Jesse Eisenberg Karate Comedy ‘The Art of Self-Defense’ Sells to Bleecker Street

Bleecker Street has acquired worldwide distribution rights to the dark comedy, “The Art of Self-Defense,” starring Jesse Eisenberg, Imogen Poots and Alessando Nivola. The Riley Stearns film begins shooting today in Kentucky.

Eisenberg stars as a man attacked at random on the street, who trains in a local dojo as a means to defend himself from further harm. Nivola plays his coach.

There, he “uncovers is a sinister world of fraternity, violence and hyper-masculinity and a woman (Imogen Poots),” according to Bleecker Street.

Stearns last film, “Faults,” starred Mary Elizabeth Winstead and received strong notices at the 2014 SXSW Film Festival.