Jesse Eisenberg will always be known for portraying the social media titan Mark Zuckerberg in The Social Network, and even for playing Lex Luthor in Batman vs. Superman, a role that he says was damaging to his career. However, despite just recently turning 40 years old, Eisenberg has also begun an extraordinary career behind the camera, with two directorial credits to his name and more on the way. His most recent directorial outing, A Real Pain, saw him team up with Succession star Kieran Culkin. Eisenberg took to the stage at Palm Springs Film Festival where Collider’s Aidan Kelley was in attendance. During the self-moderated Q&A, he was asked about the production and casting of the film. He revealed that Emma Stone, who is credited as a producer, actually helped save the movie at the ninth hour:
“[Kieran] was trying to drop out of the movie two weeks before we were shooting. Like all the money had been spent, and he was trying to drop out in New York. So one of our producers, Emma Stone, essentially like blackmailed him to come back to the movie behind my back, and literally took him off the plane with his kids and flew to Poland with him.
I have a video of her holding his kid’s hands going through customs like a proof of life video that he made it, and he showed up to rehearsal late, even though we had made the rehearsal around when his plane was getting in.”
There’s no way to know what would have happened if Culkin had backed out of the project in the late stages, but we’ll never have to worry about finding out thanks to Stone, who went the extra mile to ensure Eisenberg didn’t lose his co-star. It’s a good thing Culkin didn’t back out either; his role as Benji Kaplan in the film is already earning him major Supporting Actor buzz for the upcoming Academy Awards, and after winning an Emmy recently for his role as Roman Roy in the final season of Succession, Culkin’s trophy shelf could be about to grow even more. Stone has not yet starred in an Eisenberg directorial production, but after winning her second Oscar recently for her performance in Poor Things, Eisenberg would surely not turn his nose up at working with her in front of the camera as well as behind it.
Who Will Star in Jesse Eisenberg’s Next Project?
Eisenberg currently has two projects in the works; the first is a series titled Bream Gives Me Hiccups which he is both writing and directing that stars Parker Posey and Victor Rasuk alongside Marguerite Stimpson and Mariko Takai. He will next work with Paul Giamatti and Julianne Moore in an untitled music comedy that’s currently in pre-production. Eisenberg previously worked with Moore on When You Finish Saving the World, the 2022 dramedy in which he made his directorial debut.
A Real Pain is still playing in extremely limited theaters, but the film is also available to rent or purchase on VOD. Stay tuned to Collider for future movie and TV updates and watch A Real Pain on Prime Video.
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Two cousins travel to Poland after their grandmother's death to see where they came from and end up joining a Holocaust tour.
Runtime 90 Minutes
English (US) ·