Backstage Report: The Pivs' Straight Talk

By Joal Ryan Sep 17, 2007 1:59 AMTags
Jeremy PivenAP Photo/Reed Saxon

6:13 p.m.:  Jeremy Piven, a repeat winner for Entourage, walks before the microphone, places his Emmy on the stage and casually puts back on his tux jacket while fielding his first question. All he needs is a fedora, a cigarette and a glass of amber-colored liquid for full-fledged Rat Pack membership.

6:14 p.m.:  Piven flatly denies he's anything more than a regular old character actor from Chicago. "When people meet me," he says, "they're really bored with me."

6:16 p.m.:  The boring Piven notes he has set a record for bringing his mother to the Emmys—"and I'm straight by the way."

6:18 p.m.:  The boring Piven confesses that if they gave awards for work done in junior high, he'd be on hand hoping to get one. "I'm an actor," he explains.

6:19 p.m.:  My turn. I ask Piven if, as a red carpet veteran, tonight's Emmys seem greener than past awards shows. Suddenly, he gets all serious: "We all realize that we need to embrace this," goes one call to action. "Now is the time," goes another; and "I drive a hybrid—I do what I can," goes yet another.

6:19 p.m.:  Apparently, Piven thinks I wanted him to get political; I really just wanted him to tell me how I look under the nonfluorescent lights.

—Filed by Joal Ryan

Latest News