Jeremy Piven walked out of the play Speed The Plow. The problem was when he walked out he was not a guest in the theatre, but actually the star of the play. Piven just abruptly left prior to his performance on Tuesday and also decided to skip yesterday's matinee performance as well.
The reason? Well, Piven said that he had a high mercury count and so couldn't do the performances. Instead, Piven decided to just fly back to LA leaving David Mamet in the lurch and causing at least 300 people to ask for their money back when they heard Piven had abandoned the play. Ummm, I am writing his a couple of hours before you are actually going to see it. I would not be surprised when this actually does show up on the internet that Jeremy has not landed himself a little spot in what we like to call rehab.
It has to be something like that. Mercury? WTF is that about? You know you are messed up on something when the excuse of a high mercury count actually sounds good to you. David Mamet actually despite being totally screwed over by Piven had a sense of humor about the whole thing.
"I talked to Jeremy on the phone, and he told me that he discovered that he had a very high level of mercury," Mamet told Daily Variety. "So my understanding is that he is leaving show business to pursue a career as a thermometer."
That is some funny stuff from a guy who is probably wondering if he can handle 300 refunds a day. Jeremy Piven has got some explaining to do.