Jesse Eisenberg and Zoey Deutch couldn’t believe their luck when they got a call about being in the next instalment of the iconic Minions franchise.
While Deutch has been a day one fan of the globally famous yellow creatures since day one, the US actors told Rolling Stone AU/NZ they only had one question when they were asked to take part in Minions & Monsters: “What’s the catch?”
The seventh instalment and third prequel in the Despicable Me franchise sees Eisenberg and Deutch star alongside a stacked cast including Jeff Bridges, Allison Janney and Christoph Waltz.
In this interview, we talk to Eisenberg and Deutch all about the pressure surrounding the legendary franchise, animation in 2026 and future projects on the horizon.
Rolling Stone AU/NZ: Congratulations on this film. It’s weird doing these junkets — usually you do them a couple of weeks, sometimes even months before the film is out. It’s already been out a couple of days in Australia, and every review is saying this is the best film in the Minions franchise.
Jesse Eisenberg: That’s a good start, isn’t it? Wait, the movie’s out!?
Yeah, it’s out in Australia.
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Eisenberg: Oh, that’s so interesting.
Zoey Deutch: I had no idea, and I had no idea reviews were out. So Australia already has Minions and Monsters fever.
Eisenberg: I’ve never heard of that in my life. Why is that? Do you have a holiday or something that it came out on?
Sometimes we get films a week before or a week after, but there’s no consistency.
Eisenberg: I’ve never heard of that.
Deutch: Well, that’s wonderful to hear. Really wonderful to hear.
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Well, from the future, congratulations, everyone loves it. I’m curious, Zoey, the first call you had about this film — was it an audition? Was it a call from your agent? How did this come about given how iconic the Minions franchise is at this point?
Deutch: As someone who’s had to audition for every role I’ve ever gotten, or produce it myself to give myself the job, I was completely shocked when I got a call from my voice agent, who I didn’t even know I had.
Eisenberg: “I have two pieces of good news. You have a voice agent, and I got you a job!”
Deutch: [Laughs] I was literally like, what? What’s the catch?
Eisenberg: That’s how I felt too. What’s the catch?
Deutch: I still am sort of wrapping my head around it, and I am really trying to figure out who was the angel that orchestrated this for me.
Eisenberg: Do people know you’re a big fan of the series?
Deutch: They had no idea!
Eisenberg: She’s a huge fan of the Minions.
Deutch: I think they thought I was blowing smoke when I said I’m a big fan, you know what I mean? But really, I love, love this franchise, so I was just thrilled. Truly.
L-R: Chris Meledandri, Zoey Deutch, Pierre Coffin, Jeff Bridges, Allison Janney, Bobby Moynihan, and Jesse Eisenberg attend the premiere of Universal Pictures’ “Minions & Monsters” at Dolby Theatre on June 28, 2026 in Hollywood, California. Photo by Matei Horvath/WireImage
Jesse, I saw you on the Today Show in the US, and I couldn’t tell if you were half joking when you said that because you’re a pretentious actor, you like to analyse your character. How does that work in an animated film? When you think of some of these iconic franchises, Tom Hanks in Toy Story, Steve Carell in Despicable Me, these characters really do stand the test of time. Whether it’s external or internal pressure, you have this character in this big, famous franchise, you don’t want to screw it up, right?
Eisenberg: You’re exactly right. I actually learned this very recently because I went to speak at Ithaca College in upstate New York, and all the kids there — college-age, so they’re like 20 years old — they all grew up on this movie I was in, Rio and Rio 2. Everybody went around and said that was their favourite movie that I was in. I was like, oh my God, I feel so old that these people were the kids!
It occurred to me that they would watch that movie way more than any other thing I’ve ever been in — over and over and over again, like you do when you’re a kid. And I had to do the voice for them, and I pretended like I couldn’t fly. So I suppose in ten years, when I’m back at a college, I’ll be doing a kind of robot thing for them and [Zoey] will be doing advocacy for women’s rights to vote.
Deutch: Correct, yeah.
Zoey, this is your first animated feature. It’s always the funniest — and also the saddest — part of an animated film that you often don’t do your voice parts with any of the other actors, sometimes not until you get to the premiere and meet them, especially with the talent in this film like yourselves and Jeff Bridges, Alison Janney, Christoph Waltz and Trey Parker to name a few. Is that correct with this film as well?
Deutch: Correct. We’re seeing each other for the first time today, which was lovely, and I was thrilled to do this press day with [Eisenberg] because I thought we could get a chance to catch up. By the way, how have you been?
Eisenberg: I’ve been not good. Let me explain.
Deutch: [Laughs] In depth, please.
Eisenberg: Yeah, I’ll just tell you the bad things.
Deutch: No, we didn’t get to do anything together.
Eisenberg: Yeah, it’s surreal. Totally surreal.
It’s an exciting time for you both in your respective careers. Jesse, you’ve released the trailer for your new film, The Debut. It looks incredible, congratulations. How do you feel about it, given all the accolades you got from A Real Pain? Do you care about the pressure — you’ve got to follow up this great film that received so much critical acclaim?
Eisenberg: Yeah, pressure, because I’m human. You get so much attention for something. I’ve been writing plays for the last 15 years — I would put on a play every other year and act in it — and none of them ever got that much attention. So it was very strange to have something that I’ve written finally, I will say it, not that I deserve it, but for the first time, received so much attention. So I did have a little bit.
Luckily, I wrote the script before that one came out, so I wasn’t writing with the idea of “this has to be as good,” because you can’t really work from a place like that. But yeah, a little. And then I have these two amazing actors in it [Julianne Moore and Paul Giamatti], and of course, you want the best for them. They deserve everything. So you want to be shepherding them through a good reception.
I’m a human being, and I recognise that it’s not healthy, because it’s also kind of a fluke; what gets attention in the film industry is totally unpredictable. I’ve been in things that I thought were the greatest things of all time that have not even made it to the light of release, and other things that I thought were going to be terrible that were lauded. So it’s kind of unpredictable. The truth of it is, as my friend always tells me: if you want a career in the arts, just try to stay busy, don’t worry about the peaks and the valleys.
Does a movie like A Real Pain push you to want to get into directing more? Does it change how you want to balance directing and acting?
Eisenberg: I had a really weird time on this last movie, because I play a small part in it, and I was watching Julianne Moore and Paul Giamatti crying on set every day, and I was kind of… a little bit frustrated. I had this one-man show that I was going to perform over the pandemic, but because of the pandemic, I didn’t get to do it. So as soon as the movie wrapped, I went and did that show, because I needed to cry in public. I have this deep need to be emotional on a consistent basis, and I was watching these two actors be emotional, and I got frustrated. So I like doing a lot of different things based on… I guess some maybe egomaniacal need for attention, or my parents didn’t love me — whatever the reason is. I like to do different things.
Congratulations again, it looks incredible. For you, Zoey, Voicemails for Isabelle is the number one film on Netflix. And you’re aware it’s the ten-year anniversary of Everybody Wants Some!!?
Deutch: Yes! We actually had a reunion in Austin a couple of months ago, which was really cool.
And correct me if I’m wrong, but you’re filming — or have already filmed — the FIFA Women’s World Cup film?
Deutch: Yeah, The 99’ers. I’m done! We finished filming about two weeks ago, and it was just an amazing, amazing experience. I’ve never been a part of something so empowering and uplifting — something that I think will inspire little girls and little boys all around the world, which is a really worthy and beautiful thing to be a part of. I feel very grateful to be a small part of it.
Eisenberg: This is a movie about the Women’s World Cup in 1999?
Deutch: Yeah.
Eisenberg: Did they win?
Deutch: Yeah!
Eisenberg: Really? I don’t think I knew that team. That’s amazing!
Well, congratulations again on the Minions. I guess I’m the first to tell you — Australia has seen the Minions movie and loved it, so congrats.
Eisenberg: That’s great! That’s so nice to hear. Thank you so much.
Deutch: Thank you so much from the future!
Minions & Monsters is in Australian cinemas now.
