Jesse Eisenberg regularly asks artificial intelligence to write screenplay scenes, then breathes a sigh of relief when the results fall short. The actor, writer and director described the habit on Variety’s Awards Circuit podcast, where he appeared alongside Julianne Moore to promote their A24 film “The Debut.” He gives an AI system a specific creative prompt and judges what comes back. “I’m totally paranoid,” Eisenberg said, adding that the technology still isn’t good at writing. His verdict: “Thank God.”
The relief carries a warning. “How far away is it from being good?” he asked, describing the exercise as a check that the tools remain weak for now. Eisenberg sketched a future that unsettles him more than a sharper screenwriting program: viewers using AI to generate personalized films starring themselves and people they know, replacing the shared experience of watching in a theater. He said he could not be certain artists would always earn a living from their work.
Moore offered a brighter outlook. She argued that creative people will keep finding ways to reach audiences with ideas machines cannot replicate. Eisenberg agreed, pointing to live theater and ancient Greek drama as evidence that people want stories told in a room together.
The exchange follows earlier remarks that placed him squarely among the industry’s skeptics. In July, he told Variety that “The Debut” is “the opposite of AI,” responding to questions about A24’s partnership with Google DeepMind. Working writers have voiced similar doubts. Filmmaker and screenwriting commentator Noam Kroll wrote that after repeated experiments, AI sits nowhere near producing a good script, at least for now, and he hopes it ends up assisting writers rather than replacing them.
“The Debut,” a musical comedy Eisenberg wrote and directed, follows Mona Friedman, a shy housewife played by Moore who finds fresh purpose after auditioning for a community theater musical. Eisenberg said he wrote the role with Moore in mind and praised her knack for blending comedy and drama. The film reaches cinemas December 11. Eisenberg also said he wants to return for a fourth “Now You See Me” movie, in which he plays illusionist J. Daniel Atlas. No fourth installment has been confirmed.
