‘To Rome With Love’ interview

The road to Rome

Jesse Eisenberg and Ellen Page are young, in love and in Rome.

So what’s the problem? Well, it’s the new Woody Allen movie, “To Rome With Love,” so you know there’s something around the corner.

Eisenberg plays an architecture student and Page a budding actress in “To Rome.”

“My character is kind of trying to sideline his girlfriend to be with (Page’s character), and Ellen Page’s character is really manipulating the both of them,” says Eisenberg, on the phone from London, where he’s working on a new project.

“She proves to be much more calculating then when she first appears,” Eisenberg adds.

It’s part of the twists and turns of the fun and funny ensemble comedy, which happily veers into slapstick. Allen plays the dad of a tourist (Alison Pill) who falls for an Italian lawyer with a talented father. Alec Baldwin is a successful architect on vacation who befriends Eisenberg’s character and proceeds to offer him sage and cynical advice on the ways of love. Penélope Cruz is the prostitute with a heart of gold who helps a young married couple find their mojo in the bedroom. Roberto Benigni is the Italian native who becomes famous for being famous.

“My character is understandably smitten with her (Page’s character) and makes the mistake of falling for her,” Eisenberg says.
Allen is his idol, Eisenberg says, and like Allen, the East Brunswick native is starting to be known for his own writing and vision, including last fall’s off-Broadway hit “Asuncion.”

“It was great to see how he (Allen) works in person,” says Eisenberg.” “You see how generous he is — he’s the greatest writer, and he’s allowing us to make up jokes and try anything we want.”

So far, Eisenberg’s resume resume includes 2007’s “The Squid and the Whale,” 2009’s “Zombieland,” 2010’s “The Social Network” (which netted him an Oscar nomination for Best Actor) and 2011’s animated hit “Rio.” Among his projects upcoming is “Why Stop Now,” a family drama with lots of comedy, co-starring Melissa Leo and Tracy Morgan. It’s due in theaters in August.

It’s a wide range of roles and styles — Allen-ian, in a way.

“(Allen) has been an enormous influence on me,” Eisenberg says. “He’s allowed me to see that you can do work that’s personal and smart and excel on those terms, rather than pander to more silly or superficial (subject matter).”

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