D23 Exclusive: Hear from the Stars and Writer/Director of Ella McCay

By Courtney Potter

20th Century Studios’ heartfelt upcoming comedy Ella McCay follows Ella (Emma Mackey)—an endlessly energetic, uniquely gifted, and enormously well-meaning young woman who juggles her family and work life (which happens to involve serving humanity in state government) as she battles the tailwinds of trauma and the headwinds of a single, atypically terrible choice on her part.

All of which boils down to the unfortunately not unusual dilemma: how to survive the people you love.

Written and directed by Disney Legend (and Oscar^® and Emmy^® award winner) James L. Brooks, Ella McCay also stars Disney Legend and Oscar winner Jamie Lee Curtis as Ella’s tenaciously loyal Aunt Helen; Jack Lowden as Ella’s high school sweetheart/now husband Ryan; Oscar nominee Kumail Nanjiani as State Trooper Nash, Ella’s cheerful security detail; Joey Brooks as State Trooper Alexander, Nash’s divorced, clock-watching partner; Spike Fearn as Casey McCay, Ella’s sensitive and intelligent brother; Emmy winner Ayo Edebiri as Susan, Casey’s kind and understanding ex-girlfriend; Julie Kavner as Estelle, Ella’s dedicated assistant and the film’s narrator; and Rebecca Hall as Claire McCay, Ella and Casey’s long-suffering mother... with Oscar nominee Albert Brooks as Governor Bill, Ella’s boss and mentor, and Oscar nominee and Emmy winner Woody Harrelson as Eddie McCay, Ella and Casey’s wayward father.

Ahead of the December 12 premiere of Ella McCay, D23: The Official Disney Fan Club had the chance to chat exclusively with Curtis, Mackey, and writer/director Brooks—not only about the film, but about their love of Disney! (Plus, check out our exclusive portrait of the trio, above, from CinemaCon 2025 in Las Vegas, NV.) Read on for some fun inside scoop...

D23: Since we are the Official Disney Fan Club, we’ve just got to start with a fun question: When you think of all the stories that are part of the worlds of Disney, do you have a favorite?

Jamie Lee Curtis (JLC): The Carousel of Progress at Disneyland. I actually told part of this story at the Disney Legends ceremony in 2024: the Carousel of Progress was an attraction run by General Electric, which was an electronics company, and it was all about technology—the advent of technology and how it helped your life get better. It had some of the first Audio-Animatronic^® characters, and a section of the story took place in the early 1900s—and there was a song in it, that I sang during the Legends ceremony! I cried. I did, I cried! I sang it in front of lots of people—it’s called “There’s a Great, Big, Beautiful Tomorrow.”

For me, as a little kid, the Carousel of Progress was everything. I loved it. I still do. It moves me and I love it. Plus, you got to go into a cool, air-conditioned space, so there was a pragmatic element to it.

Emma Mackey (EM): [to Curtis] Wow, she’s the real deal, this one... Well, there are so many films that come to mind. Does Fantasia count? That was the first Disney movie I ever watched at my grandparents' house, on their television. It takes me back to that time of, you know, being a small child and watching what I think was maybe the first animated movie I ever saw. It was pretty marvelous...

James L. Brooks (JB): Cinderella, the animated film... I mean, it’s Disney! There are certain things that are part of your life, that enchant you at a time in your life when you’re most enchant-able—and then they can come back and give you that feeling again as an adult. That’s Disney. And something I’ve always liked about working for Disney, specifically, is that no matter who you are there—when you drive through the front gate, everybody's known by their first name; the security guard's first name, your first name. That’s such an important company ethic.

D23: What excited you all most about working on this project?

JLC: The writing. It’s unusual to get a script with this level of complex characters and ideas and humor and the mix and mélange of all of that—and real emotion. It's just so unusual...

EM: It is really rare. The script was so striking to me when I first read it that it was kind of overwhelming. I thought how warm and inviting it felt, but also how timely. Yes, it does have a nostalgic quality to it because all of James’ films do; they have a time-capsule element to them, and they feel very comforting, but they are also very of their time—and this one feels very timely. It’s amazing, the foresight that James has is ridiculous; I’m just so proud to be involved.

JLC: That’s exactly right—the film is set in 2008, and he’s written about a woman in politics who has real care for people and big ideas. And he’s looking at the complexity of politics and how you can survive these contrasting things—when you have to be forward-facing and good with people, but also find deep compassion. He named this movie Ella McCay; it’s about this young woman who finds herself in a position of power, but what does she do with it? And that’s an interesting question for all of us. What would we do in that moment?

JB: Film is so much a team sport... the great times are when everybody's surprised by what happens. That’s the adventure of it; the looking for something that you can't articulate. When you get it, there's nothing better—and you rarely get it, but the fact that it's there infuses all the days that you do the “normal” stuff.