{alltv} Piven set to leave Ari Gold behind

PARK CITY, Utah - Jeremy Piven doesn't need to hug it out.

As he nears the end of HBO's Entourage, the Emmy winner says he's at peace with retiring Ari Gold - along with the proportionate bark and bite - and reminding people he can play more than near-rabid, motor-mouthed narcissists.

"I think people unfortunately have a reference for me playing this Ari Gold character," he says. "It's not interesting to me to keep doing the same thing. I remember when I did this Neil LaBute play, Fat Pig, off-Broadway - it's an everyman who stutters and is self-conscious and has trouble finishing sentences. And I remember people were like, 'It's a magic trick. How does he do it?' "¦ It's really exciting to play these other roles."

For example, at this year's Sundance film festival, Piven was chatting up I Melt With You, a drama about four friends, each experiencing a mid-life crisis. It's a subject the 45-year-old actor says he can't relate to personally.

"There's something very charmed about an actor's life. We're very lucky in how we get to be in this state of play for our life's work. And so it keeps you very child-like. So I'm not very tied to numbers. I know other people are "¦

"I think we're in a society that's very, very distracted by the golden child and making it huge at a very early age. And you can never compare or contrast your career to anyone else's. Success is different for everyone."

Case in point: the star-making role of Ari Gold came relatively late in his career. "It was the first character I've ever played who was in a position of power. The roles that were available for me to audition for were the acerbic best friends."

Originally Ari was conceived as "a fringe player or to use their words, 'a secret weapon,' " he remembers. "So I had been doing TV and film for a couple decades and had been lucky enough to be a regular on The Larry Sanders Show and Ellen and a bunch of other shows, and went into this new series the elder statesman with the smallest role in the cast, billed last, at about 20% of my rate as an actor and you just go, 'This is perfect.' That's just another great lesson about putting your ego aside and taking the job and making the most of it."

Now with the eighth and last season shooting in April, does he have any ideas about how things should end for his uber-agent alter-ego?

"Well I think (creator) Doug Ellin has done a perfect job of setting it up for a really great last season because the one thing that's kept Ari sane and rooted is his family and his wife, and he's losing her. So he planted those seeds and all I can do is hope he continues to keep that storyline going."

Whatever happens, presumably one thing that won't change is the show's skewering of Hollywood players. Has Piven heard from actors upset about how they were portrayed?

"I've heard stories. Kevin Connolly has told me he's seen people who have been angry or whatever. You have to remember Entourage is written by Doug Ellin and I think people realize we don't take these personal vendettas out against them. He writes it and we have to say it and I think people understand that. And my character is such an equal opportunity offender, I think they get it that it's just a character.

"I hope they do."