Jesse Eisenberg, Julianne Moore bring curtain down on London Film Festival with 'The Debut'

LONDON: Actor-filmmaker Jesse Eisenberg said he wrote the ​lead role in his musical comedy “The Debut” with Julianne Moore in mind, praising the Oscar-winning star as “the ‌greatest actress in the world” as the film closed the London Film Festival on Sunday.

“I just thought, this is Julianne Moore, and I will write every scene with her in mind and what she likes to do and what she’s great at,” Eisenberg, who wrote the ​screenplay and directed the film, told Reuters on the red carpet.

Moore stars as Mona, a shy New Jersey ​housewife who is thrilled to land a role in a community theatre musical.

Drawn to the experience ⁠by a longing for something missing in her life, Mona finds purpose and community through the show.

“She’s moving towards something, ​knowing that there’s something that she needs in her life,” Moore said. “Then that thing leads you towards yourself and towards ​community, which is really the most valuable thing of all.”

The film, which marks Eisenberg’s latest directing effort following his BAFTA-winning screenplay for “A Real Pain”, features seven original songs written by the filmmaker. The numbers appear in the fictional stage production “Nosy Neighbours”, a deliberately light-hearted, 1990s-inspired musical performed ​by a cast including “The Little Mermaid” star Halle Bailey.

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“I love songwriting, I love musical theatre music and I wrote these ​songs in earnest,” Eisenberg said.

Mona’s early struggles on stage test the patience of director Jerry, played by “The Holdovers” star Paul Giamatti, prompting ‌her to ⁠adopt an increasingly committed method acting approach.

Eisenberg said Moore’s interpretation of Mona allowed him to make a “weird movie” that still felt grounded.

“She is so unusual, she’s so strange,” he said. “It allowed me to make a movie that wasn’t realistic.”

While Mona takes method acting to extremes, the “Now You See Me” star said all actors, including himself, draw on some version of the ​technique.

“I always wind up feeling whatever ​the character feels,” he ⁠said. “So if my character is miserable, I spend the shoot just miserable. But I don’t realise it’s for the character. I just think, ‘Oh God, I must be doing terribly in the ​movie’.”

Eisenberg, who plays a minor role in “The Debut”, said the story was inspired by ​his own childhood ⁠experiences in community theatre, where he discovered “a family and a home and a life” he liked.

Patrick Fabian, who plays Mona’s husband in the film, said theatre offers something increasingly rare: a chance for people to connect in person with one another.

“It brings people ⁠together, and ​these days, it gets them out of their screens and into the ​dark together to watch whatever is going on,” Fabian said. “I think that’s a real bonding thing.”

“The Debut” brought the curtain down on the 70th London ​Film Festival, where Ukrainian filmmaker Sergei Loznitsa’s “Imperium” won Best Film in the Official Competition.