Jesse Eisenberg admits studios stopped calling after his Batman v Superman Razzie

Jesse Eisenberg’s been chatting about the fallout from Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, and let’s just say, he hasn’t minced his words. If you ever thought getting a Razzie was nothing but a harmless wind-up, Eisenberg’s experience would probably change your mind.

The Razzie That Lingered

You know him as Lex Luthor in that 2016 superhero slugfest, and apparently, so do quite a few casting directors—with a specific, not-all-that-flattering association. Eisenberg bagged the Golden Raspberry Award (or ‘Razzie’) for Worst Supporting Actor thanks to his take on the iconic DC villain. Not exactly the sort of hardware you put front and centre on the mantle.

Speaking at a BFI London Film Festival event, Eisenberg laid out just how much that infamous Razzie nomination messed with his career prospects. He told Variety that the aftermath was very real: studios suddenly got a lot less keen on letting him near blockbuster scripts. Here’s how Eisenberg explained the domino effect:

“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 didn’t just shrug it off, either. That fear of losing out drove him to pivot—hard—toward filmmaking himself. As he put it, staying afloat in Hollywood sometimes means writing and directing your own way back in.

From Actor to Auteur

So, what’s Eisenberg been up to since his turn as pop-culture’s twitchiest Lex? A fair bit, even if it’s flown under the radar for some. He tackled a real grab-bag of roles across the board:

• Café Society (quickly on Woody Allen’s wavelength)
• The Hummingbird Project (finance drama, if that’s your thing)
• Zombieland: Double Tap (yep, back in the zombie saddle)
• Vivarium (trapped in suburbia, as you do)
• Resistance (threw himself into a Marcel Marceau biopic)
• Manodrome (psychological thriller territory)
• Now You See Me: Now You Don’t (2025, returns as J. Daniel Atlas for another magician caper)

Now You See Me: Now You Don’t gave Eisenberg a franchise reprisal in 2025.

But it’s behind the camera where he’s probably turning the most heads lately. He popped his directorial cherry with When You Finish Saving the World in 2022 (Julianne Moore and Finn Wolfhard leading the way), then followed up with A Real Pain in 2024—a project he wrote, directed, and starred in with Kieran Culkin. That effort nabbed him an Academy Award nomination for Best Original Screenplay. Not bad for a bloke allegedly on the outs after a superhero dud.

If you’re curious what’s next, he’s just wrapped up The Debut—a 2026 musical comedy starring Moore, Paul Giamatti, and Halle Bailey. Odd mix, but it tracks: the plot spins around a New Jersey housewife who stumbles into purpose and a sense of belonging through the unlikely world of amateur theatre.