Jesse Eisenberg had already earned an Oscar nomination for playing Mark Zuckerberg in The Social Network when he took on Lex Luthor in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. A decade later, he says the superhero movie helped send him into a second career behind the camera.
Speaking at the BFI London Film Festival on October 18, Eisenberg connected that decision to an award he would rather not have won. “I couldn’t get into movie studio parts anymore because I had won a Raspberry Award,” he said, according to Variety.
The 43-year-old received Worst Supporting Actor at the 2017 Razzies, the ceremony that singles out what its voters consider the year’s weakest films and performances. The awards are presented as a parody of Hollywood’s honors season.
His latest, The Debut, closed the festival that evening. The musical comedy is his third feature as a director and reunites him with Julianne Moore, who starred in his first.
He Took the Backlash as a Warning About Superhero Roles
Eisenberg described acting as a profession with “no plateau,” where performers continually assess whether their careers are rising or falling. He said he was quick to anticipate a downturn and wrote films “just to kind of keep my career afloat, really.”
“The industry did not want me to be in a superhero movie,” he told the audience. His advice to actors was to recognize which kinds of performances were being welcomed and pursue those opportunities, instead of insisting on work that producers did not seem interested in offering them.
He continued acting after the film, returning to Lex Luthor in Justice League and appearing in Zombieland: Double Tap, the Now You See Me franchise and FX’s Fleishman Is in Trouble.
‘Batman v Superman’ Won Four Razzies
Zack Snyder’s film opened in March 2016, with Ben Affleck as Batman and Henry Cavill as Superman. Eisenberg played the businessman manipulating their conflict, delivering a restless, fast-talking version of Luthor. The movie earned approximately $874 million worldwide, despite its poor critical reception.
The film collected four Razzies altogether, with the other three going to its screenplay, the remake or sequel category, and the screen pairing of Affleck and Cavill. Contemporary Associated Press reporting described a voting body of roughly 1,000 Razzie members across 25 countries, with the screen-combination award decided through a Rotten Tomatoes partnership.
During his December 2024 appearance on Dax Shepard’s Armchair Expert, Eisenberg explained why this particular disappointment had stayed with him. Other poorly received projects could pass largely unnoticed, he said, but a movie this prominent made his performance difficult for casting decision-makers to overlook.
He also said he had enjoyed playing the role and making the movie, taking responsibility for his work instead of blaming the filmmakers.
His Writing Career Began Before Lex Luthor
Eisenberg had experience creating his own material well before the superhero film. He wrote and starred in the comedy Asuncion, which opened off-Broadway in October 2011. A production announcement from Rattlestick Playwrights Theater records its run at New York’s Cherry Lane Theatre, directed by Kip Fagan.
His first feature as a writer-director, When You Finish Saving the World, premiered at Sundance in January 2022. Based on his earlier Audible drama, it stars Moore as a shelter director and Finn Wolfhard as her teenage son, a musician with an online following. Both struggle to connect at home while seeking understanding elsewhere.
He followed it with A Real Pain, writing, directing and starring alongside Kieran Culkin as cousins traveling through Poland to honor their late grandmother. The trip brings their conflicting personalities and approaches to grief into uncomfortable contact. At the 2025 Oscars, Culkin won Supporting Actor and Eisenberg received an Original Screenplay nomination.
‘The Debut’ Gives Moore a Community Theater Obsession
In The Debut, Moore plays Mona Friedman, a shy housewife who lands a small part in a community theater production and becomes consumed by protecting the integrity of her role.
Her commitment puts her at odds with the show’s demanding director, played by Paul Giamatti. Halle Bailey, Havana Rose Liu and Bernadette Peters are among the ensemble cast, which also includes Eisenberg.
The film screened at San Sebastián before its UK premiere at London’s Royal Festival Hall. The Spanish festival credits Eisenberg with producing the movie and composing its original music and lyrics, in addition to writing, directing and appearing in it.
A24 will release The Debut in U.S. theaters on December 11. Lionsgate’s UK release follows on January 15, 2027, according to the BFI.