Jesse Eisenberg has opened up about how his time as Lex Luthor changed the direction of his career. Speaking at a screen talk during the BFI London Film Festival on Sunday (October 18th), the actor and filmmaker said the Razzie he won for Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice left him locked out of big studio parts, and that fear is what pushed him to start writing and directing.
"Listen, a lot of it just came from fear," Eisenberg said. "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."
The Lex Luthor Fallout
Eisenberg played Lex Luthor in Zack Snyder's 2016 film, which pitted Ben Affleck's Batman against Henry Cavill's Superman. His take on the villain was a twitchy, fast-talking tech heir, a big departure from the calm, calculating Luthor many fans grew up with. Critics and audiences were split on the performance, and it earned him the Razzie for worst supporting actor. The film itself took home four Razzies that year.
That did not stop Batman v Superman from making money. It opened to $424.1 million worldwide and went on to become one of the biggest releases of 2016. Eisenberg also returned as Luthor for a brief scene in Justice League. Still, he says the industry read the Razzie as a clear message.
"The industry tells you what they want from you," he explained. "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."
From Panic To The Director's Chair
Eisenberg described acting as a career with no safe middle ground. "If you're an actor, you're constantly panicked about 'Am I on an upslope or a downslope?'" he said, adding that there is no plateau.
His answer was to make his own work. "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."
It worked out far better than a backup plan usually does. His second film as writer and director, A Real Pain, landed in 2024 and became an awards season favorite. Eisenberg earned an Oscar nomination for Best Original Screenplay, and his co-star Kieran Culkin won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. Emma Stone was one of the film's producers.
The Debut Closes The Festival
Eisenberg's latest directorial effort, The Debut, served as the closing night film of this year's London Film Festival on Sunday. The film stars Julianne Moore and Paul Giamatti, and its festival slot is another sign of how much his standing as a filmmaker has grown since the Batman v Superman days.
He has also been choosy about returning to old roles. Eisenberg passed on reprising Mark Zuckerberg in Aaron Sorkin's The Social Reckoning, the follow-up to The Social Network, explaining that the new film is "quite different" from the original.
His comments put a different spin on one of the most debated villain performances in the DC movies. For years, fans have argued over whether his Lex Luthor was misunderstood or simply miscast. Eisenberg seems to have made peace with it, and he has been able to turn a setback into a second career that earned him an Oscar nomination. Meanwhile, the DC Universe has moved on to a new Lex Luthor, with Nicholas Hoult taking on the role in James Gunn's Superman.
Do you think Jesse Eisenberg's Lex Luthor deserved the Razzie, or was the performance better than critics gave it credit for?
Sound off with your thoughts in the comments below.