Although 'Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice' will obviously highlight the two main DC superheroes, the highly anticipated film will also feature a new incarnation of one of the most iconic comic book villains of all time: Lex Luthor.
The fictional billionaire and long-time Superman nemesis has been portrayed by Gene Hackman, Michael Rosenbaum and Kevin Spacey. In 'Batman v Superman,' Lex Luthor will once again be brought to life by Jesse Eisenberg, who admitted that he tried reading the comic books to prepare.
The 'American Ultra' star recently spoke to Vulture, where he confirmed that he decided not to read up too much on Lex Luthor to avoid going full-on fanboy. In the process, Jesse Eisenberg found a suitable medium for his portrayal of the DC villain.
"There is this trove of stuff about this guy. A lot of it is repetitive, like he always winds up on the roof of his building giving some faux benevolent talk about how he's going to change the city," Eisenberg said. "It's fun to take that campy cartoony stuff and try to put it into a real person and try to reconcile the two."
Jesse Eisenberg also made sure to add that his portrayal of Lex Luthor will be less campy than Gene Hackman's iconic bad guy because of the darkness in 'Batman v Superman.'
"This movie is so different ... it has real psychological underpinnings, and this movie character feels like a real scary person," he said.
In addition to being an actor, Jesse Eisenberg is also a playwright who has an unusual method in getting inspired.
"I try to have the most unusual experiences I can possibly have," he said. "If I'm gonna be writing about something, it's going to be unusual, it's going to be something you don't see a lot as opposed to writing some sort of romantic comedy."
Catch Jesse Eisenberg as Lex Luthor in 'Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice,' which premieres on March 25, 2016.
