We’re back at Sundance in the Vulture Spot, where we’re interviewing the casts and creators of the year’s buzziest films. Check out all our coverage from the film fest here.
Jesse Eisenberg’s A Real Pain, about two cousins who embark on a trip to Poland following the death of their grandmother, approaches the subject of the Holocaust in a different way than we’re used to seeing on screen. “I just wanted to do a version that felt, to me, more real, less self-important, less sanctimonious, and more with a way in that didn’t feel scary or off-putting. But also with reverence and the correct stakes,” he said of the film, which he directed and stars in alongside Kieran Culkin. You can hear about why he’s drawn to the kind of character Culkin plays in the video above, along with:
➼ Culkin refusing to describe the film in one word (the rest of the cast went with time-traveling, connection, and bittersweet).
➼ Why Eisenberg and Culkin butted heads over coverage.
➼ Eisenberg reminding Culkin that they also accommodated some of his “proclivities.”
In addition to Eisenberg and Culkin, A Real Pain also stars Jennifer Grey and Will Sharpe. It premiered at Sundance on January 20, and sold to Searchlight Pictures for a reported $10 million.