A24 Drops The Debut Trailer Starring Moore, Giamatti
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- A24 unveiled the first trailer for "The Debut," Jesse Eisenberg's directorial follow-up to his Oscar-winning "A Real Pain," with the R-rated musical comedy slated for a fall theatrical release.
- Julianne Moore stars as Mona Friedman, a shy housewife who lands a small part in a New Jersey community theater production and transforms into a zealous method actor willing to wage war against the show's director to protect her role's artistic integrity.
- Paul Giamatti plays Jerry, billed as "the biggest name in New Jersey community theater," whose aggressive direction pushes Moore's character toward greatness in what the source compares to "Whiplash for the community theater world."
- Jesse Eisenberg wrote and directed from his own script and also appears in the film as a fellow actor in the community theater troupe, reuniting with production companies Topic Studios and Fruit Tree from A Real Pain and with Moore, who starred in his 2022 A24 directorial debut "When You Finish Saving the World."
- The supporting cast includes Broadway legend Bernadette Peters, Halle Bailey, Cara Buono, Craig Bierko, and Eldar Isgandarov, with producers E. Brian Dobbins (listed as Stone), Dave McCary, Ali Herting, and Eisenberg.
Why it matters: Coming off an Oscar win for A Real Pain, Eisenberg's third directorial effort pairs Moore and Giamatti in an R-rated musical comedy—a dramatic tonal swing from his previous Poland-set Holocaust memorial drama. The fall release positions the project as the next step in establishing the actor-turned-filmmaker within A24's prestige slate.
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