Jesse Eisenberg Says He Is at His ‘Happiest’ in Entertaining Franchise

Jesse Eisenberg seems like a cool dude. I don’t know him personally, but I know someone who knows him at least a little, and he has confirmed as much. But you don’t need to know him personally to see that. He speaks well and often righteously, makes interesting movies, and will happily distance himself from Mark Zuckerberg while calling out what monsterous influence the social media mogul has. He’s also settled well into a career as a writer and director.

His new film, a musical starring Juliane Moore as a woman joining a local production, looks like an absolute blast. His last movie, A Real Pain, was one of the finest films I’ve seen in some time, with some of the most accurate depictions of marijuana use I have ever seen put to screen. He’s just cool, man. I dig his vibe. Which is why I wasn’t super surprised to hear how much he loves making the Now You See Me movies.

No, like, he seriously loves making those movies. “Honestly, I’d love to do Now You See Me 4 more than anything else,” Eisenberg recently explained to The Wrap. “I’ve never felt happier than when playing that part.” Huh! I only recently saw Now You See Me for the first time, with my wife and I planning to watch it and the sequel before the third came out. We, uh, did not make it that far. Not to yuck anybody’s yum, it just didn’t hit for us.

But it sounds like it hits for Eisenberg, and the reason why makes a lot of sense. As the actor noted, “Normally I play depressed people, which makes me depressed, but playing that confident, arrogant magician, I walk away every day thinking, ‘That was amazing.’ It’s the only character where I get to stand up straight and wear a nicer outfit. It’s my happiest place.” Well, dang, Jesse, good for you. A little escapism (and, likely, a hefty paycheck) never hurt anybody (much).

Will Eisenberg get to make another entry in the series? That’s kind of up in the air right now. The newest film, Now You See Me: Now You Don’t, made about twice its budget and then some. Not bad, but a little less than the previous entry… which came out almost ten years prior. A sequel has been announced, but that doesn’t mean it will happen. I hope it does for Eisenberg’s sake, though. He seems like a cool guy.