Actor and filmmaker Jesse Eisenberg’s new movie, “A Real Pain” is hitting theaters just in time for the family gathering season — because who couldn’t use a little levity around the Thanksgiving table?
The comedy, released by Searchlight Pictures, stars Eisenberg, who also wrote and directed the film, and Kieran Culkin, and tells the tale of two once close, but dissimilar cousins who, in light of the death of their grandmother, go on a pilgrimage to Poland to see where their grandmother lived in the shadow of World War II before escaping to the United States, and the trials, laughs, awkward moments and tension that beg the question: What is family when our patriarchs are gone? A heavy topic for movie that makes you laugh — a lot — but the comedy and rollicking storyline come from Eisenberg’s penchant to focus on character-rich stories.
The movie is currently screening at Sag Harbor Cinema, which is great timing: This Friday, Nov. 29 the brainy and talented writer-director-actor will be on hand for an intimate evening of cocktails and dinner to discuss “A Real Pain” as part of the Ram’s Head Inn’s new RAM Film Society initiative, bringing great films and their creators to eastern Long Island all year long.
We caught up with Eisenberg in advance of the event to poke around with a few burning questions we had about his new flick. Here’s what he had to say.
Northforker: What sparked the idea for “A Real Pain”?
Jesse Eisenberg: Anna [Strout, Eisenberg’s wife] and I went to Poland in 2008 to see where my family was from and visit this little house where they lived in until 1939. We went to all the sites the characters visit in the movie because all of that history relates to my family’s history in Poland.
NF: This is such a great buddy film, complete with comedic friction between the cousins. Was that familial disconnect a way to also mirror the disconnect that you had about your own family’s history in Eastern Europe?
JE: Not explicitly. It was originally written as a story of two friends who go to Mongolia to see another friend, and it had this interesting dynamic between the two guys – one is stuck inside his own skin and the other is busting at the seams. When I changed the movie to take place on a Polish tour it suddenly was that much more lived in. Visiting the grandmother’s town gave me the opportunity to have them worry about and mourn loss of a relationship that’s really only linked by grandparents, not parents. I think it can pose the question: What is our relationship going to be moving forward? Unlike siblings or friends, with cousins, it’s a gray area.
NF: “A Real Pain” is your second full feature dive into screenwriting – what was different this time?
JE: Every project is different. I’ve been writing plays for 20 years – the first play took place in Poland, with a young guy name David, which is also the name of my character in [“A Real Pain”], who travels to Poland to see his cousin who’s a Holocaust survivor and he questions himself and his motivations in the face of his cousin’s trauma. Another play I wrote had the character, Ben, [Kieran Culkin’s role] in the movie. He’s a charming, juvenile, angry young man. All these things for me are a way to constantly find avenues for the various voices in my head.
NF: Comedy is very powerful tool in film. Did you ever feel like you wanted to use “A Real Pain” to put the history of the Holocaust in front of people?
JE: If that was on my list of priorities, it was at the bottom of the list. My interest is in storytelling and making fiction – but I want to make fiction about all the things I’m interested in. I’m writing about the things I’m interested in. If they happen to have the ripple effect of telling an important historical event that’s kind of because I’m interested in that, but not because my interest is to teach an audience —audiences don’t go to movies to be lectured.
NF: How did Kieran become your pick for Ben?
JE: My sister and my wife were watching [the HBO series starring Kieran Culkin] “Succession” and when I showed them the script both thought no one on else could do the role of Ben but Kieran. So that immediately made me suspicious of him because I don’t want this to be something where he’s doing a similar character. But he’s such an intuitive, instinctual actor, he made the character its own thing and the context and style of the movie is so different to that show. He’s amazing in this movie – in the first minute or two the audience is engaged with him as a completely different character.
NF: As the writer, director and star from duking it out? Do you find yourself gravitating more toward one of these rles than the other?
JE: I gravitate toward anything that feels like – I see them all as an extension of the nsame thing. There are actors who like to improvise; would you call writing? I don’t know. Writers who are speaking with a director to such an extent that they have such an influence on the direction; would you call that a director? I don’t know. All the jobs I did on this overlap, and they really do seamlessly, because it’s all about having an idea for a story and setting a tone and message and about trying to kind of hone in on your taste. So my taste in comedy is comedy that’s not broad explicit comedy, but instead character driven comedy. My taste in drama not is not melodrama, where a tragic situation is set upon them – so it’s a product of my taste and the way I like to act and direct and direct actors and I got lucky to do them all on this.
NF: What’s your connection to Shelter Island and the Ram’s Head Inn?
JE: We just love it. We initially went to Ram’s Head Inn for my wife’s friend, who was writing a story about Ram’s Head Inn, and we met Aandrea [Carter, owner] and stayed there for a few days. It’s gorgeous and Aandrea has such wonderful way about her. It’s this great environment and feels really like a sweet community. We fell in love with it.
The Friday, Nov. 29 event with Jesse Eisenberg at the Ram’s Head Inn (108 S. Ram Island Drive, Shelter Island, 631-749-0811) begins at 5:30 p.m. Tickets are $100 plus tax and tip, and include cocktails and dinner. Get yours here.
