“The industry did not want me to be in a superhero movie, and if you’re smart and self-aware, you learn that quickly,” Eisenberg stated of his widely disliked interpretation of the villainous Luthor in Zack Snyder’s equally disappointing superhero slog. “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.”
According to The Independent, Eisenberg, who was awarded the Worst Supporting Actor Razzie for his turn, continued, “That’s an award for bad acting. And so the industry tells you what it wants and if you want a career in the arts you have to follow the things that you’re being told are liked.”
Now, the Razzies have long been a subject of criticism themselves for pushing their dubious relevance by attacking low-hanging easy targets and hot button cultural punchlines (plus, their judges aren’t even required to watch the films in question), but Eisenberg certainly lends enough credence to his “win” to have let it determine the course of his ensuing career. While not abandoning his acting career (he made one fine Sasquatch, for example), the actor has focused more on his directing efforts in the ensuing decade. He directed co-star Kieran Culkin to a Best Supporting Actor Academy Award in 2024’s A Real Pain, and is currently propelling Julianne Moore toward an Oscar nomination in this year’s The Debut.
As the multi-hyphenate noted, “Acting is just this unstable, awful industry where you are either on the treadmill and you’re doing okay and you’re running up or you are yesterday’s news and it’s awful. And if you’re a paranoid person like me, you see it way in advance. 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.” So here’s to the Razzies for, at least, providing the “fear” Eisenberg used to fuel his directing ambitions.
Keep scrolling for more great stories.