MAVERICKS of HOLLYWOOD

A creative rebellion is crackling through Tinseltown. Yes, AI looms, the algorithm pushes us toward the same dull programs, and the way we consume our movies and TV has never been more fragmented. But that's precisely why we are craving-demanding, really-art that feels authentic.

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We want bold and daring entertainment. Storytelling that surprises us, propelled by characters who ring true. After more than a decade of Marvel totality, Hollywood is finally answering this call. The spirit that thrived in Hollywood in the seventies and again in the nineties has returned. And these ten men and women embody the movement. They possess bold creative vision, unique talent, and a fearlessness that is undeniably real.

JESSE EISENBERG 40, actor, writer, and director

JESSE EISENBERG PAYS ATTENTION. ESPECIALLY TO HIS OWN WORDS. HE'LL begin to answer a question, then pause-editing in real time-and start over because he doesn't want to sound pretentious or incompetent. For decades, he's paid close attention on movie sets, "figuring out the way I like to work and figuring out what doesn't work." Now he's drawing on that experience as a director, a turn he never expected. "Even five years ago I would have said I don't want to direct a movie," he says. "That just seems ridiculous and aspirational and impossible." Eisenberg first came to our attention acting in indie films like The Squid and the Whale (2005) before his star turn as Mark Zuckerberg in The Social Network (2010). He's done big-budget franchises (Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice) and prestige TV (Fleishman Is in Trouble). But he eschews the traditional Hollywood path. He lives in New York rather than L.A. And he increasingly pours his creative energy into writing-everything from humor pieces in McSweeney's and The New Yorker to four stage plays to his second feature film, A Real Pain, which Eisenberg directed and costars in with Kieran Culkin.