Jesse Eisenberg’s ‘Real Pain’ Sells to Searchlight Pictures – The Hollywood Reporter

Kieran Culkin (left) and Jesse Eisenberg in “Real Pain”

Courtesy of the Sundance Institute

Real pain Starring Jesse Eisenberg and Kieran Culkin has arrived at Searchlight Pictures and is scheduled to hit theaters this year. The deal is for all over the world.

The film stars Eisenberg and Culkin (having recently won an Emmy for the series’ final season). Succession) as cousins ​​travel to Poland, their grandmother’s homeland, to participate in a Holocaust tour. Jennifer Gray and Will Sharp also star.

Real pain, which screened in the American Dramatic Competition at the Sundance Film Festival, marked Eisenberg’s second time behind the camera on a film and received a standing ovation during its premiere. It has quickly become my favorite movie to watch so far.

“It takes a filmmaker with emotional acuity and spiritual generosity to mine painful history while providing nuanced access paths for audiences from very different backgrounds to find their way to it. Recognizing the universality of his underlying themes, Eisenberg does so, with emotional maturity.” Reads David Rooney’s review of Hollywood Reporter.

Eisenberg spoke to THR About the inspiration behind the film: I’ve always been interested in Poland. My family comes from Poland. I was very close to my father’s aunt who was born in 1912 and was in Poland until she was nine years old. She always told me stories about the wonderful relationship she had with the Polish people. “It was a bit contrary to the things I heard growing up about Polish-Jewish relations.”

Dave McCary, Emma Stone and Ali Herting produced with Ewa Buczynska and Jennifer Semler. Executive producers are Topic Studios’ Ryan Heller, Jennifer Westin, Michael Bloom and Kevin Kelley.

WME Independent and CAA Media Finance negotiated the deal on behalf of the filmmakers.

As expected, deal making was slower at the festival Real pain Marking the biggest selection of the festival, which saw some small deals made for Irish features Patella To Sony Pictures Classics.