Written by Kianna Best on Jan 8, 2025. Posted in Production News

Poland’s inspiration behind Jesse Eisenberg’s A Real Pain

Twenty years after a trip to Poland, Jesse Eisenberg has written, directed and co-starred in A Real Pain, released today for Disney+ users and in theatres now. Poland is inspiration enough with its awe worthy, but for the new flick, the countries historical background served as the base for the narrative. Eisenberg stars alongside Kieran Culkin for the road trip rooted project.

 

 

Eisenberg plays New Yorker David, a young father who, alongside his cousin Benj played by Culkin, take a tour of Polish Holocaust history. The film also explores the dynamic between the two cousins, who have been on diverging life paths for years and come together for this exploration of familial history.

 

“I wrote a short story a number of years ago for Tablet magazine about these two guys going to Mongolia together, and the story was very similar to the dynamic in A Real Pain,” Eisenberg commented. “When he hit a wall attempting to adapt it as a film, he happened upon a ‘depressingly fortuitous advertisement’ online, promising ‘Holocaust tours (with lunch)’.”

 

 

“It took me to this company that was advertising a tour through the Holocaust sites of Poland—but with all of the creature comforts that an upper middle class American tourist would want. I read it with just a mix of awe and shock and feeling icky that I would be one of those people going on this tour where I would kind of demand my comforts while also viewing the horrors of my family’s history. And I just thought, that is a phenomenal framework to set this movie.”

 

 

Filming utilised a number of real locations in Poland to stay true to Eisenberg’s travels and his family’s history. Most notable from the experience was filming at the former concentration camp Majdanek, a challenging feat for the cast and crew, and described as “one of the most powerful and memorable days” of filming by cast member Will Sharpe. The film’s final scene shot at Eisenberg’s real family home in Kranystaw to depict the intimate moment between the cousin’s as they visit their grandmother’s childhood home. The co-production with Mazovia Warsaw Film Fund was produced in association with the Polish Film Institute.

 

 

In addition to directing, writing and starring in the project, Eisenberg also served as producer alongside Ali Herting, Emma Stone, Jennifer Semler, and Ewa Puszczyńska. The director of photography was Michał Dymek, with Mela Melak as production designer.

 

 

Images courtesy of Searchlight Pictures