“I’m actually donating my kidney in six weeks,” Jesse Eisenberg said on “The Today Show” to a round of laughter. “I really am,” he then clarified.
The actor/writer/director, who performed a NYC-set magic show earlier this week to promote “Now You See Me: Now You Don’t,” joined the NBC hosts on Thursday to chat about his illusionist threequel. While there, host Craig Melvin recalled a time when Eisenberg himself assisted with a “Today” blood drive.
“I didn’t realize you were a big blood donor,” Melvin said.
“Yes, I’m a big blood donor,” Eisenberg smiled. The actor soon transitioned the conversation to his kidney donation, an evolution of his frequent blood donations. “I don’t know why,” he added of his kidney donation. “I got, like, bitten by the blood donation bug. Yeah, I love it.”
“Wow, I didn’t see that coming,” Melvin later added. “I was just gonna commend you on helping set up the blood drive. I heard you were actually bringing out tables and chairs.”
“Yeah, I just have so much blood in me,” Eisenberg said. “I feel like I should spill it.”
The “Today” hosts were wowed by Eisenberg’s donation, noting that he only volunteered the information when it naturally rose in the conversation. His donation comes at a time of professional success for the star, who last year received rave reviews for his sophomore directorial feature, “A Real Pain.” Eisenberg wrote and starred in the film, which was nominated for Best Original Screenplay at the Oscars (Eisenberg’s second nod following a Best Actor nomination for “The Social Network”). Kieran Culkin won Best Supporting Actor for the film.
The interview also times up with “Now You See Me: Now You Don’t,” the third entry in the close-up magic heist franchise. Eisenberg has long spoken about his love for the series, in which he plays a cool and slick magician who uses tricks to pull off high-level robberies. It has been nearly 10 years since the release of “Now You See Me 2,” which was directed by “Wicked” helmer Jon M. Chu.
Eisenberg later told TODAY.com that the kidney donation process is “essentially risk-free and so needed.”
“Let’s say person X needs a kidney in Kansas City, (and) their child or whoever was going to donate to them is, for whatever set of reasons, not a match, but somehow I am,” he explained. “That person can still get my kidney and hopefully that child of that person still donates their kidney, right? But it goes to a bank where that person can find a match recipient, but it only works if there is basically an altruistic donor.”
