Jesse Eisenberg, once known only as Mark Zuckerberg on screen, closes the BFI London Film Festival with The Debut, his biggest ensemble cast yet as a director.
Jesse Eisenberg, the Oscar nominee for The Social Network, closes the 70th BFI London Film Festival with The Debut. The UK premiere is at the Royal Festival Hall on the South Bank on Sunday 18 October 2026.
Eisenberg was born in New York in 1983 and acted for 15 years before he directed. The Squid and the Whale, Adventureland and Zombieland came before The Social Network brought his nomination in 2010.
He made his directorial debut in 2022 with When You Finish Saving the World. A Real Pain, which he wrote, directed and starred in, won him a BAFTA in 2024.
The Debut is a comedy about a shy woman cast in a local production of an original musical, who disappears into the part under a forceful director. It is the third film he has directed in four years.
The Closing Night Gala sends the festival out with same-night repeats at BFI Southbank and the Prince Charles Cinema, so The Debut plays three London houses in one evening.
The ensemble includes Julianne Moore, Paul Giamatti, Halle Bailey and Bernadette Peters.