Fun
Frisky
Nostalgic
Intense
Adventurous
Choked Up
Curious
Romantic
Weird
It’s often tough to tell how much credit (or blame) to give to an actor for his or her prowess in role selection. After all, you’re young, you’re hungry, you’re (often) unproven, and you’re taking what you can get to one degree or another. But it would be safe to assume that after The Social Network — $96 million Oscar-nominated national sensation — Jesse Eisenberg would have been able to pick and choose his own projects more than most. Freshly made into a mainstream-recognized performer, and an Oscar nominee besides, Eisenberg was an actor’s actor and while not exactly built for the superhero genre (even though he’ll be doing that too), his star was on the rise.
Since The Social Network, Eisenberg has taken on a handful of expected, safe choices. They all made sense. 30 Minutes or Less reunited him with his Zombieland director. To Rome With Love was a Woody Allen movies, and as we’ve all been made quite aware of in the last decade, nobody says no to a Woody Allen movie, no matter how hit or miss his output had become (To Rome With Love was a definite miss). Now You See Me is probably the movie with least explicable upside, from a pure actor’s perspective, but it was also a big hit, and Eisenberg will be back in the sequel next year.
What’s been much more impressive, however, has been Eisenberg’s tendency to lend his newfound star power to some exciting, legitimately daring projects. Sitting at 44% on Rotten Tomatoes, American Ultra may not end up being the proudest gamble on Eisenberg’s slate, but it’s a non-cookie-cutter affair from a director whose only previous credit was the low-fi Project X. Here are five more of the riskiest projects Eisenberg’s signed up for, and whether they were worth the risk.
Why Stop Now?
This was an odd and completely overlooked movie from the writer of Philadelphia (and the upcoming Freeheld), where Eisenberg played son to Melissa Leo’s drug-addict mom, and Tracy Morgan was her drug dealer. How could anything have gone wrong?? The movie pulled in a 24% on Rotten Tomatoes, but Roger Ebert was a notable defender, calling it a “bright screwball comedy.” You can decide for yourself whether you agree with Ebert or everyone else since it’s streaming on Netflix.
Night Moves
Prior to Night Moves, director Kelly Reichardt made feature films Old Joy, Wendy and Lucy, and Meek’s Cutoff, each one an understated critics’ favorite with limited commercial appeal (even with legit movie star Michelle Williams starring in the latter two). But there was Jesse Eisenberg lining up to co-star with Dakota Fanning and Peter Sarsgaard in this story of small-time eco-terrorists who get in over their heads.
[Watch Night Moves on Amazon Prime]
The Double
For what was easily his most acclaimed performance since The Social Network, Eisenberg signed on with director Richard Ayoade (Submarine) for his adaptation of the Dostoyevsky novella. In it, Eisenberg plays the dual role of an office drone and the doppelgänger he encounters who seems to be usurping his life. (That this film at the similarly-themed Enemy came out around the same time could not have been great for either one of them.) Eisenberg received hugely positive reviews, even if the film didn’t ever really break into the mainstream.
[Watch The Double on Netflix]
The End of the Tour
This one’s in theaters right now, with Eisenberg and Jason Segel headlining for director James Ponsoldt (The Spectacular Now). Eisenberg plays reporter Dave Lipsky, accompanying famed writer David Foster Wallace (Segel) on a book tour. Again, Eisenberg’s decision to work with talented up-and-coming directors has paid off with another critical hit, even if Segel is (understandably) getting the lion’s share of performance kudos.
Louder Than Bombs
In his next film, which premiered this spring at Cannes and is set to make its North American debut at the Toronto Film Festival, Eisenberg teams up with Norwegian director Joachim Trier (Reprise; Oslo, August 31st) for a family drama that also stars Gabriel Byrne and Isabelle Huppert. Once again, it’s Eisenberg making the choice to take roles with incredibly current, not quite broken through directors who are nonetheless making very exciting movies. Yes, he’s got Batman vs. Superman coming up (and another Woody Allen movie), but you can’t say that Jesse Eisenberg is playing it safe at this stage of his career, and we’re all better for it.
Joe Reid (@joereid) is a freelance writer living in Brooklyn. You can find him leaving flowers for Mrs. Landingham at the corner of 18th and Potomac.
Like what you see? Follow Decider on Facebook and Twitter to join the conversation, and sign up for our email newsletters to be the first to know about streaming movies and TV news!
