As Jesse Eisenberg transitions into the role of renaissance filmmaker, having now directed himself and Kieran Culkin in the Golden Globe nominated dramedy “A Real Pain,” the longtime actor is looking back on a stretch of his career that proved challenging as a result of one particularly public role.
“I was in this ‘Batman’ movie and the ‘Batman’ movie was so poorly received,” Eisenberg said in a recent interview on “Armchair Expert with Dax Shepherd,” “and I was so poorly received — I’ve never said this before and it’s kind of embarrassing to admit — but I genuinely think it actually hurt my career in a real way because I was poorly received in something so public.”
The “Batman” movie in question was Zack Snyder’s “Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice,” in which he portrayed classic villain Lex Luthor as a modern day tech bro with a megalomaniacal bent. The film was a critical bomb and though it grossed almost $875 million against its nearly $325 million budget, it was considered a financial failure as well.
“I’ve been in poorly received things that just don’t see the light of day, for the most part no one knows” said Eisenberg, “but this was so public and I don’t read notices or reviews or movie press or anything so I was unaware of how poorly it was received.”
Eisenberg explained that he only started to register the negative impact when studios stopped casting him in big films.
“In the industry, if you’re in a huge huge movie and not seen as good, the people who are choosing who to put next in their movie are just not going to select you,” he said. “You’re just like associated with something.”
Following “Dawn of Justice,” Eisenberg’s only big studio films were sequels to “Zombieland” and “Now You See Me,” as well as appearances in Joss Whedon’s “Justice League” and “Zack Snyder’s Justice League.” Outside of these projects, he mostly worked in independent film, often acting as an executive producer and now serving as a director. Even despite the challenges playing Lex Luthor brought to his career, Eisenberg still looks back fondly on his time in the franchise.
“I loved my role and I loved the movie, doing it and everything, so I feel just myself to blame,” Eisenberg said to Shepherd. “I’m not like they did me wrong, no, I’m like, ‘Oh I guess I did something wrong there,’ and so it did feel like I had to climb out again.”
And climb out he did, as not only is his recent film “A Real Pain” nominated at the upcoming Golden Globes, Critics’ Choice Movie Awards, and Independent Spirit Awards, but it has already been recognized by multiple voting bodies including the National Board of Review, the Los Angeles Film Critics Association, and the Astra Film Awards.
“A Real Pain” is currently in theaters from Searchlight Pictures.