Eisenberg Peak and Valley
Jesse Eisenberg became a hot commodity after his portrayal of Mark Zuckerberg in David Fincher’s The Social Network. His performance as the smug, fast-talking intellectual with Aaron Sorkin dialogue would even earn him an Academy Award nomination (though he would lose to Colin Firth for The King’s Speech that year). When Eisenberg was cast as Lex Luthor in Zack Snyder’s film Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, the casting choice was outside the box for fans as the character is normally known as an older business tycoon-type, but Eisenberg’s Social Network work was seemingly an influence on the interpretation. However, the superhero film would ultimately be received with multiple criticisms, and Eisenberg’s portrayal of Luthor was included.
Razzie Fallout
The reception of Eisenberg in Batman v Superman would ultimately earn him a win at the Razzie Awards and according to Variety, the actor says his career suffered because of it. Eisenberg said at the BFI London Film Festival that the fallout from the Razzie win had him rerouting to writing and directing projects, rather than acting in them. He explained,
Listen, a lot of it just came from fear. I couldn’t get into movie studio parts anymore because I had won a Raspberry Award from [being in the] ‘Batman’ movie … and I saw the trajectory. If you’re an actor, you’re constantly panicked about ‘Am I on an upslope or a downslope?’ Because there’s no plateau. Acting is just this unstable, awful industry where you are either on the treadmill and you’re doing okay and you’re running up or you are yesterday’s news and it’s awful. And if you’re a paranoid person like me, you see it way in advance. So I was like, I’ve got to direct movies. That’s why I started writing them, just to kind of keep my career afloat, really.”sponsored content
Eisenberg recently wrote and directed The Debut. But he says the lesson he took away from the Batman v Superman experience is that he shouldn’t star in any more superhero movies. He said,
The industry tells you what they want from you. The industry did not want me to be in a superhero movie, and if you’re smart and self-aware, you learn that quickly. And you know, it’s the unsuccessful actor that goes ‘No, I want to be in more of those.’ It’s not going to happen and they don’t want you there and they wouldn’t have given you a Raspberry Award if they wanted you there. That’s an award for bad acting. And so the industry tells you what it wants and if you want a career in the arts you have to follow the things that you’re being told are liked.”
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