NEED TO KNOW
Julianne Moore stars as a housewife turned method actress opposite Paul Giamatti in A24’s forthcoming musical comedy, The Debut
The film, written and directed by Jesse Eisenberg, follows Mona (Moore) in her transformative first role in a community theater production, led by intense director Jerry (Giamatti)
“Opening night, when the lights are on me,” Mona says in the trailer, “I’m going to shine.”
Julianne Moore and Paul Giamatti spar as a budding actress and veteran director in A24’s forthcoming film, The Debut.
The musical comedy film, written and directed by Jesse Eisenberg, follows the dramatic community theater production that — under immense pressure from the show’s lauded director, Jerry (Giamatti, 59) — transforms housewife Mona (Moore, 65) into a star.
Poster for A24’s The Debut, starring Julianne Moore and Paul Giamatti.
Credit: A24
“When Mona Friedman is cast in a bit part at a small community theater, she transforms from a shy, unassuming housewife into a zealous method actor willing to do anything to protect the artistic integrity of her marginal role—even if it means waging war against the show’s domineering director,” the film’s official synopsis reads.
The film’s trailer meets Mona, seemingly in the midst of a quiet life at home, when she decides to take a leap and try out for the small part of Miss Danielle in a community production. Since she was “the only person to audition” for the role, Jerry tells her, Mona secures the part, thus launching her on-stage career.
But, as a fellow cast member (played by Halle Bailey) tells Mona, “Jerry is going to test you, and push you, and drag you through the mud.” Jerry, known to the cast as the biggest name in New Jersey community theater, is “brilliant, but he’s not here to be your friend.”
Paul Giamatti and Julianne Moore in ‘The Debut’
Credit: A24/Youtube
As opening night nears, Jerry pushes Mona and her creative abilities to their breaking point; in one clip, he insists Mona recite her line three times without blinking, and in another, he gives the whole cast the day off, with the exception of Mona.
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“Every single thing you are doing … is not working,” Jerry admonishes Mona in the trailer.
But soon she stuns everyone when she completely commits to her part, body and soul. The trailer concludes as Mona promises, “Opening night, when the lights are on me — I’m going to shine.”
The movie’s cast also also includes Eisenberg, Bailey, Cara Buono, Craig Bierko, Eldar Isgandarov and Bernadette Peters. This is Eisenberg’s third movie as a writer and director, following the success of 2024’s A Real Pain, for which he won the Oscar for Best Original Screenplay.
A24 has yet to share a premiere date for the film.
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