SOME backers of “Speed-the- Plow,” still seething over Jer emy Piven‘s abandonment of the production last month, are pushing for an investigation into the actor’s laughable claim that he was felled by “mercury poisoning.”
(I’m laughing myself.)
The backers are hoping to “squeeze some money out of him,” since he destroyed “our chances of making a profit,” a source says.
“Speed-the-Plow” was one week away from returning its $3.5 million investment when Piven skipped off to Los Angeles, waving a note from his doctor saying his hearty appetite for sushi “elevated the levels of mercury” in his system.
(I’m still laughing.)
The producers didn’t have star insurance on Piven. If they had, their insurance company would almost certainly investigate the actor’s claim before paying out any money.
But under the Actors’ Equity contract, the producers are entitled to have Piven’s medical records examined by another doctor. If they suspect fraud, they can sue him.
“If it turns out this is phony, it can really kill him,” says a veteran producer who’s not involved in “Speed-the-Plow.”
Yesterday, the show’s lead producer, Jeffrey Richards, said that Piven has in fact been examined by another doctor.
Richards declined to divulge the results, saying, “They are confidential.”
He adds: “We’re in the process of discussing what our next step will be.”
Several top Broadway producers say that if “Speed-the-Plow” were their show, they’d go after Piven.
“I’d kill the jerk,” one says, bluntly.
“You have an obligation to your investors to make sure he did not get out of this in an illegal way,” says another. “You have recourse, and if I had suspicions, I’d nail him.”
“I’d only bother if the show fell short of recoupment,” says a third. “But I’d let it be known that he’s destroyed his career in the theater.”
Legal action is rare on Broadway. Disputes are usually settled quietly around conference tables or over dinner at Orso.
(Not long before he bolted, Piven was spotted at Orso in the company of two babes. I note that Orso is an Italian restaurant and does not serve sushi.)
But producers have taken their stars to task before.
In the early ’90s, producers Fran and Barry Weissler accused Anthony Quinn of medical fraud while he was in a national tour of “A Walk in the Woods.”
According to press reports at the time, Quinn collapsed onstage and had to have triple bypass surgery. The Weisslers and their insurance company later found out that Quinn had a history of heart disease but ordered his doctor to lie about his condition on insurance forms.
The Weisslers won a settlement against him.
Short of a lawsuit, a producer can always take a page out of legendary producer David Merrick’s playbook and publicly humiliate the “ailing” star.
When Anna Maria Alberghetti checked into a hospital during the run of “Carnival” in 1961, Merrick told the press: “She’ll be back shortly. And as soon as my doctors get to her, she’ll be OK.”
When she returned to the show, as Howard Kissel reports in his biography of Merrick, “The Abominable Showman,” Merrick sent her wax roses and arranged for photographers to see a man dressed as a doctor headed to her dressing room with a lie detector.
Now that’s producing!