Hollywood star Jesse Eisenberg has revealed the inspiration behind his new West End play — David Brent.
The Bafta and Golden Globe-winning star wrote and stars in dark comedy The Spoils, which opens at Trafalgar Studios this month after a well-received run on Broadway.
It is Eisenberg’s third play — his first to be staged in London — and co-stars Game Of Thrones’ Alfie Allen and The Big Bang Theory’s Kunal Nayyar. Eisenberg, 32, told the Standard: “The play is about five young people in New York. I play a character who is experiencing
third-generational, privileged malaise which is kind of hardened into a narcissism. I take out all of my self-hatred and aggression on my very earnest, Nepalese roommate, who is played by Nayyar.
“Even though it’s about these five characters in New York, I think there’s something about the play I see a lot in English theatre. I was really inspired by The Office — Ricky Gervais’s character [Brent] — who I thought was such an unbelievably rendered presentation of this man who was not just comedically offensive, but also deeply pained.
“So even though this play takes place in America I felt like it would be very appropriate for this audience.”
What to see at the theatre – in pictures
Eisenberg suffers from anxiety and obsessive compulsive disorder, and said he will be taking to London’s Boris bikes to help him stay focused. He said: “I ride a bicycle around New York — I find it helpful.
“It’s a really strange experience doing a show every night. I end up becoming consumed with that night’s performance. London is a great city with so many things to do, but for some reason it’s hard for me to focus on anything else.”
The actor has just played Lex Luthor in Batman v Superman: Dawn Of Justice and stars in Woody Allen’s new movie Café Society, which recently premiered in Cannes.
But he is refreshingly honest about his workload: “Most people work five days a week for 10 hours. I don’t. I work on a project and the project will end, I will look for the next job or start writing something. So I end up having more free time than it would appear.”
The Spoils runs May 27 to August 13
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