Jesse Eisenberg believes role as Lex Luthor “hurt” his acting career

While we might see a new Lex Luthor in tomorrow’s teaser for James Gunn’s new Superman film, it turns out Jesse Eisenberg’s iteration of the character had some startling career consequences.

Zack Snyder’s Batman v Superman was critically maligned for a variety of its elements, from convoluted plotting to the design of famed Superman-killer Doomsday. While the elements of Lex Luthor’s master plan may have had some questionable details, Jesse Eisenberg’s novel interpretation of the character largely worked as a monomaniacal planner with an awkward demeanor.

As it turns out, being a bright spot in a subpar film didn’t keep him safe from career blowback. In a new interview, Eisenberg reveals that the film had a concretely negative impact on his subsequent opportunities.

The negative reaction to his Lex Luthor caught Eisenberg by surprise

In the interview with Dax Shepard on Armchair Expert, Eisenberg reveals that the film’s poor reception (and reception of his take on the character) had a real impact on his career. “I was in this ‘Batman’ movie and the ‘Batman’ movie was so poorly received, and I was so poorly received,” Eisenberg said.

Warner Bros.

“I’ve never said this before,” he continued, “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.” The film was a high-profile project for DC, with massive support from Warner Bros. alongside legions of comic fans. Both the reception and the impact caught him by surprise.

“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, and I don’t read notices or reviews or movie press or anything, so I was unaware of how poorly it was received.”

The actor went into further detail about how he felt in the aftermath:

“In the industry, if you’re in a huge, huge movie and not seen as good, the people who are choosing who to put next in their movie are just not gonna like you. You’re just associated with something… I loved my role, and I loved the movie, doing it and everything, so I feel like [I have] just myself to blame… so it did feel like I had to climb out again.”

Unfortunately, the film seems to have left a temporary stain on Eisenberg’s career, but at least there’s a light at the end of the tunnel for the star of The Social Network: his latest directorial effort, A Real Pain, is a genuine Oscar contender. Eisenberg doesn’t ever expect to get a call to return as Luthor, but he’s given Nicholas Hoult words of encouragement in advance of his appearance in Superman: Legacy.