor darling had a stressful week.

Piven claims to be ill, but because he is 'hard to work with" no one gives a rat's ass!

WOW!

[Chaimirija]

I think he is hot

'nuff said