Jesse Eisenberg on balancing humor and trauma in ‘A Real Pain’

Jesse Eisenberg's Oscar-nominated A Real Pain follows two Jewish cousins who travel to Poland to honor their late grandmother — a holocaust survivor. Eisenberg, who is of Polish descent himself, has enjoyed getting to know his ancestral homeland and recently got Polish citizenship. Given the state of play in this country, Kim Masters asks whether he ever considers leaving the U.S. for Poland.
“I feel like I'm very lucky to be able to be more helpful during these times, rather than to escape and… I don't even know what I would do,” Eisenberg says. “What, would you stop reading American news because you live in Poland? I don’t know. Times like this just remind me of how fortunate I am that I could be somebody who could help rather than somebody who needs it.”
Eisenberg reflects on the challenges of capturing the complicated feelings of the descendents of holocaust survivors while still including humor. He also tells us how Emma Stone (a producer on the film) has been one of the most important supporters of his writing career. And he and Masters talk about the special relevance that Majdanek, the concentration camp the two cousins visit in the film, holds in Masters’ own life.