Eisenberg's Musical 'The Debut' Premieres at Telluride with Moore — SkimNews
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- Jesse Eisenberg's musical comedy "The Debut" (A24) premiered at the Telluride Film Festival on Saturday to upbeat reviews, with the writer-director calling himself "in a fugue state" over the screening.
- Julianne Moore stars as a suburban homemaker turned anxious aspiring community theater actress, with the source suggesting a sixth Oscar nomination could follow her 2015 "Still Alice" win.
- Eisenberg wrote the role specifically for Moore, calling her his "muse" and saying he couldn't picture anyone else, and structured the film as "my point of view through somebody I consider a muse."
- Paul Giamatti co-stars as a mercurial director; Eisenberg called him "my favorite actor of all time," and Giamatti's agent Billy Lazarus independently texted to ask if he'd consider Paul for the role.
- The film features seven original musical theater songs that Eisenberg has been writing for roughly 20 years, including Moore's big number built around a woman "who has been chewed up but not spit out."
- The film is autobiographical — Eisenberg said he didn't realize it until scouting houses that resembled his mother's kitchen and choosing 1990-era costumes, framing it as "a fever dream" rather than a straight comedy.
- Eisenberg cited "The Double" (Richard Ayoade) and "The Art of Self-Defense" (Riley Stearns) as the tonal models that pushed him toward an expressionistic, non-naturalistic style with direct lighting and Lynchian color choices.
Why it matters: Eisenberg follows his "A Real Pain" Original Screenplay nomination with a deeply personal musical that puts Moore at its center — a rare vehicle for her range in a genre-blending comedy. For A24, it's another auteur-driven awards play; for Moore, a sixth Oscar shot in a role Eisenberg wrote with no one else in mind.
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