The Debut (world premiere)

 

Jesse Eisenberg: The Debut (US 2026) with Julianne Moore as Mona.

Telluride Film Festival (TFF) 2026

Viewed at Galaxy, 7 Sep 2026

TFF 2026 Program Guide: 

P/Sat 3:45PM Q&A - H/Sat 6:45PM - C/Sun 3:45PM - G/Mon 4:15PM 

21 The Debut 

Made possible by a donation from Jason Reitman & Lorraine Nicholson 

Bilge Ebiri: "In Jesse Eisenberg’s immensely charming comedy, an anxious New Jersey homemaker (Julianne Moore) lands a part in a local community theater musical production. She finds herself at the mercy of a domineering, big-fish-small-pond director (Paul Giamatti). It might sound like a cookiecutter script, but Eisenberg’s sharply, slightly insane take brings us a memorable story of self-actualization through creative destruction. Moore runs through wild, wonderful extremes as a woman who, having spent her life as a shrinking violet, is determined to make her mark on the world. Giamatti matches her beat for beat as the small-time impresario who tries to introduce this hapless novice to the liberating potential of the stage—and then both marvels and shudders at what he’s created. As the characters change, so too does the world around them, and Eisenberg’s deft direction balances both the film’s expertly timed comedy and a gorgeous drift into surrealism." –BE (U.S., 2026, 105m)  In person: Jesse Eisenberg, Julianne Moore, Paul Giamatti, Emma Stone, Ali Herting

AA: As Jesse Eisenberg's A Real Pain was one of the best movies of 2024, The Debut was highly anticipated. Julianne Moore is Mona, a woman who has always stayed in the background. Her mundane presence does not at all betray that she might become a flamboyant musical star. She is nervous, dizzy, loud, tone-deaf, gaudy, explicit. It is as impossible to believe in her as a musical performer as in the transformation of a caterpillar into a butterfly. And yet in both cases the miracle happens.

The Debut is about reinventing yourself. The courage of your conviction of your potential. The courage of being yourself.

It is a backstage musical, a putting-on-a-show musical, a celebration of the musical as an art of excess and exuberance. Sometimes too much is not enough.

Lovely performances by Julianne Moore, Paul Giamatti, Bernadette Peters, Jesse Eisenberg himself, and others.

I am always fond of film directors writing songs for their movies. Like Jesse Eisenberg does here.