it's all right, I got a note

[spatch]

Oh dear. Jeremy Piven is leaving the Broadway production of Speed-the-Plow due to some very strange health issues, and David Mamet is fully sympathetic about the whole thing:

Playwright Mamet had expressed some skepticism about Piven's condition, which was revealed after the actor missed Tuesday night's and Wednesday's matinee performances – and then, reports the New York Post, flying back to Los Angeles Wednesday night.

"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."

Dear Mr. Mamet,

Please excuse my son Jeremy Piven from your play. He has very high mercury.

Signed,
Jeremy's Mother

Comments

[cheezdanish.livejournal.com]

Yeeeeah, don't cross Mamet. You'll get talked at by several people overlapping each other. And they talk very fast. With intensity.

[scout1222.livejournal.com]

*snerk*

I don't know whether to be amused or horrified that he really said that about Piven. I'm leaning to amused at this moment.

[cheezdanish.livejournal.com]

Mamet can be horrible when he puts his mind to it. I vaguely recall another quelle shocking quote attributed to him regarding Madonna in the original run of this same play.

[invisibelle.livejournal.com]

lulz. god I hate that guy. pivens, not mamet... I'm sure mamet just recognizes what a dbag he is.

[kevin-church.livejournal.com]

What I heard (what I heard) was that Mister William H Macy was replacing him.

So, yeah, I'm going down in January to see Speed The Plow.

And maybe get a squeezer from a tranny, but mostly to see Bill M.

[lindito.livejournal.com]

there's a syphilis or a hatmaking joke to be made here, but it's too early in the morning for me to think cogently.

[zrblm.livejournal.com]

Everything's funnier with syphilis.

[bostonista.livejournal.com]

It's all fun and games until someone's nose falls off.

[redtheblue.livejournal.com]

That is the sort of Mamet quote that gets printed in a book of similar quotes. You'd think he'd be his own volume by now.

[bostonista.livejournal.com]

The NY Times did a follow-up piece on this very thing. Apparently Piven tried like hell to stay in the production, but he was too exhausted from mercury poisoning to cope. And then he personally went out and found his replacement(s) (Macy and a spare).

Mamet's being a jerk, but I would expect no less.

And Piven is still a douchebag, but in this case, it's not relevant.

[spatch]

That Piven went to the trouble to find replacements says a bit more about the story and leads me to believe him more than I had originally. Typically someone pulling out of a show like this goes "Oh hey guess what I've got 'exhaustion' or something, yeah, see you later, I'll be in Palm Springs" and off they go. In this case now Jeremy is at least showing some willingness to help keep the show from tanking without a lead.

And I'm well sure Mamet's V. Proud of his little bon mot right there. But he's getting William H. Macy in so he should be happier'n peaches in a can or somesuch.

[bostonista.livejournal.com]

I'm sure Mamet is very happy to have Macy back. Who wouldn't be?

All of this has made me reconsider my sushi habit.

[puddnhead.livejournal.com]

Setting aside the fact that it now appears legit, shouldn't the note have read "He has the mercury."?

[spatch]

[boggle-e-oggle.livejournal.com]

Piven can't be a total waste, as he is the best friend of one highly esteemed John Cusack. This is also why the merits of Paul McCartney and Courtney Love, qua humans, are not to be trifled with.

Who's with me?