People: Eisenberg struggles with certain types of men

Jesse Eisenberg (41), known for neurotic film roles, says he knows envy of other men and how they go through life. “Most of the time I feel like an intruder who somehow doesn’t really belong,” said the Hollywood actor to the “Süddeutsche Zeitung”. “Many people certainly feel that way. But I keep observing people who seem to go through the world completely unencumbered by their own fears.” The role of colleague Kieran Culkin (42) in the film “A Real Pain”, in which Eisenberg stars and which he directed, is such a character.

Eisenberg, who portrayed Mark Zuckerberg in “The Social Network” in 2010, explained what male behavior he means and what he observes in certain men. “When he’s in good spirits, an entire room takes on his mood. When he’s down, everyone around him does. He’s completely at one with whatever he’s feeling at that moment.” The problem with such people is that being alone is difficult for them. “Because he lives on the energy of others and sometimes drains others dry. If he is alone, that doesn’t work and that can be disastrous for such a person.”

“A Real Pain” (cinematic release January 16) tells the story of two unlikely cousins ​​who, after the death of their Jewish grandmother, take part in an organized trip to the legacy of the Holocaust in Poland. Benji (Culkin) is a chaotic guy, David (Eisenberg) is a rather stubborn guy.

Eisenberg speaks of inherited paranoia

Eisenberg also reports in the “SZ” about the real transgenerational trauma in his Jewish family. The actor said he grew up with parents and grandparents “who were paranoid about the strangest things.” “It’s only when I look back, as an adult, that I realize why that was. Her paranoia came from the fact that she had almost been wiped from the earth, that all her cousins, aunts and uncles had been murdered. So it was all too realistic justified paranoia,” Eisenberg told the “Süddeutsche”.

“The strange thing about paranoia is that it is passed on, but it forgets its origin, so to speak,” said the 41-year-old. As a child near New York, his life was not threatened, but he was still paranoid. “I developed fears of everyday things: birthday parties, school, social interaction. The paranoia that grew out of real historical trauma – pogroms, the Holocaust – came out for me in the New Jersey suburbs as a fear of going to a child’s birthday party .”