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Jesse Eisenberg exclusively shared with E! News that the Oscar buzz surrounding his new film The Debut is already stressing him out: "You're always waiting for somebody to not like it."
Why Jesse Eisenberg Says Oscar Buzz for The Debut Causes “Pure Terror”
Jesse Eisenberg is already stressed about awards season.
The Oscar nominee confessed that he’s feeling anxious about the reaction to his new movie The Debut—which stars Julianne Moore and Paul Giamatti—despite the Oscars buzz that’s already surrounding the film.
“It’s a very weird thing where I go through this process of talking about the movie and it rolling out in this way with pure terror in my heart,” Eisenberg admitted to E! News in an exclusive interview at the film’s Toronto International Film Festival premiere Sept. 13. “You're always waiting for somebody to not like it.”
Or, at least, that’s how the 42-year-old feels about the experience. As he jokingly put it, that’s how his brain was “wired.”
“The weird thing about this whole process is that you go through two years where you're just working on the movie with all the people who are allies of the movie,” he explained. “And then suddenly you're putting it out, and suddenly people have their own opinions about it. And it's hurtful.”
Moreover, the Social Network star tends to focus on the one person at a screening “who kind of looks to the side,” which instantly makes him think, “Oh god, I made something terrible.”
Still, Eisenberg is proud of his third directorial feature, which stars Moore as an unassuming housewife who gets cast in a community theater production and loses herself in the role. But figuring out what story he wanted to tell after making 2024’s A Real Pain didn’t come easily to the actor-turned-filmmaker.
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“It’s like a weird thing when you try to write what you know,” Eisenberg explained. “My last movie was about these cousins that go to Poland and that's something I know really well. That's my life.”
And when it came to The Debut, he quickly realized that Moore’s character was “essentially” a version of himself.
“Incredibly shy, feeling invisible and then taking this thing way too seriously. That was me in my life,” he continued. “Once I figured it out that it could be through Julianne's eyes and not a 6-year-old Jesse, then it made sense as a movie.”
The Debut hits theaters for a limited release on Dec. 11.
For more stars at the TIFF 2026, keep reading.
—Reporting by Lauren Herbert
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