A “Worst Supporting Actor” trophy for playing a comic-book villain in a film that opened to roughly $424 million worldwide in its opening weekend was enough to close the door on Jesse Eisenberg’s studio acting career—and, in doing so, accidentally turned him into one of the more interesting writer-directors working in American independent cinema.
Speaking Sunday, October 18, 2026, at the 70th BFI London Film Festival during a screen talk for his new film The Debut, Eisenberg confirmed that winning the Golden Raspberry Award (Razzie) for Worst Supporting Actor for his portrayal of Lex Luthor in Zack Snyder’s 2016 Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice altered the types of studio roles he was offered—and accepted. “A lot of it just came from fear,” he told the BFI audience. “I couldn’t get into movie studio parts anymore because I had won a Raspberry Award from [being in the] ‘Batman’ movie… and I saw the trajectory.” His solution was direct: “I’ve got to direct movies. That’s why I started writing them, just to kind of keep my career afloat, really.”
If you have wondered why Jesse Eisenberg disappeared from blockbuster franchises—and even passed on reprising Mark Zuckerberg in Aaron Sorkin’s follow-up The Social Reckoning—his London Film Festival comments fill in the gap. Eisenberg said the Razzie had cost him studio roles, and he pivoted to writing and directing. Now he is the one doing the passing. His A24 musical comedy The Debut, starring Julianne Moore and Paul Giamatti, hits theaters on December 11, 2026.
Batman v Superman won four Razzies total at the 2017 ceremony and opened to roughly $424.1 million worldwide in its opening weekend. Despite those numbers, Eisenberg said the industry made clear “it did not want me to be in a superhero movie, and if you’re smart and self-aware, you learn that quickly.” The forced pivot led to his 2022 debut When You Finish Saving the World, then to 2024’s A Real Pain, which earned Eisenberg an Oscar nomination for Best Original Screenplay and delivered co-star Kieran Culkin the Best Supporting Actor Oscar in 2025. Eisenberg also shared at the BFI that getting Culkin to the film’s shoot in Poland required personal intervention from producer Emma Stone: “She personally took him on the plane to Poland because we didn’t know if he was going to show up. She sent me a video of him going through customs, saying ‘We are here!’ and then he still was late.” The Debut, which closed the 70th BFI London Film Festival Sunday night, is Eisenberg’s third film as writer-director.
A decade after studios passed on Eisenberg following the Razzie for Lex Luthor, he’s at the BFI closing a film festival with Julianne Moore, Paul Giamatti, and an A24 distribution deal—while the studio machine is the one asking him to come back to play Zuckerberg in The Social Reckoning, and he’s the one saying no.
Did Jesse Eisenberg win a Razzie Award for Batman v Superman?
Yes. Jesse Eisenberg won the Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Supporting Actor for playing Lex Luthor in Zack Snyder’s 2016 Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, which won four Razzies overall at the 2017 ceremony. The film opened to roughly $424.1 million worldwide in its opening weekend. Eisenberg said at the 2026 BFI London Film Festival that the award froze him out of studio acting roles, pushing him to write and direct his own films instead.
The Debut, Jesse Eisenberg’s third film as writer-director, starring Julianne Moore and Paul Giamatti, opens in theaters via A24 on December 11, 2026.
