Jesse Eisenberg Talks ‘Vivarium,’ ‘Resistance,’ and How ‘Peppa Pig’ Is Keeping His Family Sane in Isolation
By Anna Menta @annalikestweets
Mar 26, 2020 at 11:55am
Like the rest of the world, Jesse Eisenberg‘s life screeched to a halt thanks to the worldwide coronavirus pandemic. The actor is currently holed up in Los Angeles with his wife and 3-year-old son, having canceled all his plans for the month, which included location scouting in Bosnia, recording an audiobook, and filming a movie in Canada. That leaves plenty of time, at least, to chat about the two new films Eisenberg has coming out on digital tomorrow.
Vivarium, a surreal sci-fi thriller from Irish director Lorcan Finnegan, stars Eisenberg and Imogen Poots as a couple searching for their dream home who find themselves in a suburban, domestic nightmare; trapped in a cookie-cutter housing development neighborhood for years. At a time when so many are trapped their homes in self-isolation, it’s a disorientingly creepy watch, to say the least. Resistance—a slightly more grounded though no less sobering historical drama from director Jonathan Jakubowicz—stars Eisenberg as Marcel Marceau before he became the world-famous mime, and was merely an aspiring Jewish actor who joined the French Resistance, and helped thousands of Jewish children escape the Nazi soldiers.
Both films had their theatrical releases canceled due to the virus but will be available to rent or for purchase on digital platforms like Amazon Prime Video, iTunes, Google Play and more starting tomorrow, March 27. Eisenberg spoke with Decider via a socially distant phone call about working on the disorienting Vivarium set, his family’s deep personal connection to Resistance, and how Peppa Pig is helping him explain the pandemic to his 3-year-old son.
Decider: Thanks so much for taking the time to speak with me in these weird times for the world. Are you working at all right now, or has everything been shut down?
Jesse Eisenberg: Oh, no, thank you. No, and I had the busiest week planned. I was recording an audiobook I wrote, and then flying to Bosnia to do a location scout for this thing I’m directing. Both things I was so thrilled about, because they were kind of new for me, and then, of course, they both got canceled. And I was supposed to fly directly from Bosnia to Canada to do a movie… It was a whirlwind of things that were all kind of canceled. And I spent the previous six months not doing anything. You know, a typical actor’s life—you spend six months doing nothing and then six months doing six jobs at the same time. So, yeah, it’s weird. But of course, on the scale of people suffering, I couldn’t be lower.
It’s all weird! But let’s talk about the two movies you have coming out because I appreciated the distraction, and I’m sure your fans will too. Vivarium is a film about isolation and the surreal numb feeling that comes with it. That feels scary relevant right now!
What was so strange is that the movie was inspired by the housing crisis in Ireland where there was a shortage of housing in the city, and people were being pushed out. The movie was kind of an abstract reaction to the fears that come with being desperate for homeownership, and then, of course, having a child and getting married and all the stuff that the movie envisions. But I think now because the movie is coming out now, two years after it was written, and under completely different circumstances, I think it will probably be viewed as a kind of fever-dream of being stuck inside your house. These characters move to what appears to be the “perfect suburban life,” the ideal modern adulthood, and then come to realize that this house is sucking the life out of them. But it’s done in such an artful, abstracted way that it feels like it could almost signify anything—any kind of you know fears you have of life change or a commitment to something. I think under the given circumstances, I imagine people who are feeling claustrophobic will be able to relate to this horrifying experience very well.
Vivarium was a surreal movie to watch, I assume it was a surreal movie to film as well. Was that a crazy set of all identical houses that you guys were on?
The filming experience is completely reflective of the story. In order to accomplish this very strange movie, there were three identical houses built on a soundstage in Belgium, but the insides of them were done in Dublin, Ireland. It was totally disorienting because we had to make these three facades in Belgium look like an endless, literally infinite loop of the same house. It required a kind of feat of engineering from digital painters to photographic planning. It was just a very strange filming process that’s totally reflective of the story. The characters feel like they’re in this fake world, and we actually were, shooting on a soundstage. Sometimes there’s a strange intersection between the characters’ experience and the experience filming the movie. That was certainly the case here. It was disorienting, confusing, and kind of monotonous. In a way you are lamenting the fact that you’re shooting under these strange conditions but, as an actor, also appreciating the relevance.
Many people are turning to films that reflect the real-life worries of isolation and just the virus right now. For example, that film Contagion is surging in the charts–
[Laughs] Oh, is that right?
Yes, and I imagine some people might watch Vivarium for similar reasons. Are you like that? Does it soothe your anxiety to kind of watch relevant horror and thriller movies?
So, I have a 3-year-old, so we watch Peppa Pig all day long. I don’t think there’s any episode that really touches on this, except there’s one called “George Catches A Cold” which is Peppa’s little brother George catches a cold because he doesn’t put his hat on, and it seems so petty, but also right now I’m explaining to my baby, “Remember how George catches a cold? That’s going to happen if you put your hands in your mouth, every time you touch something!” I think probably this tells me that we are literally all filtering all of our media through the same lens. People are watching Contagion, and I’m watching Peppa, and we’re both getting that exact same message. If George can catch a cold, we’re all doomed! A cartoon pig! If he’s that vulnerable just by jumping in a puddle without his hat on, then we’re all screwed.
You have another movie coming out, Resistance, in which you play Marcel Marceau. You’ve played historical figures before—obviously Mark Zuckerberg in The Social Network—this feels a little different. How did you prepare to play someone so iconic, especially within your industry?
This was a totally unusual process. My mother was a birthday party clown during my childhood, and so every morning she would put on the same makeup that Marceau wore, and would perform for children. And also, I lost family in the same area where Marceau’s family comes from, in southern Poland. So this movie had all sorts of unusually relevant aspects of it. In terms of preparation, I studied mime for nine months with this amazing choreographer, Tom Saln. He’s a student of Marceau, an expert in Marceau’s life, and a wonderful choreographer. I studied these routines for months and really enjoyed and indulged in immersing myself in that world.
It was a totally different preparation than any other kind of role because there’s so much to learn. I’m playing a guy who’s considered the best, so I had to be kinda proficient enough to look like a young version of him. I’m playing him before audiences saw him. He didn’t have to be perfect, but it had to look like there was an agility, or a curiosity, or an excitement, that would lead somebody to be the best at this particular craft.
Tell me about kind of finding Marcel’s voice—English with a French accent. How did you guys approach that? Were you basing that off the real Marcel Marceau’s accented English, or something else?
Interviews with him in his sixties are not what we were trying to achieve, because this was at a time where he would either be speaking French or Yiddish depending on who he was talking to not English with a French or Yiddish accent. We were trying to find whatever would feel authentic. I studied with this accent coach, again for nine months, because I had so much time before the movie started. We found a middle ground between being French, and also French with Yiddish influence because that’s what they would have spoken. My family speaks Yiddish, so I grew up hearing Yiddish, not French, but there are some wonderfully overlapping sounds that were helpful. Then I was surrounded by French cast, and my brother’s French—so I was surrounded by French actors who were really helpful.
It sounds like there is a strong connection between this movie and your family. Have they seen it yet?
No, but the final scene in the movie takes place in this arena that Hitler was building to house something like 40,000 people—or 70,000 people I think—in Nuremberg, and it was unfinished. We filmed the final scene in this you know huge arena, the story is that Marceau is performing for 5,000 troops for Gen. Patton’s [played by Ed Harris in the film] army after the war is over. I brought my parents out to Nuremberg to see the performance. It was really touching, especially for my mother, because she grew up admiring Marceau. He inspired her performance and her life. And it was touching I think for my father, who lost family in southern Poland—aunts, uncles, cousins. There was a feeling that doing this movie, telling this story, was in a way some kind of a nice ending to a horrific story.
My favorite part of the movie is where the character decides to leave French resistance and try to just save children. Instead of fighting Nazis one-on-one on the street, they decide to go back, they decide to go and just try to save kids and bring them across the border. Marceau’s way to resist is to just survive. And so there was something really nice about watching that scene—where you know Hitler was building these you know arenas for, you know, horrible speeches—with my baby and my father. That felt like we were living Marceau’s dream. That the best way to resist is to survive.
Wow. That’s pretty incredible. And to your point, this is a movie about survival and about the power of entertainment to keep spirits up in dark times, which does feel especially relevant now.
Oh yes, that’s right, I never put that together but you’re exactly right, yeah.
Are there movies, TV shows, or anything that you’ve been watching recently to keep your spirits up?
My son is just so obsessed with Peppa Pig that it’s at the exclusion of everything else. It’s comforting because we’ve been moving around a lot, because we got stuck in Los Angeles. To have Peppa Pig as a constant thing on the phone, on YouTube, is really comforting. And then my favorite animated show was The Critic. It was this show on 20 years ago now—maybe 25 years. I just loved it when I was a kid. I would videotape every episode and just rewatch it. Since my son is 3, and he likes animated shows, and he doesn’t understand context enough of adult shows—there’s nothing upsetting in The Critic for him because it’s a cartoon, so I’ve been showing him some of that too. It’s animated but it’s really for adults. That’s been pretty good. It’s nostalgic, and it’s a great show, and it takes place in New York City in the late 90s, so there’s something just kind of nostalgic about it for me.
That’s great. Incepting your favorite shows into your kid’s brain so that they can be fans when they’re older!
I want him to have the same sense of humor as me, of course, so that he gets my jokes.
We are coming up on the 10 year anniversary of The Social Network this fall, a film I love, and one that feels more relevant every year. Is it strange to watch the Facebook situation unfold, having been immersed in that world a decade ago?
I’m in a really weird position because I don’t have any social media. I’m in the public eye already, so I have a total aversion to any kind of attention because I’m already doing interviews, you know, I’m already so public. I’m in this weird position where people probably associate me with that website, but it actually has no impact on my life because none of my data is on there. So the things that are scaring people now don’t really apply to me except for the fact that I’m part of the electorate. People are scared that their data is being misused—that doesn’t apply to me even though it applies to 99 percent of the world. Yet I am probably associated with it more than they are. I’m asked about it a lot, but I literally have much less to say about it than anybody else.That’s fair. My last question for you has nothing to do with coronavirus or your current or former projects: Are you aware that drag queen Trixie Mattel has 链接?
Not only am I aware of that, but I made a response video that apparently plays at every concert. I made this video for her and yeah it plays after she does the song. So if you go to a show, apparently you will see that song and then my response. I love the song! It’s a great song. I mean it’s actually a good song! It’s kind of like a novelty song I suppose, but I really liked it. Except when she says that my wife will disappear, but otherwise I really like it.