Jeremy Piven on Spy Kids 4D, Reliving Live Theater on Set, and His Favorite Movie Scene

Jeremy Piven -- the three-time Emmy winner who just entered his eighth and final season as Ari Gold on Entourage -- is a bizarre, yet perfect choice for his roles in Spy Kids: All the Time in the World in 4D. As both the Spy Kid-assisting Danger D'Amo and the nefarious time-hoarder Tick Tock, he gets to exercise a knack for broad comedy and old-school dual casting. (Like in Cat Ballou, anybody? Lee Marvin? Anyway.) Movieline caught up with the 46-year-old actor to discuss Robert Rodriguez's vision for the time-jumping flick, bringing his movie experiences back to Entourage, and his favorite film scene of all time. It's a grim one.

You're pretty goofy in this movie. As an actor known for playing roles with a certain "mature" swagger, did you have to go out of you way to establish yourself as a goofy type?

First of all, the kids had no reference for me as a person or as an actor, so it was a pretty clean slate. Anything that that was put before them they bought. That's the way to be as an actor, anyway. You want that present state of wonder in a way. In that sense, it was a very natural experience.

On set, do you ever find yourself establishing the difference between your roles and your real self?

I think most people understand that we're actors and those are characters. People meet me, and they realize I'm not a character. Robert hired me to be a handful of characters, ultimately, and it was kind of a dream come true to be honest with you. I love to act, and that's really what I was allowed to do on this one. It was just a fun challenge -- I'd never worked with a green screen before. Growing up onstage, I'd played a bunch of larger-than-life characters. This basically felt like going home to me. This was more natural than almost anything I've ever done.

The green screen is an interesting part of this movie. Is it harrowing to come to set and see just a blank green wall there? Do you feel responsible for creating a world of atmosphere?

No, because that's just what acting is. You have to transform the space. I've been minding props and all that crazy stuff my whole life. I felt more at home, if anything. Once you work with Robert Rodriguez, you can really jump right in and you know you're going to be taken care of.

Does playing such broad caricatures bring back the fun of live performance?

It totally does. That's what the whole thing is. Robert really wanted to shoot in that way too. If you're playing a character like Tick Tock, who's filled with these strange moments, Robert framed it so I go as head-to-toe as possible making it big, so it was a blast.

You're associated with a certain confidence. Does anything intimidate you, acting-wise?

It does. That's what nerves are. It's recognizing and having a respect for the space you're occupying as an actor, and you either use those nerves to serve you or you don't. If they don't serve you, you wait and watch them go away and you enter into the space. There are times that you need them too. But certainly, with the character I played, being intimidated wasn't [a problem] because he's a guy who bounds through space. And even though he might be doing the wrong thing by stealing time, he's doing that so he can spend more time with his father -- which is a very noble pursuit. Because when my father passed away, I missed him very much. So it was very easy for me to play those scenes.

This year alone, you're in a bunch of movies with wildly different roles and you're back on Entourage. Is it easy to become desensitized to opportunity?

That's an excellent question. None of those opportunities are lost on me because I come from a place where you're always trying to find an audience. It's a great gift, so I'm never taking any of these for granted. I am taking some time off to Spain next for some family time, but none of this stuff is lost on me. I keep on walking through it like it's all for the first time.

When you're exploring movie roles, do you ever take what you get from those experiences and use them on Entourage? Or do you return to that set and feel exactly as you did in, say, 2005?

Like anything else, one of my goals was to never develop any rust on me, whether it was doing Fat Pig on Broadway, or in films, or whatever -- you're constantly working so that when you go back into the season, you already have the momentum as an actor. That has always served me. I remember at the beginning one year, many seasons ago, no time had passed and I'd just dive right in. Now that said, I will say if you don't ever stop, you will hit the wall at a certain point and it's time to go take a break. I try to take a family vacation every year so I finally get to show off -- and this year, it'll be a little different because I'm looking for some respect from [his niece] Pearl. And maybe this year she'll at least not roll her eyes. And offer me a hug? A picture? Something? I want to win. It's tragic, but I'm going to buy her love.

You worked with Joel McHale on this movie. You both can land some pretty harsh punchlines. How did you get along?

I love Joel! Ironically, Joel lives right next to my niece's, if you can believe it. I've seen Joel around and he's just a very sweet guy, and he can kind of turn it on when he needs to, but he's a really present, warm guy. I also happen to think he's really funny.

I love the old-school duality of your part in this movie, the good/bad guy double role. Reminds me of old classics like Cat Ballou with Lee Marvin. Was there an appeal to playing multiple characters?

Wow, good call on that. Amazing. It was enticing -- first, I was enticed the moment I heard Robert Rodriguez's name, and then I was taken aback because there wasn't a great deal of time to workshop these characters. It was a matter of like, "OK, let's jump in right away." We were off and running. I think it served us, because there was no time to get in our own way.

Finally, we do a feature on Movieline called "My Favorite Scene" where we ask about your favorite movie scene of all time. What's yours?

That's a great call. It would probably be a very long scene in which Marlon Brando plays Col. Kurtz, and Martin Sheen as Willard comes to him in Apocalypse Now. And it's that scene where Brando goes, "I heard you don't approve of my methods." I just remember being a kid and watching that and going [blank]. That movie was so unbelievable. It wasn't even a movie, it was like a twisted documentary. I was blown away. The way Brando goes in and out of the shadows? Man. People behaving like I'd never seen it before.