The Debut Trailer 2: Julianne Moore and Paul Giamatti

Courtesy of A24

Two words are about to follow Julianne Moore around all awards season: “Rent’s due.” A24 dropped the second official trailer for The Debut on Nov. 10, and it leans hard on that one line, the only one Moore’s community-theater newcomer gets. Jesse Eisenberg wrote and directed the musical comedy, which opens in theaters Dec. 11.

The featured image is an official still of Paul Giamatti and Julianne Moore in The Debut.

The Lowdown

This is the rare awards hopeful that is also a broad comedy, and the new trailer sells both halves. A housewife lands a tiny part, decides the tiny part deserves everything, and goes to war with her director over it. After warm festival reviews, the question now is whether a movie about a community-theater production of a made-up musical can play outside the festival bubble. Our read: the trailer makes a strong case that it can.

Key Takeaways

A24 released the second official trailer for The Debut on Nov. 10. The film opens in theaters Dec. 11, 2026, per A24.
Julianne Moore plays Mona Friedman, a shy housewife who becomes a full method actor over a small part in a local theater show.
Paul Giamatti plays the show’s controlling director. Halle Bailey, Bernadette Peters and Eisenberg himself are also in the cast.
It is Eisenberg’s third feature as writer-director, after A Real Pain, and he wrote the songs for the musical inside the movie.

The Debut | Official Trailer 2 HD | A24

The Full Story

What The Debut Is About

A24’s official synopsis keeps it simple. Mona Friedman gets a bit part at a small community theater and turns from a quiet, unassuming homemaker into a method actor who will protect the integrity of that part at any cost, even if it means a fight with the director. IndieWire describes the role as “Miss Danielle,” a tough Manhattan building superintendent in a show called Nosy Neighbors, and notes that Mona starts rewriting the script as the line between her and the character blurs.

The trailer plays that for laughs. Giamatti’s director, named Jerry Blankenbuehler according to The A.V. Club, keeps pushing for a better read of Mona’s single line, and Moore keeps delivering it in a bigger wig and a bigger voice. The A.V. Club compared the setup to the classic Simpsons episode “A Streetcar Named Marge.”

The cast and crew of a community theater show posing on stage around a letter board reading Brook Theater Nosy Neighbors Cast and Crew — The cast of the fictional show *Nosy Neighbors* in an official still from *The Debut*. Courtesy of A24

Who Is in It

Beyond Moore and Giamatti, A24 lists Halle Bailey and Eisenberg in the cast. FirstShowing adds Bernadette Peters, Havana Rose Liu, Lilli Cooper, Colton Ryan and Maulik Pancholy, and Playbill also names Cara Buono, Craig Bierko and Eldar Isgandarov. Ali Herting, Dave McCary and Emma Stone produced it with Topic Studios and Fruit Tree, according to FirstShowing.

Festival Buzz and Oscar Talk

The film has already played Telluride, Toronto and the New York Film Festival. IndieWire says Eisenberg wrote the original songs for Nosy Neighbors himself, a first for him as a director. His last film, A Real Pain, won Kieran Culkin the supporting actor Oscar, and The A.V. Club notes that Gold Derby now ranks Moore among the frontrunners for best actress.

Moore has a stage project of her own coming, too. Playbill reports she will lead Sarah Ruhl’s new play Faydra for Manhattan Theatre Club, starting Feb. 2, 2027. The Debut arrives first, Dec. 11 in select U.S. theaters. More film news is on our Movies page.