Ever the one to trumpet the complex and nefarious nature of his villain in Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice – he did interview in character as Lex Luthor, remember – Jesse Eisenberg has partook in a new interview ahead of the release of the DC ensemble piece.
Arriving by way of Playboy, the piece features The Social Network star teasing a “modern, multifaceted” rendition of Superman’s arch-nemesis, and what it was like to rub shoulders with Supes, Wonder Woman and the Caped Crusader in Zack Snyder’s imminent juggernaut.
First up, Eisenberg spoke of his own role in Dawn of Justice, how he’s keen to emphasize the psychologically unhinged nature of the character, and why his true motivations are complex in and of themselves.
“The character is in line with what audiences want to see now, which is a more modern, psychologically realistic concept of Lex Luthor. His motivations are multifaceted; he has a way of using language that’s specific to the way his mind works; he struggles with interesting philosophical dilemmas like that of the individual having too much power, even if that individual is using that power for good. For instance, Superman has so far been using his powers to do some good, but is it safe to have someone like that walking the streets? It’s great that all of this happens in the context of a very exciting superhero movie.”
Following up on that, attention turned to his co-stars and, specifically, Henry Cavill and Ben Affleck, who are ready to topline the superhero tussle as Superman and Batman, respectively.
“They’re both very smart, funny people. They were wonderful to work with because we were all sort of adjusting things to make the scenes as good as they could be. Henry has already played Superman in another movie so he has such a strong idea of his character. That was fun for me because I could play with that. Ben Affleck is also very sharp. Doing this was a lot of fun because the three of us like to improvise, changing dialogue and all. But it was also strange for me: I have a lot of respect for both of them and yet my character mocks them both a lot in the movie. But that was just the nature of the thing.”
Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice lands in theaters on March 25.
