I hadn't actually watched 'Entourage.' But I do understand that if you know and love that show, Jeremy Piven is about as good as it gets.
I think there are people, and I do not mean this to be disparaging, there are people like Jay Mohr and Jeremy Piven where they just give you that vibe, 'This guy's going to play someone a little venal.'
For a long time, I so badly wanted to work with Jeremy Piven, and I ended up on 'Mr. Selfridge' with him. He was such a character - so brilliant to work with.
Without a doubt, Robert Rodriguez is the reason I was drawn to it. The fact that he even knew who I was and then was interested in me for the role was amazing. I am a huge fan of his and it's like a bucket list thing for me to be able to work with him and knowing that Jessica Alba and Jeremy Piven were in it I knew that part was going to be good and as you said, the pedigree of the series was great, so it was really one of those things I couldn't resist.
Andrew Gurland is so precise and, again, such an amazing writer, but then he's also really honest with himself and what he is seeing.
This guy [Steve Lerner] is pure, 100% anti-capitalist and what he wants is what Cloward-Piven has basically said: Just overwhelm the system. It's sort of a derivative of Cloward-Piven.
I think Andrew Stanton is such an amazing, creative mind.
I would never butt heads with Rob Zombie. I don't know anybody that's in acting that ever butted heads with Rob Zombie. I adore Rob. I adore him. I adore working with him. I adore knowing him. I'm happy to consider myself a friend and someone who he hires. I just think he's great.
It was great having them around and I have to say pretty weird seeing them all grown up! Plus we have Jeremy Piven; and Ricky Gervais agreed to be in it and Antonio Banderas has a cameo in and that's a testament to Robert. He's such a good director and such a good guy. He gets everybody, because everyone wants to work with him.
The first writer that I think of immediately that I studied with at Michigan is Peter Ho Davies. He was really important to me, tackling that first novel. Just writing it.
I learned a lot from Russell T. Davies, who is the most wonderful writer.
The scripts of 'The Wire' are fantastic - the scripts of 'Breaking Bad,' the scripts of 'Mad Men,' the scripts of 'The Sopranos,' the scripts of 'Battlestar Galactica.' You could keep going on. They're incredibly well written.
I worked in script development, many years ago, and read a lot of scripts. Between that and the scripts I've read as an actor, and I'm a writer as well, I think I have a pretty good sense about whether the bones of a story are there and whether the structure is intact.
I feel very privileged to have worked with a lot of outstanding actors: Alun Armstrong, Peter Mullan, Matt Smith and Andrew Garfield.
I think I'm always inspired by really, really funny, amazing women, but I'm also inspired by really funny, amazing men. I think there's more of a feminist voice, like with Amy Schumer being out right now, whom I adore.
The kind of scripts I have read for web shows have been outstanding.