Jennifer Grey, Kieran Culkin and Jesse Eisenberg attend the screening of their upcoming film A Real Pain at Sundance in Park City
The stars of the upcoming film, A Real Pain, walked the red carpet at the screening at the Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah on Saturday.
The film about cousins exploring generational trauma while visiting a concentration camp in Poland was directed by Jesse Eisenberg, 40, who also stars as one of the cousins.
Kieran Culkin, 41, plays the other cousin, while Jennifer Gray, 63, plays a visitor to the concentration camp.
All three attended the screening at the Eccles Center Theater. Jesse was dressed casually but preppy in a plaid shirt over a black T-shirt with jeans and a black sport coat.
The Succession star, meanwhile, wore a black crew-neck sweater and black trousers, while Gray kept it funkier in a black belted dress, black leather jacket and black Doc Marten-style boots.
Jennifer Gray kept it funkier in a black belted dress, black leather jacket and black Doc Marten-style boots while attending a screening of her upcoming film, A Real Pain, in Park City
Kieran Culkin (pictured above), 41, stars in the film alongside Gray, 63, who plays a concentration camp visitor
Jesse and Kieran's characters travel to Poland following the death of their beloved grandmother and the actor/director commented on the film's location during an interview with Variety at the annual film festival.
He said: “There is a certain idea of a Holocaust film” where “there is respect for the trauma and the horror. And of course!'
But the Batman vs Superman: Dawn of Justice star tried to do something different.
“What reaches me most is when someone can humanize that experience in fiction that doesn't feel hypocritical or false, and that's what I was going for.”
And although the film premieres during the tensions of the war between Israel and Hamas, Jesse insists his film is in no way political.
He said: 'The film is not political. It could happen at any time in the last thirty years… and there have been a lot of ups and downs in the last thirty years. It makes sense now, just like any other time.”
During an interview with Deadline at the outlet's Sundance Studio, Jesse talked about what it was like directing the recent Emmy winner.
'I'm jealous of people like Kieran's character. I want to be people like Kieran's character, but I'm also terrified that I might become one because it's quite dangerous.”
While Eisenberg's character David is serious and reserved, Culkin's Benji is the opposite.
Jesse Eisenberg, 40, who also stars as one of the cousins in the film, directed the project
He said: “There is a certain idea of a Holocaust film” where “there is respect for the trauma and the horror. And of course!'
'Kieran is just a free-spirited, charming, brilliant and comfortable person; he is comfortable in his own skin. You know, of course I'm jealous of people like that,” Eisenberg said.
And Kieran praised Jesse's direction in the conversation with Variety.
'I hate complimenting people when they sit next to me. Sometimes on set I feel like it's one extreme or the other. Someone who is absolutely in charge of everything, kind of a dictator on set, and that doesn't feel comfortable,” Culkin said.
'Or there's a man in charge and you don't feel safe. Jesse was in the middle of it. He always asked for everyone's opinion after every take and asked the producers what they saw… It felt really fun,” he said.