Two of the stars of the upcoming 20th Century Studios film Ella McCay, Oscar winner Jamie Lee Curtis and title star Emma Mackey, turned up at CinemaCon to honor their legendary director James L. Brooks with a Cinema Verité trophy and introduce the first ever look at the comedy.
The first order of business upon taking to the Colosseum stage inside Caesars Palace was to detail the plot of the film and who they play in the story. Set for release from 20th Century Studios on Sept. 19, the comedy, written and directed by Brooks, follows the complicated politics that arise when a young woman’s stressful career clashes with a chaotic family life. It stars Mackey in the title role opposite a cast that includes Curtis, Woody Harrelson, Kumail Nanjiani, Spike Fearn, Ayo Edebiri, Rebecca Hall, Julie Kavner, Jack Lowden, Becky Ann Baker, Joey Brooks with Albert Brooks.
Curtis praised Mackey’s brilliant performance and reveals that she plays her aunt and “Ella’s biggest cheerleader.” She then praised Brooks. “Not every director can confidently say their work has shaped the way we see, feel and understand storytelling, but Jim Brooks can. Jim’s work has created beloved characters and stories that feel real, true and profoundly personal.”
Curtis continued: “Jim is an observer who reflects life back to us with honesty and authenticity — that is the essence of cinema verite.” Fittingly, Brooks then came to the stage to receive the tropy, presented to him by Disney’s Alan Bergman.
In accepting, Brooks spent a chunk of time talking about the importance of previews while also telling a story he once heard out of the mouth of a streaming executive who said he knew in the first three minutes if a film or TV show could be a hit. The exec was a numbers guy, and while Brooks noted that everyone in the room lives with numbers to a certain degree, you cannot replace the feeling of being in a theater.
Brooks then said he’ll never forget his first preview. After downing glass after glass of booze across the street — cocktails that had no effect on him, he said — he went over to the theater to watch the film with an audience. After it ended, a woman that he worked with told him that she saw ladies crying in the women’s restroom. “Compare that to data,” he quipped. The other memorable line from his speech: “Heaven is big auditoriums filled with folks eating popcorn and the butter is French.”
After his acceptance speech, Brooks introduced the first ever footage of the film that revealed strife between Ella and her father, played by Harrelson. She then gets the promotion of a lifetime with a governor, played by Albert Brooks, vacates his position and puts her in the job at 34 years old.
Ella McCay is set for release from 20th Century Studios on Sept. 19.