Woody Allen<\/a> films.<\/span><\/p>\nAnd just to prove his intellectual bona fides, Eisenberg also published a short story collection, humor articles in The New Yorker and McSweeney\u2019s, and had three plays produced off-Broadway.<\/span><\/p>\nHe also has a sense of humor, which he demonstrated after I noted that as a mere mortal, I found his wide-ranging and eclectic skill set extremely annoying. Eisenberg chuckles, saying his mother wasn\u2019t pleased, either.<\/span><\/p>\n\u201cShe wanted me to be a doctor,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\nEisenberg brings a sense of studiousness to his craft. To prepare for the role of Sam Gold in \u201cHoly Rollers,\u201d Eisenberg spent time at Chabad-Lubavitch headquarters in Brooklyn.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\nSo I wondered: How did he prepare for the Luthor gig? Did he push children and kick small animals?\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\nEisenberg laughs again \u2014 and gives a revealing response.<\/span><\/p>\n\u201cNo, I actually think the best way to prepare for something like this is to explore all those hidden urges that you suppressed when you were younger,\u201d he said. \u201cLet it all \u2014 the decades of polite suppression of feelings \u2014 be cathartically released.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\nBecause \u201cBvS\u201d is \u201ca larger than life movie release,\u201d as he calls it, the Internet has been rife with vitriol \u2014 most notably Affleck was not a fan favorite for Batman\u2019s cape.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\nThere was plenty of commentary, too, when it was revealed that the Eisenberg character was named Alexander Luthor Jr., suggesting he was the son of the Lex Luthor played by Gene Hackman in the first two “Superman” films. Despite published reports, it\u2019s not true.<\/span><\/p>\n\u201cLex Luthor is \u2018junior\u2019 only in the marketing materials,\u201d Eisenberg said. \u201cThere\u2019s no discussion of that name in the movie.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\nIronically, Eisenberg had previously never seen a superhero movie.<\/span><\/p>\n\u201cI was aware of Lex Luthor only in the way you\u2019re aware of Michael Jordan, even if you don\u2019t go to basketball games,\u201d he said. \u201cWhen I started reading the comic books, I realized why they had staying power. They create a universe that gives us the opportunity to talk about big ideas, talk about the evils of unchecked power, the corruptibility of power and xenophobia. Luthor is a classic bigot: He feels [Superman] is not like us, he doesn\u2019t belong here.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\nIn a strangely perverted way, Eisenberg recognizes Luthor has some very Jewish traits.<\/span><\/p>\n\u201cLex is a really smart guy with a very strong moral code and he questions things \u2014 these ideas I associate with Jewish culture,\u201d the actor said. \u201cThat said, the character winds up with a really distorted sense of reality.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\nEisenberg had told me in a previous interview that he was \u201can inconsistent Jew.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\nBut that was six years ago, and since then he wrote \u201cThe Revisionist,\u201d a play about a young and blocked writer who travels to Poland and visits a cousin who is a Holocaust survivor. It opens March 29 for a three-week run at the Wallis Annenberg Theater<\/a> in Beverly Hills, California.
\n<\/span><\/p>\nDid the play change anything Jewishly for Eisenberg? In a word: No.<\/span><\/p>\n\u201cI can\u2019t separate myself \u2014 nor do I want to \u2014 from my history, and I really like to embrace certain parts,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s hard not to be proud of a group that promotes civil rights, education and social justice. But the religious aspects of it has not been a part of my life.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\nWhat has become a part of his life: the Internet brouhaha about virtually every aspect of “BvS.”<\/p>\n
\u201cWith the fan base, things become just kind of overblown and exaggerated,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s one reason he\u2019s happy his Luthor has long hair\u00a0\u2014 something Eisenberg tried to hide by wearing a babushka on set, to throw off the prying eyes of the paparazzi who were probably expecting a bald baddie.<\/span><\/p>\n\u201cI did not want to look like myself because, one, I wanted the character to be a little more eccentric,\u201d Eisenberg said. \u201cAlso, I didn\u2019t want to be in a movie of this scale looking exactly like myself playing evil incarnate. Then people would associate me personally with something horrible.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n
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