Director and actor Jesse Eisenberg sat down with a group of journalists recently to discuss his upcoming film, The Debut, as well as his personal journey through the film industry. On the panel, Eisenberg revealed that The Debut is semi-autobiographical, with him taking from his experiences joining community theatre when making the film.

When asked about his inspirations for making the film, he said, “The movie takes place in 1990 in central New Jersey, and when I was in central New Jersey in 1990, I was like [Julianne Moore’s character] Mona Friedman. I was so shy. I was depressed, and I didn’t have friends. And then I walked into this community theater when I was seven years old, and suddenly everybody was so nice, and they hugged me.” He went on to say, “Suddenly it was like I walked into an alien planet where everybody was nice, and then just like Julianne Moore’s character, I took it too far and became crazy. So really, the movie is charting my life when I was a child. But I just thought it would be so much better to make it about an older woman because Julianne’s amazing, and it’s more emotionally impactful to see a woman.”

Jesse Eisenberg has worked with Julianne Moore before, when she starred in his directorial feature When You Finish Saving the World. He revealed that Moore actually changed his perspective on acting as a job when making that film. “I used to have this negative opinion about acting because I was an actor and I just thought, ‘This is just such a ridiculous job. They pay us too much. We’re vain. We want to look pretty in the morning, we want to stay in the nicest places, and we want to not ever lift anything on movie sets, and then we want all the credit for the movie! I was always like, ‘This is a weird job, and it’s not fair.’ And then on my first movie, I saw Julianne Moore rehearsing for a scene.” He revealed that after watching Moore prepare for a scene on his film that his way of thinking was flawed. “She was going through a real, deep emotional process to get ready for the scene. I remember looking at it, and I go, ‘Oh, wait a second, that’s really hard.’ Like we’re all out here joking, and I’m having a donut, and she’s in there suffering. I realized, ‘Oh, maybe acting is actually a really valuable thing. Maybe difficult. Maybe it’s challenging. Maybe it takes a lot. And suddenly, in [one] moment, my entire opinion on acting changed because I saw somebody else doing it, and it wasn’t just about me.”

Eisenberg was also asked about his absence from The Social Reckoning, the sequel to the Oscar-winning The Social Network. Jesse Eisenberg famously portrayed Mark Zuckerberg in the first film, but turned down returning for the sequel, being replaced by Jeremy Strong. He replied, “It’s ironic because people associate me with this website, but they know way more about the website than I do, and I like to keep it that way. I’ve talked about it a lot, and Aaron Sorkin’s talked about it a lot. I loved his script, and he’s a genius. And the movie, I’m sure, is incredible. But for me, it just didn’t feel like something I wanted to act in again. But that has nothing to do with how great the movie is. The movie will be a great movie, and Jeremy Strong will be amazing in the movie. I’m sure. I just didn’t feel like it’s something I wanted to do again.” Along with Eisenberg, director David Fincher also did not return for the sequel, with writer Aaron Sorkin stepping up to helm the second installment.

The Debut, starring Julianne Moore, Paul Giamatti, Halle Bailey, Havana Rose Liu, Bernadette Peters, Colton Ryan, Lilli Cooper, Maulik Pancholy and Bonnie Milligan premieres at the San Sebastian Film Festival before hitting theaters on December 11. The Social Reckoning, starring Jeremy Strong, Mikey Madison and Jeremy Allen White, hits theaters on October 9.