As we wait for today’s hugely anticipated Superman trailer from James Gunn and DC Studios, the timing is just perfect to reminisce about the past incarnations of Supes and Lex Luthor. In fact, Jesse Eisenberg, who played the iconic villain in 2016’s ill-fated but financially successful Batman v Superman (and very briefly in Justice League), recently talked about the aftermath of that failure.
In a recent episode of Armchair Expert, the actor briefly commented on the reception of the Zack Snyder-directed crossover flick and, more specifically, how his performance as Lex Luthor was received. Needless to say, he still doesn’t feel great about the whole thing.
“I’ve never said this before and it’s kind of embarrassing to admit, but I genuinely think it actually hurt my career in a real way, because I was poorly received in something so public. I’ve been in poorly received things that just don’t see the light of day, and for the most part, no one knows, but this was so public,” he explained about how much it actually impacted his career.
If you can remember, Eisenberg was reasonably big in the 2010s, especially after starring in the banger that was David Fincher’s The Social Network back in 2010. On the other hand, it’s hard to argue he’s landed roles nearly as big after joining the now-deceased DCEU. Mind you, other major players in those movies have moved on just fine, but Eisenberg’s off-beat performance as Luthor was at the center of many harsh pieces of criticism.
Personally, I thought he was a bit much for such a self-serious movie, but I also appreciate the big swings he took with the role; he certainly didn’t just casually stroll through his scenes. In a way, his portrayal of Lex (which, let’s not forget, was guided by Snyder at the end of the day) also served like a prophecy of sorts of the unbearable tech guys with far too much power that we’d have to endure less than a decade later, so maybe everyone involved actually struck gold with that part of the movie.
Regardless, Eisenberg is quite convinced that, beefy paycheck aside, the role was bad for his career overall. He’s doing fine now, with a potential awards contender in A Real Pain (which he also wrote and directed) coming up. Let’s hope that Nicholas Hoult fares better as Superman’s most famous enemy.
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