‘When You Finish Saving the World’: Finn Wolfhard Reveals if He Wrote the Songs, Jesse Eisenberg Corrects Him
When You Finish Saving the World is actor Jessie Eisenberg‘s directorial feature debut. It’s also a big step forward in Stranger Things star Finn Wolfhard’s career, but not just as an actor. Some audiences wonder if Wolfhard actually wrote the lyrics he sings in When You Finish Saving the World. Eisenberg set the record straight on his level of involvement.
Finn Wolfhard plays aspiring musician Ziggy in ‘When You Finish Saving the World’
When You Finish Saving the World follows Ziggy (Wolfhard) and his mother, Evelyn (Julianne Moore). They aren’t able to connect as a family so they seek validation from other people. Ziggy pursues an intelligent girl at his high school, named Lila (Alisha Boe). Meanwhile, Evelyn tries to grow a mother son relationship with Kyle (Billy Bryk), who’s a resident at the shelter she runs.
Ziggy has a passion for folk music. He has his own channel on an online streaming platform, where listeners from all around the world can enjoy his music live. However, his family and peers aren’t very supportive. Nevertheless, he sings music that holds meaning to him in hopes of one day making it rich and famous.
Finn Wolfhard revealed his involvement in writing songs and Jessie Eisenberg corrected him
Wolfhard and Eisenberg both took part in the Sundance 2022 Q&A for When You Finish Saving the World. Audiences asked the question via the moderator if Wolfword wrote the lyrics in the movie’s songs. He didn’t take credit for the music, but Eisenberg quickly corrected him and confirmed his level of involvement when.
Wolfhard: “No.”
Eisenberg: “No, that’s not true. At the end.”
Wolfhard: “Which one?”
Eisenberg: “You improvised about 15 songs and some of them are in the movie.”
Wolfhard: “Oh, OK. Yeah, so there’s a few. Like the song you hear at the beginning, the end, Jesse wrote the lyrics to that. And then Emile Mosseri, who did the music, is a brilliant composer did like all the instruments, all the core directions. But I collaborated with Emile and with Jesse, and we all kind of messed around with different things and different instruments and adding things. But, I didn’t write any of it. I came up with some of the melodies for like one of the songs.”
Eisenberg: “You have a few songs in there. He’s understating his value. Towards the end of the movie, there’s supposed to be kind of a montage of him playing some of his music and Finn improvised on the spot 10 songs, lyrics, and music. Some of the lyrics were not only very good, but relevant to the plot.”
Wolfhard: “I should be a freestyle rapper. I think that’s where my career should go after this.”
The mixed ‘When You Finish Saving the World’ Sundance reaction
When You Finish Saving the World premiered at the 2022 Sundance Film Festival on Jan. 20. Critics and moviegoers anticipated a great debut from Eisenberg. However, they gave the movie mixed reviews. They praised Wolfhard and Moore’s realistic performances, but they criticized Eisenberg’s frustrating characters that they had a difficult time connecting to.
Film distributor A24 has distribution rights to When You Finish Saving the World. The film currently has no release date, although it’s set to hit theaters sometime in 2022.
