Jesse Eisenberg reveals brutal effect Batman v Superman role had on his career

Tom MurrayTue, October 20, 2026 at 12:35 PM UTC

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Jesse Eisenberg won the Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Supporting Actor for his role in ‘Batman v Superman’ (Getty)

Jesse Eisenberg has revealed he turned to directing after fearing his acting career had been derailed by his Razzie-winning performance in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice.

The Social Network star won the Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Supporting Actor for his role as supervillain Lex Luthor opposite Henry Cavill and Ben Affleck in the widely panned 2016 superhero film.

Speaking during a talk at the London Film Festival over the weekend, Eisenberg was asked why he changed his career at that point and he explained: "Listen, a lot of it just came from fear.

“I couldn’t get into movie studio parts anymore because I had won a Raspberry Award from [being in the] Batman movie … and I saw the trajectory,” he said.

The Razzies are an annual, tongue-in-cheek ceremony that pokes fun at Hollywood’s worst films and performances.

Eisenberg played supervillain Lex Luthor in the widely panned 2016 superhero film (Warner Bros)

“If you’re an actor, you’re constantly panicked about: ‘Am I on an upslope or a downslope?’ Because there’s no plateau.

“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.”

Jesse went on to admit he will also never take on a role in another superhero movie, adding: “The industry tells you what they want from you.

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“The industry did not want me to be in a superhero movie, and if you’re smart and self-aware, you learn that quickly.

“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.

“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.”

It comes after Jesse finally revealed why he turned down the chance to reprise his role as Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg in The Social Reckoning.

The actor played Zuckerberg in the 2010 movie The Social Network but declined to return for the new film, even though he “loved” Aaron Sorkin's script, because he didn't want to be caught up in discussions about something he “knows nothing about”.

He told Deadline: “I haven’t seen the movie yet. It just came out … I have a thousand million thoughts about the movie.

“I love the script and I love Aaron Sorkin so much, and it was such an honour to be in the first movie, if you can call it the first movie, and I just didn’t want to be associated with that guy again and go around and do a year of press, where I’m talking about something which I know nothing about, because I’m not on that platform as a user, and I’m not interested in that kind of technology as a person.

“I just don’t want to be a representative of it. But, no, I’m sure the movie is wonderful.”

Jesse was replaced by Jeremy Strong, who took on the role of Zuckerberg in the second film.

Original Article on Source

Source: “AOL Entertainment”