Jesse Eisenberg opens up about becoming a Polish citizen

"I don’t know anything about history, but I became obsessed with it"

Jesse Eisenberg has opened up about becoming a Polish citizen while discussing his new film, A Real Pain.

In the film – which sees Eisenberg star alongside Kieran Culkin, Will Sharpe, Jennifer Grey, Kurt Egyiawan, Liza Sadovy and Daniel Oreskes – two cousins head to Poland to explore their family’s roots and celebrate their late grandmother.

In a Q&A moderated by Variety, Eisenberg spoke about his family history and how it influenced him to make the film.

“My grandfather was born in the U.S., but his cousins and uncles lived in [Polish town] Krasnystaw and they all died in horrible ways. He never told my father about it. I am a third-generation American Jew, I don’t know anything about history, but I became obsessed with it. Now, I have Polish citizenship,” he said.

“My hope with this movie is that everyone from any country is watching it, thinking, ‘I want to do the same thing. Why have I never asked my parents where they’re from, or where our name comes from?’ I hear this a lot from people.”

The actor was originally working on a story set in Mongolia. “The characters were going to live in yurts and it was pretty funny,” he said, before explaining that a certain online ad changed his plans.

“It said, ‘Auschwitz tours – with lunch.’ It’s such a weird idea, this tourism of tragedy. When I saw that, I threw out my Mongolia script and looked at the photos from my first visit to Poland in 2008. I realised this was the story.”

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The Social Network actor went to explain how he’s unable to emotionally connect with what he witnessed on the tours.

“I remember feeling, ‘There’s nothing I can do to make myself connected to this trauma.’ What am I supposed to do? Cut my arm? There’s nothing you can do to feel what people felt in [concentration camp] Majdanek. I was standing in front of my family’s house, not having any kind of catharsis. I didn’t belong there anymore. I wanted them to have the same feeling.”

Eisenberg praised his Polish colleagues on the film, led by producer Ewa Puszczyńska. “Emma Stone, who’s one of our producers, kept saying, ‘This is the most incredible crew.’ And she’s been on the greatest sets in the world.”

As for his future projects, the actor said he’ll continue to focus on personal stories. “Everything I write is personal. My next movie is about musical theater in New Jersey, because it was something I liked. I’m always looking for anything in my life that happened to me that could be a story.

“My background is in theater and I’ve been writing plays for 20 years. They are all like this, people just didn’t like them as much,” he said with a laugh. “I’m going to do that forever.”

Elsewhere, 2025 will see Eisenberg return for Now You See Me 3 with his original cast mates. The film has faced several production delays but is now moving forward with director Ruben Fleischer.