Jesse Eisenberg joins GQ as he revisits some of the most iconic characters from his career so far: from his award-winning performance in The Social Network as Mark Zuckerberg, to playing the DC Comics supervillain, Lex Luthor, in Batman v. Superman.
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00:00I actually like don't watch movies I've been in so I'm never considering how they're going to be
00:04perceived by an audience. I'm like my harshest critic so I go into every project very worried
00:10that I'm going to screw it up and really working hard to try my best to not.
00:18The Social Network, Mark Zuckerberg.
00:23You are probably going to be a very successful computer person.
00:26But you're going to go through life thinking that girls don't like you because you're a nerd.
00:33And I want you to know from the bottom of my heart that that won't be true.
00:38It'll be because you're an asshole.
00:40It was my job at all times to kind of think about my role as somebody virtuous and noble
00:45and well-meaning because that's how people tend to think of themselves irrespective of how sometimes
00:49their behavior is perceived. I was just trying to like understand the best possible version of this
00:55person and then play the scenes which don't exactly present the best possible version of
01:00that person. But inside he is thinking that and as an actor you're in this very strange place where
01:05you know I've played like movie villains before. You always have to think of yourself as the hero
01:09of the story. You always have to think of yourself as well-intentioned even if you know in like a
01:15superhero movie like the villain is like you know killing people and you know he has his own logic
01:19and his own reason and it's the actor's job more than anybody's to kind of figure out what that is
01:25even if an audience might never be able to tell. You don't think I deserve your attention. I think
01:30if your clients want to sit on my shoulders and call themselves tall they have a right to give
01:34it a try but there's no requirement that I enjoy sitting here listening to people lie.
01:39You have part of my attention. You have the minimum amount. The rest of my attention is back
01:44at the offices of Facebook where my colleagues and I are doing things that no one in this room
01:47including and especially your clients are intellectually or creatively capable of doing.
01:51Did I adequately answer your condescending question? I truly don't read about like the
01:58real person that much probably because I don't want to feel like an association with it and I
02:02really only thought of the character as a movie character. I thought of the character that I was
02:06playing as like any kind of fictional character where I'm not kind of trying to compare you know
02:14what I'm doing to a real person. You know the idea is to kind of play a character and in drama
02:18characters have to be especially if they're like leading characters have to be understandable in
02:22some way not necessarily always sympathetic but understandable in some way. So it was my job
02:26to kind of at least understand where he's coming from and this is a guy who felt socially excluded
02:31but who's probably smarter than everybody else and figured out a way to become socially included
02:35but only if he can be in complete control of it and so there's like a kind of unsustainability
02:40to that but I understood like at least the character not the person. I understood the
02:45character's righteousness. I understood the character's inner life. Why he would feel
02:50resentment and anger and rage and superiority. All that stuff is easy to justify
02:55when you're acting and when you're trained as an actor to think about getting inside the character's head.
03:15The people who are making the movie the writer and director are like the best in their fields. I did
03:26have this feeling that I could do anything. I could try anything and it would all be okay.
03:30Partly that's because the director like does tons of takes so you can kind of experiment
03:36knowing that if it's really far off they just won't use it. So I played the character two
03:41different ways. We would do like half the takes kind of in this kind of socially removed way
03:47where the character is not like kind of picking up on social cues or perceiving other characters
03:53inner lives and then we would do the other half a little more what I would call just natural.
03:58Somebody who is a little more socially engaged and then they I guess put together a version of
04:04the movie that probably incorporates both so the character probably appears really disengaged at
04:08times in an unnerving way and probably at other times feels very passionate about what he's
04:12talking about. If I had to kind of think about how the movie is perceived from the outside I would
04:19only be able to make a guess which is that it's a really well-made art piece that is talking about
04:26something that has existed forever which is kind of you know people who are probably not the best
04:32managers getting control of a large group of people and the organization kind of like falling
04:38you know into the traps of whatever that person's personal flaws are and that's a really compelling
04:44story. Citizen Kane obviously did it so many years earlier. It's talking about a transition in time
04:51where socialization kind of switched from in-person interactions and telephone calls and
04:57what we might call slow conversation, slow socialization and went into the fast food
05:03of socialization where you can be in touch with hundreds of people at once and just like fast
05:08food it becomes like less nutritious each individual relationship and so I think it's
05:12showing that and it's doing it in such an interesting way because instead of doing it
05:16on the kind of ground level of showing people whose social lives are being diminished in value
05:22because of this technology it's actually showing the people who created the technology almost
05:27foisting this in my opinion unsustainable worldview onto the public at large so I guess there's that
05:34kind of thing which kind of raises these big stakes and speaks to a moment in time.
05:41Adventureland, James Brennan.
05:42Um, yeah I'll meet you inside.
05:53Okay. I'll meet you inside. Okay. Okay.
06:02Boner! You got a boner! Brennan's got a boner! That movie for me was like, it was like
06:10a my first movie with that like level of part and I was just so nervous the whole time. I do
06:17remember reading the script and just being kind of shocked that it existed because this was like
06:22probably 2007-2008. Greg had just directed Superbad and the movies that were being made around that
06:27time was like really Judd Apatow style broader comedies. Characters are improvising and it didn't
06:32have as much of a melancholy undertone and so when I read that script I was kind of just shocked that
06:36anybody was making it because it was so different than everything I had been reading at the time
06:40which was just more broadly comedic and which I was not as good at as an actor. When I met him I
06:45just said I just I can't believe you wrote this it's so beautiful it's just so beautiful and he
06:50said that yeah that's what I'm trying to do I want to make like this kind of sweet melancholy thing
06:53and then it's so funny because um when they ended up putting out the movie they made it look like
06:57the kind of broadest version of itself and it's just it's not that at all. I hear all the time
07:02people love the movie Adventureland because I think it has this real heart to it that you know
07:06gives it a certain kind of longevity. A little more than 40% of these fish are dead. I'm amazed
07:11at how tiny my paycheck is I've been working doubles. Well we are doing the work of pathetic
07:15lazy morons. Adventureland had some of the greatest comic actors in the world Bill Hader
07:21and Kristen Wiig were in the movie and normally I would feel I think really you know in over my head
07:29out of my depth in deep water when I'm used to shallow water I don't know what the expression
07:32is but I wouldn't feel comfortable. The movie had this really kind of like melancholic dramatic
07:37undertone and I felt actually it was like my job as the central character to kind of like
07:42maintain that so in fact I just felt so glad to be able to work with people like that.
07:47Um why don't you give the kid a fucking panda?
07:53Here you go here's your panda. Yeah thanks. When we were doing Adventureland Kristen Stewart was
07:5817 which is like sounds like not a very young person but when you're doing a movie you're like
08:03constantly aware of their age because 17 year olds can't work past a certain time and they
08:07have to go to school and everything and she was just like the most powerful co-actor I've ever
08:14met until that point. We did a scene in a car where we're driving over a bridge and it's this
08:18kind of sweet montage and I'm just like staring at her and I think I say one word and I think she
08:21says one word. Hey can we go somewhere? Yeah. And we parked the car on the bridge they were setting
08:30up the lights we had a few minutes in between setups and I went to the director Greg Mottola
08:35and I said I this is a like a movie star I said I don't know what a movie star is but I think now I
08:41do. She had a certain kind of intensity and lived in quality I kind of like had never seen it before
08:46I worked with like amazing actors because I had grown up doing theater working with like great
08:50actors but I don't think I'd ever seen anybody that just had this kind of like innate quality
08:55that was so engaging and like preternaturally like emotionally accessible. I've worked with
09:01her now a few times and I've had that same experience each time she makes me nervous
09:05because she's like has an intimidating presence. Luckily the movies we did together I think
09:09actually all I think support that relationship.
09:24Greg Mottola to this day is like one of like the two nicest people I've ever worked with.
09:28I'll never forget it because it made such an impact on me more as a director even than an
09:32actor but one day on set it was a scene where I'm like saying goodbye to my parents because
09:36I'm going to the big city I don't think you even hear the dialogue in the movie but basically I
09:38just had like a panic attack and it was the first time I ever had a panic attack on set and I just
09:42like shut down and I was not able to like I just you know you have that strange out of body
09:47sensation and I went to Greg and I said I am so sorry I just had a panic attack I think I don't
09:52know what happened and I'm so sorry I screwed up the scene and he took me aside he didn't like
09:56talk to me in front of people he took me aside and he said I am not an actor I don't understand
10:00how you're not having panic attacks at every single moment on a movie set you're being
10:04scrutinized you're using your own emotions you're in a costume that's not your costume
10:09somebody's done your hair you have makeup on and you're standing there emoting something that is
10:13not true to your life and I just had this weight lifted off of my shoulders I was like probably 25
10:18years old and I had been like a kind of a nervous performer up until that point and then when he
10:23gave me permission to feel nervous suddenly I didn't anymore and as a director now I always
10:28just think what the actors are doing here is so exposing and vulnerable and I appreciate every
10:33moment that they're on set and it just changed my perception of how we could think about actors
10:41Batman versus Superman Lex Luthor
10:46Hi hello Lex it is a pleasure ow wow that is a good grip you should not pick a fight with this
10:52person with a movie where there's like a real canon like Batman versus Superman and the part
10:55that I was playing there's like a kind of canon certain expectations from an audience there's
10:59nothing that I could personally do besides playing my role as good as I can play it thinking about
11:04this character's history and what made him so malevolent and so angry and self-hating to me
11:12that you know it felt like playing any other role the fact that it has like this kind of specific
11:16expectations and historical perceptions is something that like I'm not in control of and I
11:22guess if I were to try to control it I probably wouldn't do that great a job as an actor because
11:26I'm thinking about this like you know like final product rather than what I'm supposed to be
11:30thinking about which is what would this character feel in this moment and why does he feel that way
11:34and how could I kind of get myself as close to those shoes as possible playing in a Batman movie
11:40doesn't mean I have to do my job any differently in fact it requires me to do my job at the highest
11:45possible level because the movie is such a big movie and my part was so wonderfully written and
11:50special so I loved doing it no I loved it it was so funny because you know when you're acting in a
11:54movie typically your job doesn't change based on the budget typically you know you're sitting in
11:59front of a camera and you're doing scene work and you're thinking about your character's inner life
12:03and your emotional experience and that doesn't really change if there's a kind of huge green
12:09screen and a styrofoam bat cave behind you it's really the job is the same which is this very kind
12:13of like intimate emotional experience it was just funny to be on that set because I felt like I was
12:17doing my regular job but just in front of you know multi-million dollar sets and it was amazing to
12:23see the artisans they get the best artisans in the world to work on these movies because you know
12:26they're like paying the most money and so you get to see some of the most amazing art down to every
12:32prop every set piece every painting on the wall that's bespoke and made for that particular scene
12:37and it was just exhilarating I figured out way back if God is all powerful he cannot be all good
12:45and if he is all good then he cannot be all powerful and neither can you be they need to
12:52see the fraud you are with their eyes my character I guess you could call him xenophobic he viewed
12:58superman as an alien who was a threat to the society that I held dear now we think of politics
13:03like that as kind of like xenophobic and you know anti-immigrant you might call I mean it's
13:08strange to to even come to speak about it uh in kind of modern political terms but
13:14like the way I thought about it is here is somebody who's coming who is a
13:18uh who's more powerful than our civilization and they pose obviously they pose a threat in the way
13:23you might think now of AI posing a threat something this powerful should not exist if we were making
13:28the movie today I think my analog would probably be that superman represents some kind of like
13:33AI where like we don't know what it can do and yes it has this power but we can't control what
13:37that power is so why even take the risk when you think about it that way it's very easy to get into
13:42the head of that character because he has a kind of like making a good point which is like a lot
13:46of people making now that AI is unknown and therefore more dangerous than you can possibly
13:50conceive of that's the way I guess I work as an actor you know you're trying to kind of
13:55get inside the emotional inner life of your character and justify their behavior
13:59however different it might be from your own
14:03Zombieland Columbus
14:09So I'm on my way from my college dorm in Austin, Texas to Columbus, Ohio
14:14where I'm hoping my parents are still alive even though we were never really close
14:18it'd just be nice to see a familiar face or any face that doesn't have blood dripping from its
14:22lips and flesh between its teeth the Zombieland movies are like these unexpectedly beloved movies
14:28you know I say unexpectedly only because they're like quite violent so you don't expect like
14:32people that come up to you all the time and said I finally watched that movie with my family I've
14:36been waiting to watch that movie with my family it's just like kind of like uh not what you expect
14:40from a movie like that when I think about it and when I think about like what the experience
14:43actually was like doing it it had this like very kind of warm feeling similar to Adventureland
14:48being kind of a um kind of sweet comedy this felt like kind of a sweet genre movie the characters
14:55were sweet the four of us are all dramatic actors and so we kind of approached the movie from the
15:00same you know dramatically responsible place of who are these people what are they going through
15:05you know I remember like Woody Harrelson's character has a thing where like you think
15:08he's talking about missing his dog and it turns out he's missing his kid I mean it's this incredibly
15:12high stakes dramatic emotional uh circumstances and so we were all playing it legitimately and
15:19so the movie was really funny but it also had this kind of like emotional quality to it I guess
15:23that makes people love these movies so much is that it feels like the characters are relatable
15:28even though the circumstances are so you know extreme and absurd illusion but that's his puppy
15:34I'll tell you I never thought I could love anything like Buck it's just the day he was born
15:42I just lost my mind I just finished my fifth project with Woody Harrelson three days ago I've
15:48worked with Woody Harrelson more than I've worked with anybody in my life which seems so strange
15:52only because we're so different I just remember improvising with him in the first Zombieland
15:57being so impressed that he improvises in character he doesn't improvise jokes and I just love that
16:02because I like improv but I don't love improv where you're kind of just throwing random jokes
16:06in to make the people around you laugh I love improvisation when it's in the spirit of the
16:10character I just remember thinking this guy is just an unbelievable genius and the way I think
16:14about him in general is like he's a true unusual artist and a brilliant one but the public perceives
16:20him as this kind of like regular guy and he is in that he is a kind of regular guy but he's a very
16:26unusual artist he just has this kind of genial quality that I think makes
16:30him very relatable but I don't think that's like by design
16:37now you see me J Daniel Atlas
16:43that was too fast I'll do it again are you ready okay
16:49did you see one yes do you have one in mind yes and do you see your card here
16:54no that's because you're looking too closely and what have I been telling you all night
17:00the closer you look the less you see
17:09when I signed on to the movie now you see me they told me that they were like
17:12changing the script and if I had input into my character I now was the time to give it
17:17the script was great and everything but they allowed me to kind of alter my character and I
17:20remember just thinking I want to play something I never played before can I just play this part
17:24who is you know brash and arrogant and really confident and has no self-doubt and it's just
17:30this really weird experience where when I was acting in the movie and I just literally finished
17:35the third one less than a week ago I just feel great about myself it's this strange thing now
17:40a lot of characters I play are kind of like tortured self-hating you know misanthropic
17:45self-aware kind of people and when I'm playing the now you see me character which I've gotten
17:49to do now three times I just feel so great at the end of the day I think the set went perfectly
17:54after a scene I think it went perfect between takes I'm excited about doing another take
17:59I have no self-doubt and it's because I'm living in the spirit of this character who has no
18:03self-doubt I might be terrible in movie I don't know I just it's the only times I really feel
18:09like I'm great and it's because the character feels like he's great and it's like just the
18:12biggest psychological and emotional relief for me to do these movies I hope they do 10 more
18:16it'd be a little difficult to make it rain right that would be something that only
18:19God can do right because I'm going to do something that God can't do I'm not just
18:24going to make it clear up no no no no I'm going to make it actually stop my relationship with
18:31magic has not changed as much as my relationship with the public thinking that I have a relationship
18:36with magic like I can't really do anything wonderful magically but that's because like
18:42the people who do do it and I've worked now with like the greatest magicians in the world because
18:45of course they're like our consultants because it's like a big movie we have access to like
18:48the greatest magicians what they do is such a skill set that requires just years and years
18:54of practice I mean I'm obviously not at that level so I know a few things and this new movie
18:59Now You See Me 3 we tried to do most kind of effects in camera as opposed to like computer
19:03generated effects a lot of the magic that the characters do in this movie are not like just
19:08slight of hand I mean they're huge like Rube Goldberg MIT level thought experiments like
19:14making it rain and then making the rain stop this is like a thing that you can do
19:18practically but it's just requires like just a brilliant mind and so I actually don't have to
19:25do that much magic but because I'm so associated with these movies I do often get asked to do
19:30magic on the street and I usually just quickly change the subject and ask them where they're
19:34from and say nice to meet you the end of the tour David Lipsky
19:40if I could I'd say to David that living those days with him reminded me of what life is like
19:50instead of being a relief from it
19:55and I'd tell him it made me feel much less alone the end of the tour as a movie I love so much
20:01the relationship I had with the director James Ponselt was one of the highlights of my life as
20:05well as the relationship with Jason Segel the other actor it felt like we were really on the
20:09same team and it was a very immersive experience we were all in Michigan during like one of the
20:15coldest winters that they had seen on Lake Michigan it just felt like we would wake up
20:20and shoot the movie all day and then go to sleep and then wake up and shoot the movie all day
20:24that sounds like a typical job but what I really mean is that it was so immersive that we never
20:29left each other's sides it's the two of us in every moment in the movie and we shot long hours
20:34and it was freezing and it was really small budget and so we were basically shooting like
20:3815 hours instead of just working 25 days we worked 19 days and 20 and 15 hours you know
20:44the character I was playing was a deeply envious person he is interviewing a writer that he's
20:49deeply deeply envious of and it was very uncomfortable for me and very emotional for me
20:55to be like in that role I'm sorry I'm not asking for like sympathy this is the nature of being an
21:00actor but it just hit me in an incredibly personal way I don't know if I was going through something
21:05in my career at that time or something that for some reason just mirrored what was happening in
21:11that movie and it just was killing me I really couldn't stop crying during the scenes and then
21:16the director told me stop crying during the scenes but it was just like hitting me in an
21:20emotional way that I couldn't explain even to like a therapist which I was probably mistakenly
21:25not going to at the time and I just had these very strong feelings for Jason the actor who's
21:29really wonderful in the movie and he's an imposing person even and all these very profound
21:36feelings of inadequacies were like really eating me alive during that movie and partly because
21:41there was no break it just I was just in this world and it actually felt really I don't know
21:47what the word is but it really felt actually quite not healthy for me I was glad when the movie
21:53ended even though it was really one of the most creatively inspiring experiences that I've ever
21:58had you're not gonna make me look like I'm one of those insane old women who talks to their dogs
22:02right um no don't worry about it I am worried about it my dogs are gonna be offended the dogs
22:07are not gonna read this article I gotta tell you they've never taken to a man who they've taken to
22:14you Jason and I got along like as good as two people in the world can get along we were both
22:20happy to be doing this movie I would say even more for him because it was such a departure for him
22:26and I think it really gave him an opportunity to show how wonderfully he can be in a dramatic role
22:32for me my part was a little more like kind of similar to myself and so um he was so thrilled
22:40to be there and I was thrilled because I love the movie but also very just vulnerable because of the
22:48part I was playing and how it dovetailed with my life in an uncomfortable way and yet when we were
22:53on set we would not stop laughing uh in between takes I've never laughed that hard we were just
23:00in hysterics because um we just got along so well because we weren't in a comedy I think we needed
23:07that catharsis so we were just laughing all the time I still remember the jokes that we had on set
23:13as just being like some of the funniest dumbest jokes I've ever heard in my life
23:17because the scenes were so fraught uh you know he was a character that was suicidal and an addict
23:22and I was a character who hated himself to such a degree that I that he put himself in the line of
23:28fire with this more talented person it was really just the highs and lows and they were as high as
23:33possible and then as low as possible because the scenes were really fraught and the time in between
23:37the scenes were really funny the squid in the whale walt burkman
23:47you weren't even a writer until recently you just failed on dad because he's not as successful as
23:52he used to be and hasn't gotten the recognition he deserves you sound like your father oh I'm glad
23:55I sound like him you disgust me you're being a shit walt I know for the director it's a very
24:00personal story and I was playing him as a young man and so I can understand now you know why the
24:06part was really sensitive to cast but at the time it just felt like this very exciting and also
24:10nerve-wracking lingering experience because it took place over the course of like a few months
24:14that you know I would go back for this movie audition for the same three people in the room
24:19it was like this kind of lingering thing and it was so good I mean the script was so good everybody
24:24thought so because I was friends with young actors and everyone's just like this is unbelievable and
24:27what a great part for a young man it was in New York and the people were making it were just so
24:33smart and talented it felt like I was part of like the cool kids table for like a few months
24:38I don't know how to describe it other than that it felt like we were working on like an amazing
24:42art piece that was really special but at the same time very funny and I just felt I guess like a
24:47kind of pressure to live up to it it shot very quickly you know something like 20 days they even
24:53had to cut out these amazing scripted scenes because there was no time or money to do these
24:58scenes and it's funny because looking back the movie's like a classic movie and it's you know
25:01beloved and live on forever but at the time it was literally like oh we can't shoot this great scene
25:07from this great script that everybody loves because there's no time and money so instead
25:10we're going to do it in a hallway or a science class or something when it was like this really
25:13funny choreographed scene it really felt cool I was going to Brooklyn every day I don't know I
25:19just have I have I have the visceral memories of that movie that just made me feel like I was part
25:23of something really unusual I regret sometimes I wasn't more of a free agent when I was younger
25:30there was a woman who approached me at a party at George Plimpton's after my first book
25:34she was very sexy I could have gone home with her why didn't you I was with your mother oh right
25:42of course well you should have probably done it it didn't stop her the crew was made up of like some
25:47of the greatest artisans in the world like our cinematographer was Wes Anderson's cinematographer
25:52also the other half of the crew was uh Noah's um former students at Vassar and they were my age
25:58so I was like friends with the young crew members who were like essentially in like interning on the
26:02movie and yet um we were working for like the greatest like gaffer in New York City was the
26:07gaffer and so it was this really kind of unusually bifurcated uh set experience it was great for me
26:13because I got along with people who are in my kind of generation um but I also knew I was working with
26:19these people who are amazing it just felt like the script was so perfect we didn't have to do
26:22anything I've been involved in a few movies where it felt like script is so good you just have to
26:27show up and I don't know not try to put a spin on something you know what I mean not try to like uh
26:34how can I take this in the direction that I want to take it in sometimes you do that in a movie and
26:38it's really helpful because maybe the movie is missing a little personality or something and so
26:41you feel like as an actor I have a little bit more responsibility here to kind of take it in a more
26:44interesting direction and with that movie it just felt like this is so good we can I can be we could
26:49just you know we just stand in front of a white wall and do this and it would be great the set
26:54was very quick moving um every scene was shot I if I'm remembering correctly very quickly except
27:00for the very last scene where the character I play goes into like this museum of natural history
27:04and goes up to this diorama I remember that um being shot from multiple angles on a dolly with
27:10a you know an arm moving up to do a beautiful move and I remember feeling like oh oh suddenly
27:15this all feels like very real and less spontaneous. Fleishman is in trouble. Toby Fleishman.
27:22For the 10th time that day, Toby was forced to ask the question that occurred to him nearly every
27:30few minutes since his separation. How did I get here? How did I become a divorced guy? How could
27:35my kids be so much like these people when they also so resembled me? I loved the book Fleishman
27:41is in Trouble. I love the writer. She's one of my best friends and she's just a genius. She's a
27:45creative powerhouse and I really loved doing the show. The weird part of the show is that
27:50my life is being narrated by somebody. He gathered all he had to go in there. Whatever it was, he
27:57could handle it. And so what you're seeing in my character is essentially like the leading character
28:02in somebody else's book and it's strange to play that. There's no real way to play that as an actor.
28:08You can't play the kind of like meta textual remove. The show presents itself in this really
28:14kind of brilliant observational way where you're looking at my character from outside but as an
28:20actor you just can't think of it that way at all. As an actor you have to just kind of think of what
28:24is my character going through now and you don't think of yourself as a cog. You think of yourself
28:28as the lead. It was kind of interesting to do that and I always knew that there would be this other
28:32element in the show. I was working with just some of the greatest actors. Lizzie Kaplan who I've
28:36worked with a bunch of times now. Claire Danes who's to this day maybe like the most intensely
28:41dramatic scene partner I've ever had. She's just on another level. I love her. And Adam Brody who
28:47I just got along with so well and we had this really kind of funny strangely tepid masculine
28:52relationship in this show. I love the show so much without even appreciating what it was doing
28:59on this kind of other level and because I don't watch myself I've never appreciated the show as
29:04this other thing. I've always just appreciated being this character. You have to understand
29:10that Toby was not exactly a desired property in his youth. So handsome. What I learned about online
29:16dating is that I personally would not fare well on those platforms and I'm so lucky that I met my
29:22wife before the internet. I know when like I go to parties I'm not a good party goer because
29:30I'm not fun and so I know when I have somebody cornered in a room I could talk to them and I
29:36appear like a human being. Online apps I wouldn't appear like a person and at parties I won't appear
29:40like a person and I'm kind of just happy I'm 41 and not 21 because I existed at a time where I
29:46could I guess thrive more. The Double, Simon James and James Simon.
29:56You're not thinking of killing yourself are you? Sorry it's a simple question. No.
30:00Should I put him down as a no? Put him down as a maybe.
30:05The Double was my other favorite collaboration of all time with Richard Ayoade the director who
30:10is my idol and a genius and one of my best friends brought such artistry to this movie
30:15to every little moment but I will say it was the first time I felt like this is a gift. I normally
30:20I feel nervous on sets I know when the big scenes are coming up and you feel a little anxious as
30:23they approach. This movie I felt like this is the gift. I was I think like you know 30 at the time
30:28I filmed it and I've been acting since I was young so I was like oh this is what I've been working
30:31for to feel this and I just wish it could have gone on forever. I felt like I was there to use
30:38the full extent of my artistry. I was playing two characters this kind of like shy character
30:42and this very brash obnoxious character and I just felt like this is everything that I know
30:46how to do well. This is everything that I've like worked on in my life and in my craft and with
30:52drama school and with acting in movies and acting in movies that were not good and acting in parts
30:57that were thankless. This is the gift. This is like this is just a gift. I felt that one other
31:04time and with the movie The Art of Self-Defense I was on set just feeling like god if I could
31:08just do this every day be in this character's shoes every day I feel like I know exactly what
31:12I'm doing and I feel like I'm working to the best of my abilities. Even directing a movie now that
31:17I'm acting in that I wrote I still don't feel like I'm working to the best of my abilities even
31:21though it is like all the things I can do. With The Double and The Art of Self-Defense I just felt
31:24like if I can have two more experiences like this in my life where I feel like I'm working to the
31:29best of my abilities I will be very happy. A real pain David Kaplan.
31:40The movie in some ways like answers a question I have which is like I'm kind of a depressive so I
31:44kind of like walk around feeling not bad for myself but feeling bad like I would say maybe
31:48more about myself or something. I then punish myself. How could I possibly feel that there's
31:52wars going on all over the world and hurricanes? How could I possibly feel bad about myself? My
31:56life is so comfortable. I'm so lucky. I have the luck of you know 10,000 people. I'm so lucky. The
32:02movie's trying to kind of like contend with that. It's these two characters who both have like what
32:06I would call modern day demons. Like my character has like you know medicated OCD you know and like
32:11obsessive-compulsive disorder and anxiety right? And Kieran's character has some darker but
32:15individual demons. You know grandma never pitied herself. In fact she always told me she was
32:20grateful for her struggle. Well that's just it what she endured that gave her hope right? Yes in
32:25fact she used to tell me that like you know first generation immigrants work some like menial job
32:30you know. They drive cabs. They deliver food. Second generation they go to good schools and
32:34they become like you know a doctor or a lawyer or whatever and the third generation lives in
32:39their mother's basement and smokes pot all day. She said that. And they go back to Poland and
32:46they're actually trying to confront like their family's history which was much more fraught and
32:49objectively more terrifying than their lives. Trying to ask the question of like what pain is
32:53valid? Is it is it okay? Because I say in the movie I know my pain is unexceptional so I don't
32:58feel the need to burden everybody with it. But Kieran's character I say you know it feels like
33:02he's using his pain constantly as a weapon to co-opt social situations. I guess that's all
33:08when I say like autobiographical I guess I just it's all the stuff I think about all the time
33:11and this movie is like kind of let's say like a fictional discussion of those questions I have.
33:16Kieran and I met which I didn't remember at an audition for Adventureland. I was already
33:22cast in the part and he came in to audition for a character that like is constantly hitting me in
33:27the balls and in the audition he also squeezed my nipples very hard and wouldn't let go. It
33:33wasn't in the script and the director said cut and I think he didn't hear me so he's yelling at me
33:37and so he just continued to hold me and I remember just being so intimidated by him even though I was
33:42the one technically like with the comfortable position because I had already been cast in the
33:47movie and other people were auditioning for his part and I remember just thinking this guy is so
33:52talented and so brazen and so intimidating and so comfortable with himself and this must have
33:57stayed with me in my mind because the movie is really that relationship like he kind of manhandles
34:01me and bullies me and charms me and I find him very intimidating but he's this also kind of like
34:08spark of light. Maybe this stayed in my mind because when somebody suggested him to me it
34:12was immediate of course that's who should play it. I didn't like consciously associate back to being
34:17squeezed in my breasts but I guess I must have had that in my unconscious.
34:22you