The Debut in theatre kid central

As I’ve already mentioned a number of times, The Debut was my favourite film of TIFF 2026. I LOVE this movie SO MUCH, to the point where it became my festival personality – all I wanted to do was talk to people about The Debut, perhaps to verify that the thrill I experienced while watching it was legit, that I wasn’t alone… even though I knew I wasn’t alone because I could feel in the theatre that everyone else was just as delighted as I was, bursting into applause at the end of That Scene, laughing louder than even I was. There were times, though, where I would still be laughing about a thing that happened three moments ago, this is how charming and funny and LOVING The Debut is.

And that’s my biggest takeaway about the film: that it is so full of love for theatre kids. I’m not a theatre kid, but there are theatre kids in my life who I love, and The Debut reminded me of them, reinforced my life for them, and made me want to see it with them. Like Duana. Duana has been, at times, every character in Jesse Eisenberg’s film about community theatre, LOL.

The thing about The Debut, though, is that even though it’s specifically about a group of community theatre nerds in New Jersey, the film isn’t exclusionary nor is it vain. This is a story that is laughing at itself, in the kindest possible way, and inviting others to laugh with it, in the kindest possible way. It’s a story that is saying… yes, we KNOW, we are a LOT, we can’t help it, but if you ever want to try doing too much for a change, we’re here, waiting for you. And as a filmmaker, Jesse Eisenberg has never been this engaging, this accepting – of himself, of his own quirks and passions and compulsions. Which, by the way, is a meta function of what The Debut is really about: that there is safety in community, that life is best when we can find the people who are willing to be weird and awkward and too earnest and TOO much, together.

And the world capital of all that muchness is New York City, every theatre kid’s mecca. Which is where The Debut screened last night, at the New York Film Festival after premiering at both Telluride and Toronto in September. This is when That Scene became a festival phenomenon: there is a scene in the film, and you’ll know it when you see it, that elicited spontaneous applause from the cynical film critic crowd not typically prone to outbursts of enchantment – and even they couldn’t resist what Julianne Moore and Paul Giamatti are throwing down in this movie. Imagine then the reception from a New York City audience, not far from the theatre district, aka Broadway. I’m actually surprised no one was hospitalised from euphoria. If there was someone standing outside of the theatre recording the reaction, all you’d hear on that audio was the loudest symphony of gasping from feeling seen, over and over again.

Speaking of feeling seen though, The Debut opens in limited release on December 11 and then goes wide on December 18, for all the people who don’t want to Dunesday. That’s still over two months away but already, this is a contender. At this point, right now, it’s basically unanimous that Julianne Moore is the frontrunner for the Best Actress Oscar. Academy voters will be ALL OVER this performance, and Paul Giamatti’s too – though she’s much more of a lock than he is. And while The Odyssey is no doubt the heavyweight for Best Picture, The Debut is looking very well positioned for a nomination in that category, as well as for screenplay and also Best Original Song in “This City May Have Chewed Me Up (But It Hasn't Spit Me Out)”, written by Jesse and performed in the film by both Bernadette Peters and Julianne. Plus, there’s the Emma Stone bonus, because she’s a producer on the film, she was there last night in New York, and she will definitely be leveraging her influence for the campaign.

And then there’s Halle Bailey, a brilliant stroke of casting here. She is so good in this ensemble about an ensemble, with an extra layer of genius in that her character is the theatre veteran to Julianne Moore’s rookie. And that dynamic in the film is somehow believable and endearing – and obviously an outstandingly executed magic trick.