Eisenberg rose to prominence as Mark Zuckerberg in 2010’s The Social Network, while Culkin is most renowned for his role as Roman Roy in the Emmy-winning Succession.
Eisenberg is the writer and director of the two’s new picture, A Real Pain, which has received high appreciation at film festivals and may have a chance to make an impression during awards season.
Despite the trailer giving the impression that it is a typical bro-comedy, the film is far more complex and powerful than viewers may realize.
Culkin and Eisenberg portray two cousins with quite distinct personalities.
Culkin’s Benji is impulsive and disobedient, in contrast to Eisenberg’s David, who is intelligent and focused on his family.
After their grandmother, a Jew who fled the Holocaust and established a new life in the US, passes away, the two are reunited for a trip to Poland.
As part of a tour group, David and Benji use the money their grandmother left expressly for the trip to travel across the country, stopping sometimes to learn more about her life while dealing with their loss in different ways.
Jennifer Grey from Dirty Dancing plays one of the other tourists in the movie, and British actor Will Sharpe plays the tour guide.
Before the movie’s UK debut, the two American actors walked the red carpet at the London Film Festival.
