Video: Jesse Eisenberg Reveals That His Next Film Follows an Original Musical

The secret is out: Jesse Eisenberg loves musical theater. During a recent visit to The Kelly Clarkson Show, The Social Network star shared that, despite a career in films, musical theater is his first love. 

"I shouldn't have said that on live TV," Eisenberg quickly followed, in his usual neurotic manner. "This is something I avoid saying at all costs," the actor continued.

Also a writer and director, Eisenberg told Clarkson that he has written musicals, but none of them have yet to be produced. However, he did reveal that the plot of the next movie he is writing follows an original musical in the universe of the film. In other words, "a musical within a movie," he says. 

"You see the rehearsals and everything...Since I wrote the music for it, if the music is bad, no one will think it's my fault: they'll think that's the intention," he deadpanned. No other information about the forthcoming film was shared. Most recently, Eisenberg wrote, directed, and starred in the dramedy A Real Pain alongside Kieran Culkin, which hits theaters in November.

Eisenberg made his television debut with the short-lived comedy-drama series Get Real (1999–2000). Following his first leading role in the film Roger Dodger (2002), he appeared in the films The Village (2004) and The Squid and the Whale (2005) and led the 2009 comedies Adventureland and Zombieland. He gained wider recognition for starring as Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg in David Fincher's film The Social Network (2010), for which he was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor.

Earlier this year, Eisenberg made a special appearance during the New York City Center stage production of Titanic.  In October 2011, Eisenberg made his playwriting debut in Rattlestick Playwrights Theater's Off-Broadway production of Asuncion, staged at Cherry Lane Theatre.

Eisenberg also acted in the play, which was directed by Kip Fagan. His other playwrighting credits include The Revisionist, The Spoils, and Happy Talk. Stage acting credits include Summer and Smoke (1996), The Gathering (1999), Orphans (2005), Scarcity (2007), The Final Interrogation of Ceausescu's Dog (2015), A Little Part of All of Us (2015), The Blizzard (2016), Oh, Hello (2016), The Peopel Speak (2017), Shoshana and Her Lovers (2017), as well as The 24-Hour Plays on Broadway.

Eisenberg has contributed pieces to The New Yorker and McSweeney's websites. He has written and starred in three plays for the New York stage: Asuncion, The Revisionist, and The Spoils. He released his first book, Bream Gives Me Hiccups: and Other Stories in 2015.