Emma Mackey and James L. Brooks Interview: Ella McCay and the Scream Queen Torch

This holiday season, Academy Award-winning writer, director, and producer James L. Brooks is taking audiences back to a "golden age of Hollywood," when ensemble casts could sink their teeth into slice-of-life dramas with quippy one-liners and feel-good dialogue. Talking with Collider's Steve Weintraub, Brooks and Ella McCay's leading lady Emma Mackey chat about recapturing those "wonderful, fast-talking, alive films" in an industry where data reigns supreme.

Alongside the talent of Jamie Lee Curtis, Woody Harrelson, and Rebecca Hall, Mackey is the eponymous Ella McCay, a 34-year-old woman struggling to navigate her tumultuous family dynamics when she suddenly finds herself the governor of her home state. Ella McCay also stars Ayo Edebiri, Spike Fearn, Jack Lowden, Kumail Nanjiani, Julie Kavner, and Albert Brooks.

During their conversation, Brooks and Mackey discuss how Ella McCay is "timely and of now, but with that levity and that rhythm and that sharpness and that wit that is so rare nowadays" and working with Curtis to hone Mackey's scream queen skills. Brooks tells us he was looking for a Katharine Hepburn type for the top of his call sheet and discusses why movies like this are so rare today. Check out the full interview in the video above or the transcript below, where Mackey also comments on joining two massive projects, Greta Gerwig's Narnia as the White Witch, and J.J. Abrams' Ghostwriter, opposite Glen Powell and Jenna Ortega.

#ellamccay #jameslbrooks #emmamackey #jamieleecurtis #albertbrooks

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