Jesse Eisenberg’s ‘The Debut’ Serves Up an Oscar-Worthy Julianne Moore — Here’s How He Did It — SkimNews
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- Jesse Eisenberg's musical comedy "The Debut" (A24) premiered Saturday at the Telluride Film Festival to upbeat reviews, with raves for star Julianne Moore and talk of a potential sixth Oscar nomination for her.
- Julianne Moore plays a suburban homemaker turned aspiring community-theater actress, a role Eisenberg said he wrote entirely for her and could not picture anyone else performing.
- Eisenberg conceived the film while on set shooting "A Real Pain," which earned him an Original Screenplay Oscar nomination and Kieran Culkin a Supporting Actor win.
- Eisenberg composed all seven musical songs in the film himself, drawing on roughly 20 years of songwriting; he wrote Moore's centerpiece number specifically to thematically match her character's arc of being "chewed up but not spit out."
- Paul Giamatti co-stars as the mercurial theater director, with Eisenberg noting almost every Giamatti scene was captured on take one; Giamatti told Eisenberg, "Don't put the camera on me for this scene. It's about Julie."
- The film is autobiographical, drawing on Eisenberg's own childhood terror of performing — including a real breakdown scene from acting school where classmates applauded him afterward.
- Production ran on a tight schedule and small budget where "nobody got paid oodles of money"; Eisenberg credited cinematographer Drew Daniels and production designer Anne Ross for the expressionistic, "fever dream" visual style.
Why it matters: Coming off his 'A Real Pain' screenplay nomination, Eisenberg is now testing his range with a self-financed musical passion project built entirely around Moore, potentially positioning her for a historic sixth Oscar nomination following her 'Still Alice' win.
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