Under drone threat, Jesse Eisenberg defends his Lex Luthor and teases his return
Jesse Eisenberg certainly has a flair for the dramatic, especially when talking about doing press for his movies while doing press for his movies—he once compared attending Comic-Con to “some kind of genocide.” But his latest remarks about his involvement in the DC Extended Universe are decidedly less controversial, as the actor explained that his portrayal of Lex Luthor was intended to “humanize” a character that’s been “dehumanized” by comic-book readers and writers, as well as filmmakers and audiences (he seems to have left Gene Hackman out of this).
While at MCM London Comic Con, Eisenberg defended his alternately smug and jittery interpretation of the iconic Superman villain. He told attendees that he just “wanted to make these people real and relatable and interesting and engaging, not just, you know, a surface bad person.” The actor spoke under the perceived threat of drones, which he joked might be standing by to take him out should he reveal too much about Zack Snyder’s drab Batman V Superman: Dawn Of Justice, or its already equally bleak-looking sequel Justice League: Part One. Eisenberg continued:
“To me, the most interesting acting is when actors can bring you into that other side of the person. When you feel like you are not just seeing the kind of purpose of them for plot. That they are not just delivering a message. They’re actually showing you humanity. And that’s what I tried to do with that character. Whether or not I succeeded or failed depends on your subjective opinion on what you think of people like that. That’s my goal as an actor.”
Having shrugged off the criticism, Eisenberg then went on to say that he’s eager to return to the franchise, though he hasn’t officially been asked to appear in Justice League. “I’m kind of like waiting for my crack at it,” he said, presumably before looking out the window for the bald-man signal Snyder promised to use once Eisenberg was confirmed as part of the cast. Justice League is filming in London, after all.