Piven Talks About ‘The Performance’ 15 Years in the Making

Is it ever okay to dance for the devil?

That’s a question posed in the new film “The Performance” starring Jeremy Piven as Harold May, a Jewish tap dancer who in the 1930s heads to Europe after not finding big paydays in his beloved America.

He’s offered a great sum of money for one show, and at the last minute, learns it is for Adolf Hitler, who evil is well known, though World War II hasn’t begun yet.

“I think Harold has never, unfortunately, had success, he’s broke and he’s not a kid,” Piven said. “He’s always wanted a family, and the stakes couldn’t be higher. You don’t ever judge your characters. You just play them from their point of view. This was before the Holocaust so he’s trying to convince himself that no matter what it’s going to be alright. It’s an incredible opportunity and it would be foolish to let this slip through his fingers and he’s in so deep that turning back isn’t an option.”

The film is based on a short story of the same name by Arthur Miller. Piven’s mother, Joyce, who founded the Piven Theatre with her husband, Bryne, in in Evanston, Illinois, showed her son the story many years ago. He trusted her sensibility and thought it would be a good film for him.

“My mother, who has been my acting teacher since I was nine years old, handed me the Arthur Miller short story,” Piven recalled. “She’s not a frivolous person. When she hands me something, it’s real. One of the sins in Kabballah is talking too much with a lot of empty words or promises. She’s very succinct, honest, direct and authentic. I read it and was blown away.”

Piven boasts some impressive tap-dancing scenes. He said failure to get funding over many years became a blessing in disguise.

“I’m very delusional,” Piven said. “I think I can do anything, and I think that is an actor’s superpower, because you don’t get in your own way, and you try anything, and you fall on your face. You have to be okay with failure. I just thought, okay, I’ll just learn how to tap dance.’ Every year, I tried to get the money, and they said no, I just got better at tap and 15 years later, I was able to play the role.”

“The Performance” co-stars Robert Carlyle as Damian Fugler, a German man who believes that by bringing Harold to Hitler, he will rise in power and prestige.

Fugler utters the most inexplicable line of the film, when Harold shocks him by revealing he is Jewish.

Piven said the story is “the best illustration of the absurdity of antisemitism I’ve ever seen in my life and to be able to tell a story like that is something that Shakespeare’s says, ‘devoutly to be wished for.’”

While there is no clear solution to Jew hatred, Piven said it is important to be proactive.

“The more we look into it, we realize people are uninformed and ill-informed,” he said. “There are a lot of people who still dispute the Holocaust, or they don’t have a reference for Oct. 7. We have to guide them to the truth.”

“There are a lot of people who still dispute the Holocaust, or they don’t have a reference for Oct. 7. We have to guide them to the truth.”

Is Piven surprised by the rise in antisemitism in the last few years?

“I am,” he said. “There are those that say I shouldn’t be, but I am.”

The movie is about a man who is deeply appreciated for his dancing skills but when he reveals his religion, his future is in doubt. More than 85 years later, Jews are still targeted.

“We need a film like this right now,” Piven said. “This is a way to get to people. Tell them a story. Show them a side they haven’t seen. It makes them think from someone else’s perspective and that’s not so easy. I can tweet and rail against injustices or do what I do best, which is to tell a story.”

Asked if he pictured himself starring in a film relating to the Holocaust when he studied it, he said he never thought that far ahead.

“Looking back, I would have people in my circle back then saying ‘enough with the Holocaust. We heard it. There are other tragedies out there.’ I didn’t realize how antisemitic that was until later. It’s like, why are you guys so angry that we have this ideology of Never Again? Why does that threaten you?’”

It is unclear if the current antisemitism will cause Jewish actors to change their names at greater rates. Piven said even if his name was more Jewish sounding, he would not have changed it like his character in the film who uses the last name of May instead of Markowitz.

At a recent standup performance, Piven mentioned being Jewish several times and said he rapped his haftorah for his bar mitzvah and was terrible. Piven confirmed he did have a bar mitzvah and it wasn’t great, though the rap part was a joke for the stage.

“I’m very proud of my heritage,” he said, adding that he knew of no other way to be and credited his upbringing.

“The Performance” was directed by his sister, Shira Piven. While some might think it would be a strange experience to be directed by a sibling, he said it was organic and a great experience as they grew up together working at their family theater. He said his sister had some key directorial notes, including a certain tone in a scene where he addresses his dance troupe and needs to raise morale. He touted her talent and an actress and director.

Piven is best known for winning three Emmy Awards and a Golden Globe Awards for his portrayal of powerful Hollywood agent Ari Gold on HBO’s hit show “Entourage” in which his client Vincent Chase (Adrienne Grenier) lives with his buddies and they party hard in Los Angeles. If Gold was Harold’s agent, would he tell him to accept or refuse the gig dancing for Hitler?

Piven said that was a very “meta” question and he’d have to think about it. The role of Ari Gold was based on Ari Emanuel, now CEO of Endeavor, who Piven referred to as a “prolific genius.”

He feels a great deal of gratitude for the film finally being made and released after 15 years of different roadblocks. But viewing Piven as a different character than the one he is known for will not be one of them.

“People see the performance and they forget about Ari Gold, and they say, ‘you disappeared,’” Piven said. “The reality is I didn’t disappear. I reappeared.”