Jesse Eisenberg says Batman v Superman Razzie cost him studio movie roles

Jesse Eisenberg claims a Golden Raspberry Award effectively blacklisted him from big studio productions. Per Variety, the actor said winning the Razzie for his role as Lex Luthor in 2016's "Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice" made it so he "couldn't get movie studio parts anymore."

Eisenberg made the remarks during a panel at the BFI London Film Festival. He said the industry's message was clear: "The industry did not want me to be in a superhero movie." He described the acting business as an unstable treadmill where you're either on an upslope or a downslope, and the award signaled a decline.

This perceived career damage led him to pivot into writing and directing. "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," he said, according to Variety.

Eisenberg also shared a chaotic story from the set of his 2024 directorial effort "A Real Pain," as reported by The Hollywood Reporter. He revealed co-star Kieran Culkin was so unreliable that producer Emma Stone had to personally escort him on a plane to the film's Poland set.

"She sent me a video of him going through customs saying, 'We are here,'" Eisenberg recounted. He said Culkin, fresh off the looser set of "Succession," was initially angry at being told to stand on marks, forcing Eisenberg to rework scenes to follow the actor's improvisational energy.