Jesse Eisenberg Talks Lex Luthor and His Future in the DCEU

Movies

Jesse Eisenberg likes the feel of a Kryptonite ring around his finger. Deadline reports that Eisenberg talked about the fan reaction to his portrayal of Superman villain Lex Luthor at the 28^th Sarajevo Film Festival.

“I felt very personal about it. The writer, Chris Terrio, is a very serious writer, and he’s a very emotional person. He thought a lot about my character, and I thought a lot about my character too. I talked with my acting coach about the character a lot, about his backstory with his father and his emotional life –and then people hate me.”

This is often the result of straying too far from an established character’s traditional presentation. Sometimes it works, but sometimes it doesn’t, and Eisenberg’s Lex Luthor didn’t. It was weird and goofy, and his seemingly random sounds and exaggerated gestures not only made the character look ridiculous but felt out of place in the movie (not that the rest of it was good either). You have to wonder how they expected that jar of urine to play with audiences.

Later, Eisenberg talked about his future in the DCEU to Deadline.

“I’d be shocked if I wound up in a DC movie, but it would be a pleasant shock. Listen, I’m not a comic book fan. To me, it was not playing a role that I’d envisioned since childhood. To me, it was a chance to play this great character that this great writer wrote, and I loved doing that. So, to play it is a joy, and to not play it isn’t something that I’m going to be ashamed to tell my kids about, because that is not an important genre in my life, even though I loved doing that movie.”

I think that’s a perfectly fair take. He doesn’t care about the genre, but if he finds a role he likes, he’s happy to play it. He doesn’t act like he’s slumming or just cashing a check, and I appreciate that.

But it gets even better. Asked if he would appear in a DC film should the opportunity arise, Eisenberg said:

“Yeah. Because as an actor, you do all kinds of different things, and sometimes great roles show up in really commercial things and sometimes terrible roles show up in independent films.”

I like his answer a lot, even if I don’t want more of his Lex Luthor. It’s refreshing to hear someone – especially a prestigious actor – say that blockbuster movies aren’t necessarily lesser art and arthouse films aren’t necessarily the pinnacle of cinema. I’m a believer in that, and I think a lot of actors like to differentiate between the two to the extent that they belittle anything crowd-pleasing.

Do you agree with Jesse Eisenberg’s assessment of film? Would you like to see him play Lex Luthor again? Is Martin Scorsese crossing him off the list for his next movie? Let us know in the comments, and stick around Geeks + Gamers for more supervillain cinema sentiments!