Learning that Bob Odenkirk actually demanded that Jesse Eisenberg stop trying to copy Adam Sandler should be one of those tales that gets its own movie immediately. Some crazy ideas and stories get turned into films and this one feels perfect for that treatment. However, while this tale may not be on our 2025 movie schedule or screens anytime soon (or ever), the story is just too wild not to relish.
While Jesse Eisenberg is best known for his performances, he has now joined the ranks of great actors who are also screenwriters because of his 2024 movie, A Real Pain. So, he sat down with THR for a roundtable with Payal Kapadia, Justin Kuritzkes, James Mangold, Halina Reijn, and Jason Reitman to discuss writing. The screenwriters spoke about the films they recently made as well as how they got started, which is what led to this wild story involving the Better Call Saul star.
The Zombieland actor explained that after landing a role in one of Bob Odenkirk's projects, the comedy veteran agreed to look at Eisenberg’s writing. The feedback he got back wasn’t anything he was expecting, but it was incredibly sound advice, as The Social Network star explained:
When I was 20, I got a part in a movie that Bob Odenkirk was directing, and I gave him my scripts because I knew he was in the comedy world and had worked at SNL, so I thought, 'He’ll send them to Adam Sandler.' He took about two weeks to read them and then called and yelled at me for an hour, but in an incredible way. I’ll never forget what he said because it changed my life. He said, 'Buddy, why are you writing this? This is something that I’d get hired to write in a weekend. There’d be three of us sitting in a room at Happy Madison doing this. You’re a thoughtful, sensitive guy. Why is this your art?’
It sounds about right for the former SNL writer to tell Eisenberg to not mimic Sandler's style (no one can replicate him, truly, anyway).
Plus, Odenkirk and his best movies and shows have been a model of the range and capability an artist can have. The 62-year-old has added comedian, actor, producer and writer to his resume, with no plans of slowing down anytime soon. He is a perfect model for younger stars like Eisenberg to take note of, and it seems like he has.
This advice set the Now You See Me actor on his journey to becoming a successful writer, even if it did bruise him a little in the process. Now, his film is among the 2025 Golden Globe winners, thanks to Kieran Culkin's performance in it, and Eisenberg's writing, directing and performance are being praised as well. So, it all worked out, as he explained:
It killed me because those scripts represented years of my life. But right after that, I went to Poland for a movie and went to visit my family’s house, as we do in A Real Pain. And I came back and wrote a play.
It’s surprising to think that we all have Bob Odenkirk to thank in part for Eisenberg’s incredible stories.
A Real Pain has an incredible amount of humor and sadness that are perfectly combine and masterfully portrayed by Eisenberg and Culkin. Along with the 2024 success, the writer also penned When You Finish Saving the World, which was originally an Audible Original turned 2022 movie. Who knows what we could’ve had in store from the young writer-actor and if any of his Sandler stuff would’ve seen the light of day–I, for one, am glad to have the present works.
Maybe someday we’ll get a cinematic retelling of this wild story of Bob Odenkirk redirecting Jesse Eisenberg’s writing career. However, for now, I’m just glad to know the tale at all. And I'm even happier that this advice eventually resulted in such brilliant work like A Real Pain.
