‘When You Finish Saving The World’ Premieres At Sundance

ALBUQUERQUE (Jan. 23, 2022) — Finn Wolfhard and Julianne Moore star as a mother and son with a strained relationship in “When You Finish Saving the World,” filmed last winter in Albuquerque. Marking the feature directorial debut of playwright and Academy Award-nominated actor Jesse Eisenberg, the A24 film opened the virtual Sundance Film Festival last week.

Ziggy (Wolfhard) is an “Internet famous” musician who wants to be taken more seriously by a politically-minded classmate, while his mother Evelyn (Moore) finds an unlikely - and maybe unwilling - mentee at the domestic violence shelter where she works. The gap between their priorities and the awkward tension it creates in their family provides the basis for Eisenberg’s thoughtful examination of what different members of the same family can find important.

Eisenberg told viewers after the screening that he was inspired by his volunteer work at an Indiana shelter run by his mother-in-law, juxtaposed with his work in the entertainment industry and the vastly different ways those contributions make an impact on society.

“A place like a domestic violence shelter can have such a localized impact…and the internet can have a very wide but more shallow impact,” he said. His film is an exploration of how "these two people excel in these two divergent worlds, and be stuck with each other and try to reconcile their lives."

Produced by Ali Herting, Dave McCary and Oscar winner Emma Stone, the production employed more than 100 New Mexico crew members and about a dozen local actors, according to the New Mexico Film Office. “We were thrilled to see Jesse Eisenberg bring his project to New Mexico,” film office Director Amber Dodson said.

“We were all so grateful to be working because it was the middle of the pandemic, and we couldn’t believe this movie actually got off the ground. And there we were in New Mexico with a bunch of incredibly interesting and talented people working on this really complicated and beautiful piece that Jesse wrote,” Moore said. “Everybody was there because they really, really wanted to be there. When you make a little movie like this, you’re there because it’s important to you. There’s no other agenda than to kind of create this thing together. Every day was fantastic."

An 11th Street home not far from downtown serves as the Katz family's house, plus exterior shots of Copper and Silver Avenue provide the backdrop for some of the characters' more revealing conversations in Evelyn's Smart car.

Based on his Audible production of the same name, Eisenberg writes a deceptively simple story about a human relationship. Ziggy and Evelyn seek validation in everyone besides each other, and it makes for a compelling mother-son story that never feels sappy or overly dramatic. Their relationship is painfully realistic in the sense that no single moment led to their growing apart - it just happened over time, and “When You Finish Saving the World” is about the potential to grow back together.