Actor Jesse Eisenberg, who played Lex Luthor in Zack Snyder’s DCEU films Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice and Justice League, shared the advice he had for Nicholas Hoult who will play the character in James Gunn’s Superman: Legacy.
Jesse Eisenberg as Lex Luthor in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016), Warner Bros. Pictures
Eisenberg told Variety that his advice for Hoult would be to, “Yeah, don’t watch me!”
When asked if he felt connected to the character, he shared, “Whenever you play a role you feel connected to it because there’s really no way around it. If you give over your emotional experience to a fictional thing, you have this weird Pavlovian response to it. So, of course, any time you do anything, even if it’s a movie that’s a Hollywood kind of thing, you feel all those things.”
Finally, when asked if he planned to tell his kid if he would let them know he played Lex Luthor, Eisenberg responded, “I can tell you right now my child is not going to be interested in that.”
What’s Jesse Eisenberg’s advice to the next person playing Lex Luthor? “Don’t watch me.” | Variety Studio presented by @audible_com https://t.co/hEqNwzcQCc pic.twitter.com/1EVCCpyTpi
— Variety (@Variety) January 20, 2024
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You can’t really argue with Eisenberg’s advice especially if you focus on the performance he gave in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. However, the fault hardly lies on Eisenberg for the way he depicted the character.
Clearly, Eisenberg was cast for the role and also directed to perform the character in a certain way. So the fault lies on not only the casting director, but director Zack Snyder as well.
Eisenberg’s version of Lex Luthor was unrecognizable in the film. If the film did not inform you that he was Lex Luthor, no one would likely know that was the character he was playing.
Jesse Eisenberg as Lex Luthor in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016), Warner Bros. Pictures
However, the short scene he performed in the post-credit scene for Justice League is an altogether different thing. That character at least looked like Lex Luthor. He had the shaved head and wore a suit.
Not only did he look like Lex Luthor, but Eisenberg had an altogether different presence in the scene. He was more menacing and villainous, rather than hokey. Eisenberg’s voice was still a drawback as he’s a little too high pitched for Luthor. He also was still a little too quirky rather than a serious businessman. But he clearly provided a different take on the character than the one seen in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice.
Jesse Eisenberg as Lex Luthor in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016), Warner Bros. Pictures
What do you make of Eisenberg’s advice to Nicholas Hoult or other actors who might play Lex Luthor?
