After the Oscar-nominated A Real Pain, Jesse Eisenberg has officially returned to the director's chair. He will be teaming up with A24 and Emma Stone's Fruit Tree studios after his 2023 film When You Finish Saving the World. A24 will handle the distribution, whereas Fruit Tree and Topic Studios will take care of the production.
Joining Stone from Fruit Tree are Ali Herting and Stone's real-life partner, SNL alumnus Dave McCary. Topic Studios will serve as the executive producer. Screen Daily reveals that the production has begun in New Jersey. It offers Eisenberg a chance to work on a musical, a genre that he has been longing to work on for a while.
During his appearance on The Kelly Clarkson Show in October 2024, Jesse Eisenberg offered some insights into his love for musicals and his upcoming film.
"My first love is musical theater.—I've written musicals. None of them [have] gotten produced, but the next movie I'm directing is about a musical. So, I finally got to do a musical."
He further added,
"It's a musical within a movie. So, you see the rehearsals and everything."
Based on his comments, the film may not be a conventional musical that relies on people breaking out on song and dance numbers. Instead, it might be a meta-film, where musical scenes are paired with behind-the-scenes footage of its characters.
What is the plot of Jesse Eisenberg’s new A24 film?
According to the official logline, Jesse Eisenberg's musical film for A24 will revolve around,
“a shy woman who is unexpectedly cast in a community theater musical production, going to extremes as she loses herself in the role.”
Eisenberg has also worked on the film's music and lyrics in collaboration with creative experts in this field. Steven Gizicki, who's known for his work on La La Land (2016) and A Complete Unknown (2024), is the music supervisor. Bill Sherman joins as executive music supervisor after his work on Tick, Tick... Boom! (2021) and Theater Camp (2023).
Hamilton-fame Andy Blankenbuehler serves as a choreographer, whereas Drew Daniels joins as the cinematographer. In addition to Sean Baker's Anora, Daniels has previously lensed Baker's Red Rocket and all feature films from Trey Edward Shults, the writer-director behind The Weeknd's upcoming Hurry Up Tomorrow.
Who is in the cast of Jesse Eisenberg’s new A24 film?
Julianne Moore (May December, Still Alice) leads Eisenberg's upcoming musical, which also stars Paul Giamatti (The Holdovers, The Sideways) in a central role. Eisenberg will be a part of the cast.
Moore recently starred in Pedro Almodóvar's The Room Next Door, and her upcoming projects include Michael Pearce's Echo Valley and Netflix's black comedy series Sirens. Giamatti appeared in the seventh season of Netflix's Black Mirror and will soon star in Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale.
The rest of the cast includes
- Havana Rose Liu (Bottoms, The Sky Is Everywhere)
- Halle Bailey (The Little Mermaid, The Colour Purple)
- Bernadette Peters (Annie, Pink Cadillac)
- Bonnie Milligan (Search Party)
- Colton Ryan (The Girl from Plainville, Little Voice)
- Maulik Pancholy (30 Rock, Weeds)
- Lilli Cooper (The Post)
Jesse Eisenberg's past as a writer-director, explored
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Jesse Eisenberg has been acting professionally since a fairly young age. In addition to his work in theater, he has starred in a wide range of films, from crowdpleasers like Now You See Me and Zombieland to David Fincher's The Social Network.
In 2023, he made his feature directorial debut with When You Finish Saving the World, a comedy-drama film that premiered at the Sundance Film Festival. He followed it up with A Real Pain, which earned him several awards and nominations for his writing, directing, and acting performance. The latest musical marks his third feature film directorial.
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