Jesse Eisenberg chats with THR at the 2025 Palm Springs International Film Festival and talks about his film 'A Real Pain' and says he's surprised by the film's attention. Plus, he talks about his co-star Kieran Culkin and how unpredictable, yet brilliant, he is.
00:05Came into our studio lounge. I don't usually remind people of like when they met me because it's annoying when people...
00:11I recognized you but I couldn't play swear, so it was Toronto.
00:14I just remember because you were like my favorite interview the whole time.
00:17What happened?
00:18We were so nice and we had like a good rapport and it ended and you said you were good.
00:23Yeah, yeah, yeah.
00:24I recognized you with a kind of good connotation, you know.
00:28Yeah.
00:29The synapses were firing. By the way, I saw you catch up with Andrew Garp.
00:33Yeah, exactly. Yeah, yeah.
00:35Yeah, I got to see him at the Governor Awards too, which is like a similar cultural thing tonight.
00:41Jesse Eisenberg, happy almost one year anniversary to a Real Pain Sundance debut.
00:45Tell me this past year what the highlight has been for you putting this movie out into the world.
00:50Oh, very surreal. I've written a ton of things and they've never gotten attention like this.
00:54And so I was like very surprised.
00:59And, you know, what's weird is like you, when we just like we only just wanted to get into Sundance.
01:07We got into Sundance and we got into Sundance and suddenly you're panicking like I want to sell.
01:10So then you sell the movie to a company like Searchlight and then after that you're like, wait, when is it coming out?
01:15Suddenly like everything, once you get the thing you wanted, you just need another thing.
01:19And so these award things are seemingly designed to like have you feel that way at every turn.
01:23Wait, the Golden Globe Awards and then the next, you know.
01:25And so like it's a very surreal experience because I suddenly have developed expectations that are beyond what I ever dreamed of.
01:34And yet they all feel like I have to get that too.
01:36And so it's been unnerving actually in a strange way.
01:39How do you manage that?
01:41Oh, I try to remind myself like what my dad told me, which is just like, if you get one of these in your career in the arts, you're incredibly lucky.
01:49And if it ended in Sundance, that would have been great. If it ended now, it would have been still great.
01:53So I try to remind myself how lucky I am.
01:55That's a smart dad.
01:56Yeah, yeah, yeah. He's not, you know, he's kind of removed from this stuff.
01:59So he sees it as kind of he can see it as some a little more silly than I can.
02:03And you've had some really fun moments throughout this journey, too.
02:06I mean, I'm still thinking about watching it at Sundance and seeing you guys get up on stage.
02:11And and Kieran had that funny quote of like the Jesse had some notes for me.
02:16And he's like, bitch, I got some notes for you, too.
02:18Tell me what it was like to work with him and what what the what the bond is now.
02:22Well, you know, Kieran's a very unpredictable person.
02:25Like, I don't even know if he's going to make it tonight.
02:27Like, that's how unpredictable he is, let alone make it to Poland.
02:30He tried to drop out of the movie two weeks before we started shooting.
02:33He would come to set not knowing what scene we're doing.
02:35But he was always brilliant in the movie, always brilliant in the scenes,
02:39like beyond anything I could have conceived of.
02:41And I think he was just like living in the spirit of the character
02:44as opposed to like kind of preparing in like more logical way.
02:47Like I would prepare, you know, going over your script, thinking about your role.
02:49He would just like show up and just be living in the thing.
02:52Wouldn't wouldn't sleep the night before.
02:54And it was a really interesting thing to watch.
02:56If he was not good in the movie, I think I'd be really worried.
02:59Like, why isn't he sleeping? Why isn't he prepared?
03:01But because he was so brilliant, I was just like, you know, kind of hands off.
03:04That must have also been unusual as a director,
03:07for not only to have a scene partner like that, but to also have somebody you're directing.
03:11Yeah, it was weird to give him notes after we would film,
03:16not just because I was acting in the scene with him,
03:18but also because he just didn't want notes.
03:20He want, again, he's such an unusual person.
03:22So he was kind of like living in the spirit of the character.
03:24So I would tell him like, hey, you know, that was really great what you just did.
03:28But I think try to bring this thing in earlier.
03:30And he would tell me, I don't know what I did.
03:32If you want to do another take, let's do another take.
03:34But I have no idea what I did.
03:35I'm not going to bring something in early.
03:36He kind of always made me feel like a tool,
03:38because he just wanted to kind of live in the moment.
03:41I'm an idiot. I don't know that stuff.
03:43That's what's so great about you.
03:44You're not an idiot.
03:46Last fun question.
03:47Are you a New Year's resolution or intention kind of person?
03:50I don't make New Year's resolutions because I know I'm not going to break them.
03:54You know, I know I'm going to break them.
03:55You know, I come from a family of like vegetarians.
03:58So like I really do every year, start the year trying not to eat that much meat, you know,
04:02because my family never eats meat.
04:04So, yeah, that's my usual perpetual resolution.
04:07And then wait, I let you let that slip by that you're working on something else now.
04:11Yeah, yeah, yeah. I'm directing like, it's like kind of a musical starring Julianne Moore and Paul Giamatti.
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