In his new movie, “30 Minutes or Less,” Jesse Eisenberg plays Nick, a pizza delivery driver who is unwittingly caught up in a bank robbery scheme. Eisenberg won’t be holding up any banks during his promotional visit to Austin today, but he will be serving free pizza slices for 30 minutes at More Home Slice on South Congress Avenue.

A section of the back patio will be converted to a DJ space and a meet-and-greet spot for Eisenberg.

Home Slice co-founder and partner Terri Hannifin was contacted by the film’s publicity team who asked to use the South Congress location as part of a nationwide promotional tour for the film set to be released on Aug. 12. After handling other crowd-drawing events such as carnivals and South By Southwest, More Home Slice Assistant Manager Aubrey Lempertz said she and her team are prepared for a large turnout. Eisenberg’s arrival has been promoted through radio spots and flyers distributed around the UT campus, so Lempertz said she anticipates a sizable crowd.

“Could be 100, could be 50, could be 200 — we’re ready for a crowd, large and small,” she said.

Lempertz expects to go through 20 or more pizzas during Eisenberg’s visit, but the process will be controlled.

With the possibility of a large crowd in a small venue, Lempertz is hoping to avoid any catastrophes.

“I don’t want any disasters to happen, so I try not to think about them. We’ve been able to handle large crowds before. We’re hoping for a smooth operation all around, and hopefully have something like this happen again. It will sure be fun, definitely,” she said.

And to accommodate an Academy-Award nominee who might not be used to serving food, they’re keeping the process as simple as possible for Eisenberg.

“We’re letting our staff know that Jesse is going to be here serving, and that he’s only serving a certain kind of slice: cheese, pepperoni or margherita,” Lempertz said.

Eisenberg will complete some basic training, such as learning what kind of toppings come with each slice, and will also be assigned to a Home Slice employee.

“He’s going to have a little sidekick to help him, and [Eisenberg] won’t be handling any of the money because the studio is covering the slice cost,” she said.

While Lempertz isn’t worried about dealing with a crowd, she does offer Eisenberg some tips for dealing with the challenges of the pizza business.

“What I can tell [Eisenberg] is just try to listen to what everyone wants and give them a smile — great customer service.”

Printed on 07/11/2011 as: Eisenberg to serve slices to promote his new film