Jesse Eisenberg Sets Musical Comedy Film with Julianne Moore and Paul Giamatti

On a recent visit to The Kelly Clarkson Show, Jesse Eisenberg revealed that his next project follows the making of an original musical. Now, Deadline has confirmed the film is officially in the works, with Eisenberg directing and Julianne Moore and Paul Giamatti to star. 

The currently untitled film follows a timid woman (likely Moore) who is unexpectedly cast in a community theater production of an original musical. After joining the production, she finds herself lost under the spell of the character and the dynamic director (likely Giamatti)

As Eisenberg teased on his talk show appearance, he has written both the script and the original songs featured in the in-universe musical. "You see the rehearsals and everything...Since I wrote the music for it, if the music is bad, no one will think it's my fault: they'll think that's the intention," he deadpanned on the show. Production will begin early next year.

Most recently, Eisenberg wrote, directed, and starred in the dramedy A Real Pain alongside Kieran Culkin, which hit theaters in November.

Eisenberg made his television debut with the short-lived comedy-drama series Get Real (1999–2000). Following his first leading role in the film Roger Dodger (2002), he appeared in the films The Village (2004) and The Squid and the Whale (2005) and led the 2009 comedies Adventureland and Zombieland. He gained wider recognition for starring as Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg in David Fincher's film The Social Network (2010), for which he was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor.

Earlier this year, Eisenberg made a special appearance during the New York City Center stage production of Titanic.  In October 2011, Eisenberg made his playwriting debut in Rattlestick Playwrights Theater's Off-Broadway production of Asuncion, staged at Cherry Lane Theatre.

Eisenberg also acted in the play, which was directed by Kip Fagan. His other playwrighting credits include The Revisionist, The Spoils, and Happy Talk. Stage acting credits include Summer and Smoke (1996), The Gathering (1999), Orphans (2005), Scarcity (2007), The Final Interrogation of Ceausescu's Dog (2015), A Little Part of All of Us (2015), The Blizzard (2016), Oh, Hello (2016), The Peopel Speak (2017), Shoshana and Her Lovers (2017), as well as The 24-Hour Plays on Broadway.

Eisenberg has contributed pieces to The New Yorker and McSweeney's websites. He has written and starred in three plays for the New York stage: Asuncion, The Revisionist, and The Spoils. He released his first book, Bream Gives Me Hiccups: and Other Stories in 2015.

Jesse Eisenberg Photo Credit: Jennifer Broski 

Paul Giamatti Photo Credit: Disney/Chris Willard