Original-Cin Chat: James L. Brooks, Jamie Lee Curtis and Albert Brooks talk Ella McCay

By Jim Slotek

Ella McCay is a soft-hearted politically-themed comedy about a driven young woman (Emma Mackey) in 2008, who is suddenly thrust into the governorship of an unnamed state.

It is the first film in 13 years to be written and directed by James L. Brooks. This is noteworthy because Brooks has had a huge impact on screens large and small in the past. He co-created The Mary Tyler Moore Show, Taxi and The Simpsons. He made movies like Terms of Endearment, Broadcast News and As Good as It Gets. He won three Oscars for those, and 22 Emmys for his TV shows.

So why this movie now? What does he feel he has left to prove?

“That I exist!” Brooks says with a hearty laugh in a Zoom interview from Los Angeles.

Albert Brooks is the incumbent state governor handing over his job to Ella (Emma Mackey)

“I’m not proving anything. These aren’t great days where it’s easy to get movies made, especially movies where you just had an idea and you wrote a script. There never used to be data before, about how your movie will do before you make it.

“So now, if you’re that guy with a script and you get to make that movie, you’re grateful.”

Brooks laughs as well when I refer to Ella McCay as the least cynical movie about politics in a long time. Is it a unicorn in this age of hate-machine politics?

“Well, it’s set in 2008, so the narrator (The Simpsons’ Julie Kavner) does get to say, ‘Yes, there was a recession, but we still liked each other.’

Jamie Lee Curtis is Ella’s Aunt Helen

“I wrote it trying to be accurate to the characters. It ended up being enormously positive. I can’t say the same is true of me as a person. But there’s some wonderful actors in the movie (including Albert Brooks and Jamie Lee Curtis, interviewed below), and it finally is a team sport. So somewhere in the process, I think from a genuine place, it ended up being a real positive film.”

We follow up asking, what’s with all the Brits playing Americans? (Mackey is of British/French background, Slow Horses’ Jack Lowden plays her crassly manipulative husband and Rebecca Hall plays her mother). Were they all ready in the audition process to lose their accents?

“They all nailed it in the audition process,” Brooks says. “They auditioned sans accent, and y’know, it’s seeking the best actor for each part and that’s where it went. It was a long time casting, especially for the lead.”

I remark that in his network days, Ella McCay might have been classified as a “dramedy.”

“I’ve never liked that word,” he says. “I just think comedy can also tell the truth. Which means there’ll be some dramatic scenes.”

Writer/director James L. Brooks

And, he adds, “it’s not a movie about politics. It’s about this heroine who ends up in that job, which, y’know, takes up part of her life. And the amazing thing is that this strait-laced, driven girl, in all humility, says, ‘I can make people’s lives better.’”

 ALBERT BROOKS & JAMIE LEE CURTIS Q&A

ORIGINAL-CIN: Albert, tell me about your experiences with James Brooks.

ALBERT BROOKS: Him, I’ve known since 1969. I didn’t know who he was when I met him at a party. I thought “This guy’s funny, what does he do?” And over the years he became the person who, if you were writing and you wanted to pitch a weird idea, you’d call Jim.

I did a voice in Terms of Endearment and you know the movies I did with him (from Broadcast News to I’ll Do Anything to voices on The Simpsons), it’s just you wait for that. I’ve written and directed movies. I never had that (repeat connection) with one actor. Jim had that with a few actors. I’ve done a lot of movies with him, Jack Nicholson’s done a lot of movies with him.

And there’s a reason, because it’s like a baseball team… Oh, sorry. (The Zoom interview took place a few days after Game 7 of the Jays/Dodgers World Series, hence the good-natured poke at the interviewer).

O-C: Jamie, your career second-act is pretty impressive, an Oscar for Everything Everywhere All at Once, nine-figure box office for Freakier Friday. How does a hot property choose roles?

JAMIE: Well A, I’d say it’s a fifth act or sixth act. I just choose them because I keep showing up for them. I’ve done some awful things. But I keep showing up. Everything is opportunity. I don’t get a lot of opportunities and when I get one I usually take it.

I’m 67 years old, I don’t think I’ve ever been sitting at home going, “Oh, should I do the James L. Brooks movie, or should I do this other role?”

So, it’s not really choice. It’s me taking advantage of the opportunity. A good example is The Last Showgirl. I got sent the script, (director) Gia Coppola was my daughter Annie’s dear friend from Little School. But I read the script and all I heard was Pamela Anderson was going to play Shelly – and I said yes like that! I want to be Annette. I worked two days in Vegas, but I knew -  I knew! – that Annette was going to be her bestie.”

ALBERT: You did that in two days? Wow.

O-C: That’s amazing. That’s a pretty impactful role.

ALBERT: I loved that movie!

O-C: Me too.

JAMIE: But the whole thing was made in 15 or 16 days. I mean it’s a terrific opportunity and you either can say yes or say no, and I’ve said no to almost nothing.

ALBERT: I’ve said no my whole life far more than yes. And I don’t know if that was good or bad. I’ve just always said no.

O-C: Any regrets?

ALBERT: I try not to use the word regret, because if I open that shelf, there’s probably 16 years I could name. I could name you movies I didn’t do that made $400 million. But I don’t regret it, because I did it for a reason. I was working on my own, or writing a screenplay and didn’t want to stop.

There was one I couldn’t do because I was working, and that was Boogie Nights. And they gave it to Burt Reynolds, which I think was better, because Burt Reynolds needed it for his career.

And I only regret that because somebody like Paul Thomas Anderson, if you work with them once, you become part of the group. He’ll put you in 40 other movies, and a guy like that, you want to be in 40 other movies.

So that, I sort of feel like I wish I’d worked with him. But regrets are stupid. What are you going to do with it?