"The first movie I was in was called Roger Dodger," Eisenberg said. "And the main actor in that [Campbell Scott], he won this award, the National Board of Review award. And it was the first time I ever considered... Because I had acted since I was young -- 8 years old -- doing children's theater, and I was doing plays in New York. When he won that award, I remember that day where I was because I had never heard of that award nor did I pay attention to any awards. And then I was kind of exposed, very briefly, because the movie was a $1 million movie. After he won that award, the movie people and the distribution company got a little bit confident about what that could be, at least for him.
"And I was immediately kind of turned off to the seemingly very kind of complicated process. And lengthy process. I just loved working with those people that I was working with, so I was happy to get to see them a these dinners and stuff. And luckily I didn't have to deal with any of the pressure because the pressure was not on me personally. This is a bit more intense because the movie is big, the expectations are higher. And so it's a lot of pressure, and it's something you can't do anything about. Like I can't go and react if you don't get acknowledged for something.
"And the other part of it, which is possibly more frustrating, is that I just did a play reading all day. And I felt like I was so much more effective in this reading that I just did all day -- there were 10 people in the audience -- than I was in The Social Network or other films. So it's a bit frustrating that you feel it's not really... The acknowledgments don't necessarily coincide with how you feel about things."
Interesting. Check back for more like this next week in a special series focusing on Eisenberg, from his upstart days on the New York stage to his beloved Zombieland to his complicated relationship with The Social Network.
[Photo: Getty Images]