*The filmmaker wrote seven original songs for the film’s musical ‘Nosy Neighbors’.

*Eisenberg says his experiences in community theater inspired the story

by Francesca Halliwell

LONDON (AP) — 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’ll write every scene with her in mind and what she likes to do and what she’s very good at,” Eisenberg, who wrote the screenplay and directed the film, told Reuters on the red carpet.

Moore plays Mona, a shy New Jersey housewife who is thrilled to land a role in a community theater 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 toward something, knowing she wants something in her life,” Moore said. “Then that leads you back into yourself and into the community, which is really the most valuable thing.”

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

Eisenberg said, “I love songwriting, I love musical theater music, and I wrote these songs honestly.”

Monae’s early struggles on stage tested the patience of director Jerry, played by “The Holdovers” star Paul Giamatti, who pushed her to adopt an increasingly committed acting method.

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

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

While Monae takes method acting to the extreme, the “Now You See Me” star said all actors, including herself, resort to some version of the technique.

“I always feel what the character feels,” he said. “So if my character is bad, I spend the shooting having a bad time. But I don’t realize that it’s for the character. I just think, ‘Oh my God, I’m doing so bad in the movie.’

Eisenberg, who played a small role in “The Debut”, said the story was inspired by his childhood experiences in community theater, where he discovered “a family and a home and a life” that he loved.

Patrick Fabian, who plays Mona’s husband in the film, said theater offers something rare: a chance for people to connect with each other in person.

“It brings people together, and these days, it gets them out of their screens and into the dark together so they can see what’s going on,” Fabian said. “I think it’s a real bonding thing.”

“The Debut” closed the 70th London Film Festival, where Ukrainian filmmaker Sergei Loznitsa’s “Imperium” won Best Film in the official competition.

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