Despite recently obtaining his Polish citizenship, “A Real Pain” director Jesse Eisenberg is not thinking about leaving the U.S. anytime soon. Speaking at the Karlovy Vary Film Festival, where he is the recipient of this year’s President’s Award, the actor-turned-director said he feels a “responsibility” to stay in New York City as his home country grapples with Trump’s presidency.
“I am a very lucky American,” he said. “I have a nice life. My wife is a teacher, and she teaches a lot of students who are not as lucky as we are. I think we feel, if anything, a responsibility to stay in New York and help those who are struggling through a tougher period in American history. No, I’m not going to leave because I don’t like the politics of America. That seems a little silly, because my life is very good.”
Eisenberg’s next directorial effort is the musical comedy “The Debut,” starring Julianne Moore and Paul Giamatti and scheduled to come out in the U.S. on Dec. 3, courtesy of A24. The first official trailer for the film came out last week, just a day after it was announced that the American film company had struck an AI research partnership with Google that will see the independent studio work with Google’s DeepMind unit to develop new AI-powered technologies for filmmakers. Many disappointed film fans rushed to social media posts of the trailer to express their disappointment with the partnership and their refutal of AI interference in filmmaking — particularly artist-focused, independent filmmaking.
Asked by Variety how he felt about the unfortunate timing and if it might have affected him in any way, Eisenberg said he did not dwell on it as “it doesn’t have anything to do with me.”
“A24 could not have been better about making our movie analog,” he continued. “The movie takes place in the 1990s, with two stars who have been working forever and who are just brilliant in the movie. We shot on film, which is very rare, so the movie felt like a movie from the 90s, which was my era growing up and starting to watch independent movies. Our movie could not have been more analog.”
The director emphasized how A24 “said yes” to all his requests, from Moore and Giamatti to shooting on film and setting the story in the 90s. “Our movie is the opposite of AI,” he added. “It really doesn’t affect our movie at all. A24 is a really smart studio. All I could say is that my interactions with them over the last five years have been the most artist-friendly. I’ve never worked with a studio so closely, where every decision they make is about what would make the thing better. I’m sure they’re worried about economics, but never to me. It feels like winning the lottery to work at a company like that, where the only thing they seem to care about — and the only thing they ask from you — is to make the best possible version of your movie.”
Enquired by Variety as to whether it was different heading into “The Debut” after having an Oscar-winning, critically acclaimed directorial project in “A Real Pain” versus directing a film after the poor critical reception and lukewarm box office of his directorial debut, “When You Finished Saving the World,” Eisenberg said he “felt more comfortable directing” this time around.
“I didn’t feel like there was any opposition,” he went on. “With my second movie, ‘A Real Pain,’ I did feel a little bit like I had to prove myself even further. I noticed this thing [that] when actors are making their first films, there’s this feeling that this person might be a genius. If that movie doesn’t work, you’re starting way below genius because now you’re an actor who can’t direct. When I was doing ‘A Real Pain,’ I was like: Now I’m an actor who lost money for a studio. That was worse than starting out. The last movie I did feel a little more comfortable.”
The “Zombieland” star also noted that circumstances — and, to a certain extent, the stakes — are slightly different for him as a writer-director. “Because I write scripts, it allows me to be the first person to get the job as a director. I feel if I write a good enough script, I can always direct it. For directors who don’t write, it’s tougher. If their movie doesn’t work, they’re not going to be the screenwriter’s first choice.”
Eisenberg might be preparing to launch “The Debut,” but the next big project in his life is something entirely different: he and his family are headed to Ukraine to conduct charitable work. “My wife teaches in New York City public schools. She teaches art and she’s really wonderful with kids. We found a program called The Campfire Project through Jessica Hecht, a wonderful American actress, and she offered us the opportunity to go work with kids in a camp. My wife is going to teach, my kid is going to play with the kids, and I’m going to be the videographer on my phone.”
“Our lives are so lucky,” he said earnestly. “If we ever find an opportunity to help, of course we take it. We’re not saving any lives, but it’s nice to be able to go and help.”
On Saturday, during a lengthy in-conversation event at the festival, Eisenberg spoke about not reprising his role as Mark Zuckerberg in Aaron Sorkin’s upcoming sequel to “The Social Network,” “The Social Reckoning.” “At the time, the movie seemed like such a strange thing to me because no one really knew who he was,” he said. “He was interviewed on ‘60 Minutes,’ which is our big news show, but otherwise he wasn’t in the public a lot. I thought of it like an interesting character. And then he’s become famous and now I don’t want to do the movie […] I don’t want to be associated with him anymore because I don’t really like the comparison.”
The Karlovy Vary Film Festival runs July 3-11.
