Jeremy Piven to trade Ari Gold for Harry Selfridge?
In Entourage, Jeremy Piven was the epitome of the arrogant Hollywood movie agent. The 3-time Emmy award winner for Best Supporting Actor for his brilliant portrayal of Ari Gold, Piven is now rumored to be trading in the ‘lunch in LA, dinner in NYC’ lifestyle to take the role of American entrepreneur Harry Gordon Selfridge, who founded the famous London department store, in the ITV1 production of Selfridges.
Although the deal has yet to be finalized, the transition from Gold to Harry Selfridge shouldn’t be a difficult one according to the network looking for their next Downton Abbey. They describe Selfridge as being, “….pioneering and reckless, with an almost manic energy, he created a theatre of retail where any topic or trend that was new, exciting, entertaining – or sometimes just eccentric – was showcased“. They continued with their assessment, calling him, “Mile a Minute Harry, a man with a mission to make shopping as thrilling as sex“. Sounds like a perfect Ari Gold to me.
According to The Guardian, the 10-part series will be written by Andrew Davies, who also wrote a number of series that would be very familiar to PBS audiences, including Pride and Prejudice, Bleak House and Moll Flanders. Based on the Lindy Woodhead’s book, Shopping, Seduction and Mr Selfridge, the series goes into production this month and will be set in 1909 London.
