Jesse Eisenberg on His Previous Views About Acting: ‘They Pay Us Too Much’

The star also opened up about the lonely childhood that inspired his latest project. He explained how a community theater stage gave him a place to belong.

Despite going on to become an Oscar-nominated star, Jesse Eisenberg didn't always hold acting in high regard. The "Now You See Me" alum shared that he once had a "negative" opinion about the career path.

Eisenberg opened up about his views during a press stop for his latest feature film, "The Debut," which premiered at the San Sebastian Film Festival in Spain.

"I used to have this negative opinion about acting because I was an actor and I just thought, 'This is just such a ridiculous job. They pay us too much. We're vain,'" Eisenberg said.

He continued, "We want to look pretty in the morning, we want to stay in the nicest places, and we want to not ever lift anything on movie sets, and then we want all the credit for the movie! I was always like, 'This is a weird job, and it's not fair.'" The turning point came early in his career.

"And then on my first movie, I saw Julianne Moore rehearsing for a scene," he recalled, explaining that he watched her on the monitor as she prepared for an office scene. "She was going through a real, deep emotional process to get ready for the scene."

"I remember looking at it, and I go, 'Oh, wait a second, that's really hard.' Like we're all out here joking, and I'm having a donut, and she's in there suffering. I realized, 'Oh, maybe acting is actually a really valuable thing,'" Eisenberg said.

"Maybe difficult. Maybe it's challenging. Maybe it takes a lot," he went on. "And suddenly, in [one] moment, my entire opinion on acting changed because I saw somebody else doing it, and it wasn't just about me."

Eisenberg reunited with Moore for "The Debut," which he also wrote and directed. The pair previously collaborated on Eisenberg's first directorial feature, 2022's "When You Finish Saving the World."

The film's ensemble cast also includes Paul Giamatti, Halle Bailey, Havana Rose Liu, Bernadette Peters, Colton Ryan, Lilli Cooper, Maulik Pancholy and Bonnie Milligan.

The comedy-drama centers on a timid woman (Moore) who unexpectedly lands a part in a local staging of an original musical. Captivated by the production's forceful and mysterious director (Giamatti), she becomes consumed by her role and the intense world of community theater.

Eisenberg revealed that the story is partly autobiographical, drawing on his own experience with community theater. "The movie takes place in 1990 in central New Jersey, and when I was in central New Jersey in 1990, I was like [Moore's character] Mona Friedman," he explained.

"I was so shy. I was depressed, and I didn't have friends. And then I walked into this community theater when I was seven years old, and suddenly everybody was so nice, and they hugged me," he said.

Recalling the teasing he faced as a child, he added, "Going from a kid who was made fun of in school because I have the same hair as you, curly hair, and the kids were saying mean things to me."

"And then I walked into the community theater, and everybody said, 'Wow, your hair is so amazing! Come this way, you should play with me!'" he went on.

Needless to say, the experience had a profound effect on him, as he recalled, "Suddenly it was like I walked into an alien planet where everybody was nice, and then just like Julianne Moore's character, I took it too far and became crazy."

Eisenberg went on to explain why he chose to tell his story through an older female lead. "So really, the movie is charting my life when I was a child. But I just thought it would be so much better to make it about an older woman because Julianne's amazing, and it's more emotionally impactful to see a woman."