Despite recently obtaining his Polish citizenship, “A Real Pain” director Jesse Eisenberg is not thinking about leaving the U.S. anytime soon. Speaking at the Karlovy Vary Film Festival, where he is the recipient of this year’s President’s Award, the actor-turned-director said he feels a “responsibility” to stay in New York City as his home country grapples with Trump’s presidency.
“I am a very lucky American,” he said. “I have a nice life. My wife is a teacher, and she teaches a lot of students who are not as lucky as we are. I think we feel, if anything, a responsibility to stay in New York and help those who are struggling through a tougher period in American history. No, I’m not going to leave because I don’t like the politics of America. That seems a little silly, because my life is very good.”
Eisenberg’s next directorial effort is the musical comedy “The Debut,” starring Julianne Moore and Paul Giamatti and scheduled to come out in the U.S. on Dec. 3, courtesy of A24. The first official trailer for the film came out last week, just a day after it was announced that the American film company had struck an AI research partnership with Google that will see the independent studio work with Google’s DeepMind unit to develop new AI-powered technologies for filmmakers. Many disappointed film fans rushed to social media posts of the trailer to express their disappointment with the partnership and their refutal of AI interference in filmmaking — particularly artist-focused, independent filmmaking.
