{"id":658880,"date":"2026-10-19T00:34:08","date_gmt":"2026-10-19T00:34:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/658880\/"},"modified":"2026-10-19T00:34:08","modified_gmt":"2026-10-19T00:34:08","slug":"julianne-moore-shines-as-jesse-eisenbergs-the-debut-premieres-in-london","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/658880\/","title":{"rendered":"Julianne Moore Shines as Jesse Eisenberg’s The Debut Premieres in London"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\t\u201cThe Debut<\/a>\u201d ended London Film Festival<\/a> on a high note Sunday night as director Jesse Eisenberg<\/a> and star Julianne Moore<\/a> gushed over each other to a packed audience at the Royal Festival Hall.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cI mean, this movie stars my favorite person, Julianne Moore,\u201d Eisenberg began as the duo came onstage to introduce the musical comedy. \u201cBut ironically, strangely, it\u2019s the story of my life.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tWritten and directed by Eisenberg, \u201cThe Debut\u201d stars Moore as Mona Friedman, a shy New Jersey housewife who auditions for a part in her local theater\u2019s production of a fictional musical called \u201cNosy Neighbors.\u201d After she\u2019s cast in the supporting role of Miss Danielle, Friedman\u2019s life begins to unravel as she becomes more consumed with playing the part and falls under the spell of director Jerry Blankenbuehler (Paul Giamatti).<\/p>\n

\n\tEisenberg said he started doing community theater when he was \u201c7 years old and miserable,\u201d and it changed his life forever. \u201cI wanted to write about that experience in my life, but I could only picture Julianne, to the point where I was writing it and she was inspiring me,\u201d he added. \u201cIt\u2019s the most thrilling experience to watch her and edit her for two years.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tMoore, wearing a chic black gown, returned the praise. She called \u201cThe Debut\u201d an \u201cincredible gift\u201d and said it\u2019s \u201cone of the best scripts I\u2019ve ever read in my entire life.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cIt was such an honor to receive it and such a thrill to go to work every day and to get to do this incredible part with these tremendous actors,\u201d she said, adding of Eisenberg: \u201cHe\u2019s a beautiful writer, exemplary director and just a great talent.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tIn response, Eisenberg quipped: \u201cI just want to note that the only time I\u2019m called beautiful, it\u2019s about writing.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cThe Debut\u201d team fully leaned in for the U.K. premiere, with each guest finding a fake Playbill for \u201cNosy Neighbors\u201d at their seat. During the screening, there was plenty of audible laughter and several rounds of applause for high points in Moore\u2019s campy performance. <\/p>\n

\n\tSadly, Eisenberg said that Giamatti could not attend as he has COVID-19. \u201cI wish he could be here. He is the greatest guy and you would love to hear him talk,\u201d he said. \u201cPaul\u2019s been my favorite actor since I\u2019m young, Julianne\u2019s been my favorite actress since I\u2019m young.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tAlongside Moore and Giamatti, \u201cThe Debut\u201d also stars Eisenberg, Halle Bailey, Colton Ryan and Bonnie Milligan as actors in the musical. Bernadette Peters, Lilli Cooper, Maulik Pancholy and Havana Rose Liu round out the cast. <\/p>\n

\n\tOf acting with his childhood heroes, Eisenberg said it was \u201cthe thrill of a lifetime\u201d but also \u201cvery strange.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cI was spending so much time enthralled with them, and then it was like Michael Jordan said, \u2018Here, you take the ball!\u2019 And I\u2019m like, \u2018What is this thing?\u2019 So it was so distracting to me. I hope to never act alongside them again,\u201d he joked. \u201cI was my worst self.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cThe Debut\u201d premiered at Telluride Film Festival last month, where it earned rave reviews and Oscar buzz for leading lady Moore. In Variety\u2018s review<\/a>, chief film critic Owen Gleiberman wrote: \u201c\u2018The Debut,\u2019 a small-town-theater comedy rooted in big ideas, is a funny and dizzying mind-bender. It\u2019s like \u2018Waiting for Guffman\u2019 made by the Coen brothers at their most rivetingly unhinged.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cThe Debut\u201d is set to hit theaters on Dec. 11 via A24. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cThe Debut\u201d ended London Film Festival on a high note Sunday night as director Jesse Eisenberg and star…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":658881,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[321,93,61,60,24594,41881,49962,246016],"class_list":["post-658880","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-celebrities","tag-celebrities","tag-entertainment","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-jesse-eisenberg","tag-julianne-moore","tag-london-film-festival","tag-the-debut"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/658880","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=658880"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/658880\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/658881"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=658880"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=658880"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=658880"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}