Jesse Eisenberg, Kieran Culkin & A Real Pain Cast On Filming In Poland

A Real Pain, which just celebrated its world premiere at Sundance Film Festival, is Jesse Eisenberg’s second feature film as a writer and director. The acclaimed actor also stars in the project alongside Kieran Culkin, with the two of them playing a pair of cousins who decide to go on a Heritage Tour in Poland to learn about their grandmother’s hometown. The story at one paints a specific family portrait thanks to their idiosyncratic dynamic, but also taps into the communal trauma of being descended from survivors of genocide.

Joining Eisenberg and Culkin in A Real Pain are The White Lotus‘ Will Sharpe as the benevolent tour guide (not Jewish himself but highly invested in the history), Jennifer Grey as a recently divorced woman making her own pilgrimage, Daniel Oreskes and Liza Sadovy as an older married couple, and Kurt Egyiawan as a Jewish convert who himself survived the Rwandan genocide. Together, the group forms their own kind of family as they exchange stories and explore Poland together.

Screen Rant interviewed Eisenberg, Culkin, Grey, and Sharpe at Sundance Film Festival. Eisenberg explained the new ways in which A Real Pain challenged him as a director, while the cast shared their experience filming in Poland under his guidance.

A Real Pain Cast Celebrates Premiere At Sundance

Jesse Eisenberg

Screen Rant: This is your second time writing and directing a feature film. How would you say you’ve evolved as a filmmaker since When You Finish Saving The World?

Jesse Eisenberg: It’s hard to exactly pinpoint how I have gotten better as a director because this movie provided so many logistical challenges. It’s a movie that has a small budget but is humongous in scope. We’re at two airports. We are on airplanes, we are on trains, we are on buses and cars in monuments that are the center of multiple cities. It’s this huge movie in scope.

My challenges on this one are, I think, challenges that I’ll never face again because to do a low-budget, independent film with a scope like this is really unusual. Luckily, I had some of the greatest artisans in the world. Poland is a hotbed for some of the great filmmakers in the world. There’s a film school where people from England and people from Denmark come to Poland just to learn Polish and attend this film school. I can’t imagine a better crew in all of Europe.

Source: Screen Rant Plus

Kieran Culkin

Screen Rant: Jesse Eisenberg is not only your costar in this film but also your director. Did you find yourself having any cousin squabbles with him on set?

Kieran Culkin: We didn’t have squabbles, he and I, but it’s so funny because I think as actors on set, we gelled pretty well. But as director and actor, there was a little bit of friction. Not bad; it was never negative. It was just that we work differently. We had a bumpy couple of days or weeks or something where I still thought we were getting the work, but it was tougher.

I started trying to do it all his way, and then I couldn’t so he tried to do it my way, and then we had to find this middle ground that ended up working really well. But it’s tough to do a scene with somebody who’s then, right after the scene, going to give you notes.

Pedro Pascal has said he’s willing to buy the hatchet [after the Emmys] and would love to work with you. Is that something you’d be up for?

Kieran Culkin: I would love to work with him, yeah.

Source: Screen Rant Plus

Jennifer Grey

Screen Rant: What excited you most about the screenplay for A Real Pain?

Jennifer Grey: The second I saw that it was from Jesse Eisenberg – written by, going to be directed by, and starring him and Kieran Culkin? I just said, “Yes!” I looked at the opening line in the email, and I was like, “Done.” It’ll shoot in Poland, and you’ll be going to a concentration camp? Okay, done. Do I need to read it? I guess so.

The thing is, usually when we get a script, you need to read it and it feels like some albatross. But this read was terrific. I called my manager, like, “Yes. Just yes.” They’re like, “Well, he wants to meet with you.” Then we met, and I just fell in love. I love smart, funny, kind, deep people. Everybody on this job is that.

It’s a dream to be with people who are so good at what they do. So smart. So funny. But a lot of people like that can be d-cks. There are a lot of talented d-cks in this business but these guys created this warm, endless energy of being safe. Jesse really knows what he wants, and his presence is so reassuring. And I just found it so great to watch them work and to be able to act with that caliber of actors.

We have been awaiting Dirty Dancing 2 with bated breath. Is there anything you can tell me on that front?

Jennifer Grey: I cannot speak to that because it’s still in development, and I can’t tell you anything now. But I I will when it’s time.

Source: Screen Rant Plus

Will Sharpe

Screen Rant: What excited you most about the screenplay for A Real Pain?

Will Sharpe: I guess, simply put, it was the script. That was my first way of engaging with it. I got sent Jesse’s script, and I thought it was a beautifully deft, funny, elegant script that also had moving and profound things to say about identity and making sense of our heritage. Then I met with Jesse and really enjoyed talking with him, so I wanted to be a part of it.

It’s always interesting to have a fellow actor in the director’s chair. What do you think his style brought to the project?

Will Sharpe: He was always very prepared. He had a lot of attention to detail, was very focused, and a very clean director, but also very collaborative and open. I found him to be very empathetic and very tuned into everyone’s feelings. But it was a very easy shoot for us. There were no real egos on set and we all just kind of became this little family doing the tour.

With The White Lotus season 3 coming upon us, would you ever want to see Ethan return?

Will Sharpe: I mean, sure, if Mike White wants me to!

Source: Screen Rant Plus

About A Real Pain

Mismatched cousins David and Benji reunite for a tour through Poland to honor their beloved grandmother. The adventure takes a turn when the pair’s old tensions resurface against the backdrop of their family history.

A Real Pain

A Real Pain is a comedy-drama written and directed by Jesse Eisenberg, which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in 2024. The film follows two cousins who head to Poland to settle affairs after their grandmother’s death, but a strange series of events leads them to become part of a Holocaust tour group.

Release Date

January 20, 2024

Cast

Jesse Eisenberg , Kieran Culkin , Will Sharpe , jennifer grey , Kurt Egyiawan

Runtime

90 Minutes

Studio(s)

Topic Studios , Fruit Tree , Extreme Emotions , Rego Park