In response to jennicide:
I want to start out like the person above and say I respect your opinion and you can think anything you like about anybody you like. I mean, it's not like I haven't been in the shoes you're in right now, defending my dislike of Lady Gaga or Twilight or horror movies. So I don't condemn.
But I just don't...get it, I guess. I mean, he seems, from what we know (and I do not think he honestly hides a lot of what he is -- Jesse comes off very genuine) to be such a guilelessly sweet, humble, likable person, pitiable at times and adorable at others.
Take the interview you chose (from my point of view, and I claim no authenticity because I can only gauge based on the countless interviews/press junkets/award shows/movie sets I've watched him in):
In one scene, your character refers to himself as a "carny," which is both funny and accurate. But it seems like that connection between amusement parks and scam artists has been lost in the public consciousness somehow.
Yeah, the crass consumerism, the fried food... There's not one redeeming thing about it, but you're supposed to enjoy yourself. But if you're not a person who can experience joy, it's a terrible thing.
Jesse's mentioning things that I know I hate about amusement parks, about life in general. Crass consumerism, having the general populace buy things that are, in essence, useless. People yelling at you from carnival games? Trying to get you to buy food that you know will make you sick once you ride the rides? Flirting with you and complimenting you to get you to spend/buy more? And fried food is, in my opinion, as well as Jesse's, an epidemic waiting to happen, if not happening already. That's what he's mentioning, and I think it seems rather average-Joe of him, because I hear people complaining about these things he encompassed with that word, "consumerism", all the time, and it doesn't seem, in respect to that word, to have a redeeming quality. Bad food and rigged games and spinning and rocketing around until the bad food turns sour in your stomach -- not a very fun day, in theory. And for someone like Jesse who has a genuine problem finding the fun in anything because he's always so nervous and guilty and bothered by uncleanliness and crowds of people who must be thinking negatively of him (he's so sure) -- in practice, as well.
Do you consider yourself one of those people?
Yeah. If I'm supposed to feel joy, I instinctively feel the opposite.
This seems very "emo", yes, until you consider that he's a genuinely, unavoidably emotional and negative-thinking person because of his mental state and the illness therein. I mean, when you remember those things, it just seems kind of sad, doesn't it? Like I said, pitiable, and commendable because most people smile even when they're screaming inside, trying not to be judged negatively, but the fact is that it seems like Jesse judges himself more negatively than anyone outside of his own head could, so he just doesn't hide anything because he expects everything he says and does to offend people somehow, no matter how much he takes care to be nice to everybody (and doesn't it sound hard to find joy when your mind works like that? I know that sometimes I have the same problems, though fortunately not as dire as Jesse's, so I can say from experience it is.).
Being that Adventureland is about a guy with a shitty job, we feel compelled to ask about the shittiest job you've ever had.
We had to do publicity for the movie at Sundance, and I realized that this was a question that would come up. But I don't have any good anecdotes. I got into a movie when I was 18 years old, which was an awesome movie, so I haven't had to work for money since then. I interned somewhere when I was 20 and that wasn't great, but other than that my bad jobs are unrelatable. They're, like, feeling out of place on a movie set - and you can't say that to anyone normal because they'll think you're a pretentious asshole. All the bad jobs I had were community-theater related. But I really should come up with something because we have a press junket coming up.
This is the part I least understand you being upset about or hating him for. I think Jesse understands very clearly how blessed he is (especially as you can tell he does not believe he deserves any of the praise he gets, no matter how hard he appears to work), and how much a lot of people would kill to be in his place, "feeling out of place on a movie set", and that's why he chose not to tell an anecdote, or indeed, was unable to think of one to begin with. In this case I don't see him seeing "normal" as a negative connotation; if anything, I think he sees his life as "abnormal" just as he sees himself, and humble as he is, guilty as he is about how privileged he knows people not in his position think he is (and he is, I believe that, I'm one of those people, trust me), he didn't think it was right to complain about the negative points (which for him, were many, I would wager, because he inherently heads toward that side of the spectrum) because those have nothing at all on the negative points of the lives of less fortunate (rich, talented, successful, notorious, etc.) people. Whereas some of the older actors could probably tell horror stories about their jobs as a kid, he knows he doesn't have those, not conventional ones anyway, and he doesn't want to act like he's not as blessed as he is. I feel like that's a pretty commendable thing, as well, to be aware of who you are in the world and not want to make people who aren't there feel worse by complaining about it.
You're shooting Zombieland right now. Are you a zombie movie fan?
No. Before this, I didn't realize there was such a big genre of zombie movies. Not to sound naive - I know there are zombie movies - I just didn't realize there were so many of them.
I must admit I have a bias here, because I am not a zombie movie fan either and I just ~barely understand the magnitude of the genre. But basically what Jesse is doing here is just being honest -- he doesn't watch movies, and if he did, zombie movies are probably not the ones he would lean towards, because he seems like the kind of person that needs to have his movies ~engage him (the way a movie such as The Social Network, or one like V for Vendetta, does, in my opinion), and from what I know, zombie movies are not very well-known for being engaging. (That's not an insult: to each their own.) And look at the flack he gets for that, but he continues to admit that he's not a moviegoer and rarely even sees his own or his friends' or his competition's, despite said flack. I feel like he answered this question the way any person in his or my position would have. He's not dismissing the genre, just admitting he's got different tastes and that he was a bit overwhelmed by the genre's immensity (as I am).
He also talks about how Ween are the only band he likes, and how zombie movies are silly, and how he wrote a musical about a woman getting a divorce and neglecting her son because she's selfish and SHUT UP JESSE EISENBERG.
I think zombie movies are silly, but that's just one woman's opinion, just like it's Jesse's. I mean, aren't they meant to be? They're for the most part unrealistic, gory, and filled with funny dialogue or horrifying chase scenes; it's not like they're supposed to be particularly -- I don't know, whatever the opposite of silly is. Intellectual? Serious? Again, just honesty, from both of us.
He doesn't like mainstream music, is all I can say, about the Ween comment. He likes musical theater and music that really ~speaks to him, and don't we all pick our music for the same reason? How can you hold his tastes against him and expect the people reading this not to do the same? (Just a question meant to make you think, not meant to start a fight.)
And I know it's probably not very politically correct to say (and especially for me, because my mother is dead) but divorced mothers ~can be selfish, and neglectful. I know mine was, and her selfishness cost her her life and turned mine and my siblings' upside down. Likewise with a divorced father, because he neglects my brother all the time. I don't feel as if Jesse means anything by saying that, not insulting divorced mothers or neglected sons, but just saying that that particular life is what he is portraying in his writing. People write all kinds of things, whether they're right or not, and Jesse is a writer who had ideas about that specific situation; I say he should have at it, because from the way he speaks and the honest way he seems to use his words (with the exception of trolling a few invasive and redundant interviewers, and I don't think a single one of us "normal" people wouldn't have done the same at least a couple of times, because press seems tiring and repetitive), it seems like it would be a good musical to read and/or watch.
I feel like this is a case of what my friends tell me is my reason for hating the things I hate: disliking the unknown because you don't understand it. Jesse is easy to take as just another arrogant and pretentious fake-humble typecast actor, but if you see more of him, you can tell he's genuinely uncomfortable in his own skin and his profession (except for during the actual process of acting, which is a huge reason he got into it, he's said), but really cannot find a lower level of discomfort anywhere else. He's honest and self-effacing to a fault and likes and dislikes a lot of the same things us so-called "normal" people might like or dislike. He's a sad character sometimes, but he doesn't seem all that detestable.
Again, this is just so that maybe you could elaborate? I don't want to debate with you; I just thought maybe you should see the point of view of someone who doesn't like Jesse and has reasons not so hyperbolic for not doing so. I look at him from different angles and I still just cannot see how you don't like him. :shrug:
(Acting as response to this. And if you read this, jennicide, I am not meaning to call you out. I just wanted a friend to read my comment without having to break your privacy and unscreen my comments somehow.)
But I just don't...get it, I guess. I mean, he seems, from what we know (and I do not think he honestly hides a lot of what he is -- Jesse comes off very genuine) to be such a guilelessly sweet, humble, likable person, pitiable at times and adorable at others.
Take the interview you chose (from my point of view, and I claim no authenticity because I can only gauge based on the countless interviews/press junkets/award shows/movie sets I've watched him in):
In one scene, your character refers to himself as a "carny," which is both funny and accurate. But it seems like that connection between amusement parks and scam artists has been lost in the public consciousness somehow.
Yeah, the crass consumerism, the fried food... There's not one redeeming thing about it, but you're supposed to enjoy yourself. But if you're not a person who can experience joy, it's a terrible thing.
Jesse's mentioning things that I know I hate about amusement parks, about life in general. Crass consumerism, having the general populace buy things that are, in essence, useless. People yelling at you from carnival games? Trying to get you to buy food that you know will make you sick once you ride the rides? Flirting with you and complimenting you to get you to spend/buy more? And fried food is, in my opinion, as well as Jesse's, an epidemic waiting to happen, if not happening already. That's what he's mentioning, and I think it seems rather average-Joe of him, because I hear people complaining about these things he encompassed with that word, "consumerism", all the time, and it doesn't seem, in respect to that word, to have a redeeming quality. Bad food and rigged games and spinning and rocketing around until the bad food turns sour in your stomach -- not a very fun day, in theory. And for someone like Jesse who has a genuine problem finding the fun in anything because he's always so nervous and guilty and bothered by uncleanliness and crowds of people who must be thinking negatively of him (he's so sure) -- in practice, as well.
Do you consider yourself one of those people?
Yeah. If I'm supposed to feel joy, I instinctively feel the opposite.
This seems very "emo", yes, until you consider that he's a genuinely, unavoidably emotional and negative-thinking person because of his mental state and the illness therein. I mean, when you remember those things, it just seems kind of sad, doesn't it? Like I said, pitiable, and commendable because most people smile even when they're screaming inside, trying not to be judged negatively, but the fact is that it seems like Jesse judges himself more negatively than anyone outside of his own head could, so he just doesn't hide anything because he expects everything he says and does to offend people somehow, no matter how much he takes care to be nice to everybody (and doesn't it sound hard to find joy when your mind works like that? I know that sometimes I have the same problems, though fortunately not as dire as Jesse's, so I can say from experience it is.).
Being that Adventureland is about a guy with a shitty job, we feel compelled to ask about the shittiest job you've ever had.
We had to do publicity for the movie at Sundance, and I realized that this was a question that would come up. But I don't have any good anecdotes. I got into a movie when I was 18 years old, which was an awesome movie, so I haven't had to work for money since then. I interned somewhere when I was 20 and that wasn't great, but other than that my bad jobs are unrelatable. They're, like, feeling out of place on a movie set - and you can't say that to anyone normal because they'll think you're a pretentious asshole. All the bad jobs I had were community-theater related. But I really should come up with something because we have a press junket coming up.
This is the part I least understand you being upset about or hating him for. I think Jesse understands very clearly how blessed he is (especially as you can tell he does not believe he deserves any of the praise he gets, no matter how hard he appears to work), and how much a lot of people would kill to be in his place, "feeling out of place on a movie set", and that's why he chose not to tell an anecdote, or indeed, was unable to think of one to begin with. In this case I don't see him seeing "normal" as a negative connotation; if anything, I think he sees his life as "abnormal" just as he sees himself, and humble as he is, guilty as he is about how privileged he knows people not in his position think he is (and he is, I believe that, I'm one of those people, trust me), he didn't think it was right to complain about the negative points (which for him, were many, I would wager, because he inherently heads toward that side of the spectrum) because those have nothing at all on the negative points of the lives of less fortunate (rich, talented, successful, notorious, etc.) people. Whereas some of the older actors could probably tell horror stories about their jobs as a kid, he knows he doesn't have those, not conventional ones anyway, and he doesn't want to act like he's not as blessed as he is. I feel like that's a pretty commendable thing, as well, to be aware of who you are in the world and not want to make people who aren't there feel worse by complaining about it.
You're shooting Zombieland right now. Are you a zombie movie fan?
No. Before this, I didn't realize there was such a big genre of zombie movies. Not to sound naive - I know there are zombie movies - I just didn't realize there were so many of them.
I must admit I have a bias here, because I am not a zombie movie fan either and I just ~barely understand the magnitude of the genre. But basically what Jesse is doing here is just being honest -- he doesn't watch movies, and if he did, zombie movies are probably not the ones he would lean towards, because he seems like the kind of person that needs to have his movies ~engage him (the way a movie such as The Social Network, or one like V for Vendetta, does, in my opinion), and from what I know, zombie movies are not very well-known for being engaging. (That's not an insult: to each their own.) And look at the flack he gets for that, but he continues to admit that he's not a moviegoer and rarely even sees his own or his friends' or his competition's, despite said flack. I feel like he answered this question the way any person in his or my position would have. He's not dismissing the genre, just admitting he's got different tastes and that he was a bit overwhelmed by the genre's immensity (as I am).
He also talks about how Ween are the only band he likes, and how zombie movies are silly, and how he wrote a musical about a woman getting a divorce and neglecting her son because she's selfish and SHUT UP JESSE EISENBERG.
I think zombie movies are silly, but that's just one woman's opinion, just like it's Jesse's. I mean, aren't they meant to be? They're for the most part unrealistic, gory, and filled with funny dialogue or horrifying chase scenes; it's not like they're supposed to be particularly -- I don't know, whatever the opposite of silly is. Intellectual? Serious? Again, just honesty, from both of us.
He doesn't like mainstream music, is all I can say, about the Ween comment. He likes musical theater and music that really ~speaks to him, and don't we all pick our music for the same reason? How can you hold his tastes against him and expect the people reading this not to do the same? (Just a question meant to make you think, not meant to start a fight.)
And I know it's probably not very politically correct to say (and especially for me, because my mother is dead) but divorced mothers ~can be selfish, and neglectful. I know mine was, and her selfishness cost her her life and turned mine and my siblings' upside down. Likewise with a divorced father, because he neglects my brother all the time. I don't feel as if Jesse means anything by saying that, not insulting divorced mothers or neglected sons, but just saying that that particular life is what he is portraying in his writing. People write all kinds of things, whether they're right or not, and Jesse is a writer who had ideas about that specific situation; I say he should have at it, because from the way he speaks and the honest way he seems to use his words (with the exception of trolling a few invasive and redundant interviewers, and I don't think a single one of us "normal" people wouldn't have done the same at least a couple of times, because press seems tiring and repetitive), it seems like it would be a good musical to read and/or watch.
I feel like this is a case of what my friends tell me is my reason for hating the things I hate: disliking the unknown because you don't understand it. Jesse is easy to take as just another arrogant and pretentious fake-humble typecast actor, but if you see more of him, you can tell he's genuinely uncomfortable in his own skin and his profession (except for during the actual process of acting, which is a huge reason he got into it, he's said), but really cannot find a lower level of discomfort anywhere else. He's honest and self-effacing to a fault and likes and dislikes a lot of the same things us so-called "normal" people might like or dislike. He's a sad character sometimes, but he doesn't seem all that detestable.
Again, this is just so that maybe you could elaborate? I don't want to debate with you; I just thought maybe you should see the point of view of someone who doesn't like Jesse and has reasons not so hyperbolic for not doing so. I look at him from different angles and I still just cannot see how you don't like him. :shrug:
(Acting as response to this. And if you read this, jennicide, I am not meaning to call you out. I just wanted a friend to read my comment without having to break your privacy and unscreen my comments somehow.)