More than seven years before Voicemails for Isabelle debuted on Netflix, Leah McKendrick wrote the rom-com in a matter of weeks. In an interview ahead of the film’s release, she shared the real-life love story that inspired it, the chance night at a comedy show that set everything in motion, and the moment she nearly gave up on Hollywood altogether.
McKendrick was emotional when discussing the inspiration behind what is one of the most beautifully written stories of love and loss in years. In a genre often dominated by fluffy, feel-good meet-cutes, Voicemails for Isabelle stands apart. Its portrayal of overwhelming, gut-wrenching grief could easily leave its characters cynical about love. Yet it has the opposite effect, making their desire for connection feel even more urgent and profound.
Voicemails for Isabelle follows aspiring pastry chef Jill (Zoey Deutch) as she grapples with the death of her younger sister and best friend, Isabelle (Ciara Bravo). Jill processes her grief by calling Isabelle’s old cell phone number and leaving hilariously detailed messages about her chaotic work and dating life in San Francisco.
Unbeknownst to her, the number has been reassigned to Wes (Nick Robinson), a real estate agent living in Austin, Texas. As he listens to her messages, he becomes captivated by her, piecing together from her voicemails the qualities she wants in a partner and orchestrating what appears to be a chance encounter near the Golden Gate Bridge.
McKendrick said her love for her sister, Olivia Isabelle, was the driving force behind the script. Unlike Isabelle in the film, who endures years of illness before her death, her sister is alive and well.
“It was based on a love for the fact that my sister taught me how to love. And she taught me how to identify true love in the world. And when you have a soul mate, from four years old, when my sister was born, you know what that looks like. You know what that feels like, and what it doesn’t feel like,” explained McKendrick, adding, “It’s my love letter to sisterhood, even the sisters that we choose.”
In addition to writing the script and directing the film, McKendrick is also starring as Breeda, the fiancée of Andy (Harry Shum Jr.) and a close friend of Wes. When asked if she ever wanted to play the lead, she was quick to reply.
“You know, not on this one. That’s a good question because sometimes I write something specifically for myself, and when I first wrote Voicemails, it never felt like it was mine. I always knew she was out there, and she was Zoey,” answered McKendrick.
As for the film’s central premise, a sister leaving heartfelt voicemails for her deceased sibling, McKendrick said the idea originated from an unlikely source: a night out at a comedy show.
“My roommate at the time was doing this stand-up women’s showcase, and they had an end-of-workshop performance. She had this hilarious bit about her British dad and how he leaves these long, rambling voicemails. It’s such a funny bit, where he says nothing, just talks about the weather and chicken. Then the next comedian got on stage and was like, ‘That is so nice that your dad calls you back. My dad hasn’t called me in three years.’ And then it was silent, and then she was like, ‘I mean, he’s dead.’ And I was the only person who laughed,” recalled McKendrick.
She loved the joke. “I thought that’s so funny, that this girl keeps waiting for her dead dad to call her back, and then I was like, ‘If my dad dies, I’m not going to wait for him to call me back, because he doesn’t call me back now, and he’s alive.’ And then I was like, ‘If my sister were to die, I would be waiting every day for her to call me back.’ And then I thought, ‘No, if my sister were to die, I would keep calling her.’ And that was how it was born, literally in the audience, sitting at this comedy club.”
McKendrick said the script poured out of her, and she had the first draft written within weeks. “It was very clear. I remember pulling over, driving, thinking of dancing on my own, of that sequence, and crying,” she explained, adding that she had to pull over so she could write notes on her phone. “It was so clear to me, like I was watching the movie myself.”
The first person she shared the script with was her friend, Becky Sanderman, who is a producer on the film. “She sent it to Sony, and they bought it, but then it took several years to get to the screen. That first initial jump was so fast. It was very kismet. I knew that what I had written was my soul on the page. So I didn’t doubt what I had written, but I’d never written a rom-com before.”
Though McKendrick has built an impressive résumé, including the 2023 hit Scrambled, her feature directorial debut, which she wrote, directed, and starred in, and which was inspired by her own egg-freezing journey, there was a time, she said, when she had all but given up on Hollywood.
“I had been working as a screenwriter for many years,” she said, listing major projects like Summer Lovin’, a prequel to Grease, which has been in development at Paramount, and a sequel to the cult classic Troop Beverly Hills. “I think I had already been hired to write the reboot of I Know What You Did Last Summer, but I was really struggling and heartbroken by how few of my movies were ever going to see the light of day.”
She realized that from the outside looking in, her career appeared amazing. “I was struggling through the studio system. They’re just not going to make most of the movies that are in development. That’s not how the system works.”
She admitted that coming from the indie film world, she didn’t fully understand that at the time. “I made my first film in 2016. We made it for nothing. I didn’t develop it. You know what I mean? I wrote it. I did a couple of drafts, and then I was out there trying to find money and a director…trying to find a team and actors who would make it with me.”
She then went on to make a web series and several short films. “I was used to just making stuff. It was like I was killing it playing ball in Lithuania, and then I got recruited by the Lakers, but I’m warming the bench. I was always like, ‘If I’m going to warm the bench, then just send me back to Lithuania, because I used to make movies.’ And now all I do is write movies, talk about making movies, but nothing ever gets made.”
McKendrick recalled a single day when two of her projects died. “I said, ‘I’m done. I can’t do this anymore.’ I told my team, ‘I’m done doing this. I know that I’m living the good life. A lot of people would love to do what I do as a writer, but I came here to make movies, not just write movies.’”
When it comes to kismet, McKendrick is nowhere near finished writing and making films. What she is finished with, however, is playing by the rules that once held her back.
An upcoming project of particular interest is a biopic on Shania Twain.
“I think it’s honestly the ultimate proof to me of not waiting for permission. It was like nobody was going to hand me a movie to direct until I said, ‘I’m going to write this movie about freezing my eggs. I’m going to star in it, and I’m going to direct it.’ No discussion. That’s what’s happening,” emphasized McKendrick of her journey making Scrambled on a tight budget.
“I was so done playing by the rules, and I felt that if I had been this perfect soldier, that I would be rewarded with a green light, and I realized, just like anything else, if you play by the rules, you could be waiting a long time. Now, to be doing Shania, I mean, it’s the ultimate return to my soul and my core as a little pop girly in her bedroom, singing, ‘Man! I feel Like A Woman.’ I’m very honored.”
