Julianne Moore to Receive Lifetime Achievement Award From ‘The Debut’ Director Jesse Eisenberg at Rome Film Festival

Julianne Moore will be honored with a lifetime achievement award at the Rome Film Festival. The Oscar-winning actress will attend the Italian premiere of her new film “The Debut,” directed by Jesse Eisenberg, who will also hand her the prize.

The Rome Film Festival honor for Moore was announced in a statement by Salvatore Nastasi, president of the Fondazione Cinema per Roma, which oversees the event.

In September, Moore received the Zurich Film Festival’s Golden Icon Award as “The Debut” launched internationally at the Swiss fest after premiering to rave reviews at Telluride.

The film marks Moore’s second collaboration with Eisenberg, following his directorial debut “When You Finish Saving the World” (2022). “The Debut” is his third feature film as a director.

In “The Debut,” Moore plays a shy, unassuming housewife named Mona Friedman who is cast in a bit part at a small community theater and transforms into a zealous Method actor willing to do anything to protect the artistic integrity of her marginal role – even if it means waging war against the show’s domineering director.

“At heart, the film is a twisted love letter to the glory of community theater,” wrote Variety chief film critic Owen Gleiberman in his review. “What holds it together is the suppleness of Eisenberg’s voice as a writer-director (the wit that singes, the story that never stops poking around corners), and the utterly astonishing performance of Julianne Moore, who plays a crumpled wallflower in dire need of blooming. Oh, does she bloom.”

Moore won an Oscar for “Still Alice” and was Oscar-nominated for “Far From Heaven,” “The Hours,” “The End of the Affair” and “Boogie Nights.” She won best actress awards at Cannes for “Maps to the Stars,” at Venice for “Far From Heaven” and Berlin for “The Hours.”