Jesse Eisenberg's Musical Movie: The Movie's Plot

The Debut is the musical and comedy movie coming out. The story follows a shy woman, Mona Friedman (Julianne Moore) who is unexpectedly cast in a local production of a musical. Under the influence of the charismatic director Jerry (Paul Giamatti), the protagonist loses herself in the role and in the world of the small theatrical production.

While she completely immerses herself in the role, she pushes herself to extremes.

"I haven't sung in front of anyone since church choirs" says Mona to a friend, in the released trailer. After auditioning, she receives a phone call from Jerry. "You're the only person who auditioned for the role of Mrs. Daniel. You got the part".

"Everyone can take the rest of the day off, except Mona" says Jerry during rehearsals. "Everything you're doing, it's not working" he scolds her. "When all the lights are on me, I'll shine" she concludes.

Jesse Eisenberg's Musical Movie: The Movie's Cast

Julianne Moore has worked on The Room Next Door by Pedro Almodóvar, May December and on the TV series Sirens and Mary & George: she won the Oscar in 2015 for her performance in Still Alice. Paul Giamatti, star of The Holdovers and episodes of Billions and Star Trek: Starfleet Academy, where he will play a villain; Bernadette Peters, Broadway actress.

Also present are Halle Bailey, in theaters with You, Me & Tuscany alongside Regé-Jean Page, and star of The Little Mermaid and The Color Purple; Havana Rose Liu and Bernadette Peters.

Jesse Eisenberg's Musical Movie: Production and Filming

The direction is by Jesse Eisenberg, who directed A Real Pain, a movie that earned him an Oscar nomination for best original screenplay and brought Kieran Culkin to victory as best supporting actor.

The production is by Topic Studios and Fruit Tree, Emma Stone's production company with Dave McCary and Ali Herting, with whom he had already collaborated for A Real Pain. Filming began in April 2025.