Jesse Eisenberg, Julianne Moore close London Film Festival with ‘The Debut’

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.

“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.

Taika Waititi (left), Jenna Ortega and Amy Adams. Associated Press

“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.

Meanwhile, In Taika Waititi’s “Klara and the Sun”, which stars Jenna Ortega and Amy Adams, a robot delivers lessons on humanity. The dystopian drama is based on Nobel Prize-winning author Kazuo Ishiguro’s 2021 bestseller of the same name and set in a technologically advanced future, following what one character describes as a third world war triggered by the abuse of the internet.

Ortega plays Klara, an outdated model of an Artificial Friend, an android companion whose sell-by date is fast approaching when, to her relief, teenager Josie (Mia Tharia) and her mother (Adams) buy her. Programmed to prevent loneliness, Klara is full of quirks and hopes and believes in the healing power of the sun. Her traits come in handy in a household marked by grief and mystery.

“It felt like a very timely story,” said Ortega at the movie’s world premiere at the London Film Festival on Thursday. “To see it put in a futuristic world and see that we still struggle with the same things and the answer’s kind of always in one another and listening to one another, I thought it was a really nuanced, thoughtful way of putting it.”

Waititi, who directed, co-wrote and produced the movie, was struck by Ishiguro’s allegorical interplay between humans, artificial intelligence and nature. “She’s a machine who comes into the world of a broken family and somehow teaches them the importance of being human,” Waititi said.

“It’s vital right now because we’re now in a moment where we’re maybe on the cusp of losing control of our relationship with technology,” said Waititi, adding that he also wanted the film to “remind people to put the devices down, not because there’s a threat or anything, but just put the thing down because it’s a distraction, and just be with the people you’re with.”

While Waititi injected some of his signature humour into the movie, he said he wanted to “keep the profound feeling and the drama from the book.” “There’s some funny bits there, but it’s probably my most dramatic film,” Waititi said. “Klara and the Sun,” which also stars Natasha Lyonne, Steve Buscemi, Aran Murphy and Rachel House, will go on release globally from Oct.21.

Reuters