Romantic Drama ‘Voicemails for Isabelle’ Is a Love Letter to Sisterhood. The Director Explains Its Inspiration
Leah McKendrick, who wrote the script and stars, tells TODAY.com about her connection with her own sister, her love for San Francisco and personally asking Taylor Swift to use her songs.
By: Ariana Brockington
July 7, 2026
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Netflix’s tearjerker “Voicemails for Isabelle” is making audiences want to hug their loved ones a little tighter.
The Netflix romantic comedy stars Zoey Deutch as Jill, an aspiring chef who starts leaving messages to her sister Izzy (Ciara Bravo) after she dies. Unbeknownst to Jill, her voicemails, filled with hilarious and embarrassing stories about her day, are being listened to by a real estate agent in Austin, Texas, named Wes, played by Nick Robinson, who inherited Izzy’s phone number.
The film’s depiction of love and loss against the backdrop of San Francisco has captured viewers’ and social media users’ attention, landing the No. 1 film spot on Netflix for the week of June 22 through June 28.
It seemed the film became a success overnight, and no one is more shocked than director and screenwriter Leah McKendrick, who also stars in the movie as Wes’ friend Breeda.
“You don’t ever really know how the public will respond,” McKendrick tells TODAY.com. “I will say, we did a test screening, and a lot of people were leaving crying. Again, I just wasn’t sure if maybe it was because we were in a theater or, I don’t know. I just didn’t expect it.”
“I will tell you that I’m the biggest dreamer, and I have been born with impossible dreams and high visions. It’s a blessing, and it’s a curse,” she adds. “But even I did not expect this level of love and emotional reaction to the film, so I am humbled and I’m honored.”
McKendrick, whose relationship with her own sister inspired the screenplay, originally penned the script over eight years ago. One of the first people to read the draft was her sibling.
Below, she opens up about more ways her art imitates life, including the connections between her upbringing and Jill’s journey to find her place in San Francisco. She also reveals why she personally wrote to Taylor Swift to ask to use two of her songs on the soundtrack and why the world needs rom-coms right now.
This interview has been lightly edited for clarity.
I’ve seen you talk about the inspiration behind the story. How did your sister inspire the film? Would you say your dynamic is similar to Jill and Izzy’s relationship?
The movie is really a love letter to my sister, to all sisters, the ones that we are born with, and the ones that we choose. (My sister is) four years younger than me, and I always had these really big wild, impossible dreams. When we were little girls we shared a bedroom, and I would just sing to her and tell her about the places I was going to go and the things I was going to do. She believed in it, and I don’t know how you would achieve impossible dreams without having that champion from the age of 4 years old.
I really don’t know how you can go out into the world and face all of the obstacles and the moments of self-doubt and the years of being broke and the years of feeling like an alien, if you don’t have somebody in this world like your sister (to) remind you of who you are and where you came from and what you’re capable of.
So a scene like Izzy leaving a message telling Jill to believe in herself and pursue her dreams in culinary arts, that’s something that you pulled from your real life?
Big time. When she’s like, “You were built for this, my dude. Let a mofo know,” that’s kind of like the theme of my life. It’s like my sister being that cheerleader in my corner … So all of the external stuff is cool. I’m very blessed, and so excited to be No. 1 on Netflix and to be shared around the world. But really, at the end of the day. All I want to do is make my sister proud.
Did your sister get to see the screening early, or go to the premiere?
She read the script like a million years ago. She’s known every step of this process and has been rooting me on all these years. She’s also very grounded. The glitz and the glamour of it … she was proud of me back when I just wrote that first draft.
You are wearing three hats in this movie, as a star, writer and director, which you have done in the past. Which role did you find the most challenging for this film?
Writing comes very naturally to me. So much of my writing is just me alone, dreaming with my laptop. Acting is the thing that I’m most trained in. I have my degree in acting. The thing that’s newest to me is directing.
While a lot of it does come naturally, because I have a lot of opinions about how to execute things. (Laughs.) And my work is so clear in my head, especially this one has been extremely clear in my head for eight years. I have calibrated it and calibrated it, and I always think of it like a website. From when you have dial-up internet, and you’re waiting, but it’s getting clearer and clearer. That’s what it’s been like over these years. But I’ve never commanded this size of a set. It was a much bigger set than my last film. The thing that comforted me when I felt like an imposter was that the one thing I know is my film. I’m 100% confident in my connection with my movie, and what I’m here to do, and what I came to say.
What was the most difficult scene to execute?
My gosh, the sightseeing tour bus, the Giggle Bus! That was a big one, because we were actually in San Fran. We were on the real bus, we were driving all around the city. There was no space for (the) crew. You could see most of the bus. So it was really just me and my actors. My assistant director (Ted Leonard) was dressed as background to be on the bus with us. We had the glam upstairs on the top of the bus. But there were times where we couldn’t even do that. So it was just it was me with my little tiny baby monitor. Just running, and gunning, like an indie film.
We were all on that bus all day long.
I love when a rom-com is set in San Francisco. I know you are from there. Why did you want to have it be the backdrop to this film?
In many ways, (the movie) reflects my real journey with SF, which was that growing up, I just wanted to get out. I don’t know that I related to it. I grew up in the Inner Richmond, which was very foggy when I was a kid. In the movies, I would see kids in swimming pools, and I just was like, “What’s that like, in suburbia?”
I felt like I was maybe glamorizing more of a Midwest life. My mom is Latina and a city kid, so she was very protective. I didn’t get to get out on the streets, so I was resentful, I think. I didn’t realize until I left, and I went to college, and I came down here to Southern California, how lucky I was growing up in the city, and how diverse it was, and how cultured it was, and how much incredible food I grew up with … I got really homesick, and then was returning to the city and falling in love with it, almost like an outsider. So that was sort of the journey that Jill goes on.
She can’t quite crack it, she can’t quite find her way, she can’t find her home in it yet. I think that could be true for people in their own hometowns. She’s sitting at Battery Spencer, looking out over the city, but she’s not a part of it. She’s removed, and I think that was me a little bit growing up, dreaming of Hollywood, and wanting to come pursue my dreams. It wasn’t until I got to Hollywood that I really dreamt of returning home.
The soundtrack is one of the keys to a perfect rom-com. I read that you wrote letters to Taylor Swift and Robyn to use their music. Did you hear back from them personally or through Netflix?
The response was them approving the placements, which is the dream. I wrote to several of my artists, musicians that lent me their music in the film. Especially when it’s so central to the film and there’s no other option but to have their music, it’s really important to me that they understand the significance of their record. For Taylor specifically, I knew how dear to her “Marjorie” was, and I wanted her to know that it was in safe hands, and that I’m a die-hard Swiftie. I went to “The Eras Tour” and cried and cried and felt so connected to her during “Marjorie.” From the moment that I heard it, I knew it needed to be in “Voicemails,” and there was no other option but to have “Marjorie.”
Of course, “New Year’s Day” is one of my favorite T-Swift songs. I’m so spoiled to have both, and I was hoping and praying she would give me both, and that Netflix would also allow me to have both. But I knew that there was no version of the movie without “Marjorie.”
Then with Robyn, “Dancing on My Own” was in every draft of the script from eight years ago to today, so that was probably my first letter. She’s not just a track. She’s central to the plot and their love. My sister and I are die-hard Robyn fans, so it was just, again, no universe where it wasn’t “Dancing on My Own.”
When I know what the song is, I will move heaven and hell to get that song. I’ll do whatever it takes. So the first step is always explaining that to the artist, that I’m not a corporation, I’m not trying to hop on a trend. I am a dreamer, like them, and an artist, like them, and that their magic has shaped what I do.
People have been posting on social media about how emotional the film is making them. What have you thought about the response?
I’m so moved. I’m so touched. It’s a dream. I knew that my movie made me emotional. I knew that it made Este (Haim) emotional. She’s super close to her sisters. I knew that it made Zoe (Deutch) emotional. Her sister is her best friend. I knew that it hit us hard as the filmmakers. You never really know, because you’re too close to it.
Another response I’ve seen on social media is comments saying, “Rom-coms are back.” Do you consider this to be a time for a resurgence for the genre, or is it just that people don’t appreciate rom-coms as much until they get a really good one?
Oh, that’s a good question. I think we’re looking for comfort right now. We’ve been through a crazy few years. We’ve been through a pandemic in our business. We’ve been through writer strikes. I think everybody’s really searching for something that feels original and that also feels simultaneously nostalgic. If I’ve learned anything from this reception, I’ve learned that people want to believe in love, and I don’t believe that that goes away. I think it’s probably just emboldened by tough times.
I drive around L.A. On the weekends, people are out, people are at the park, people are at restaurants. It’s proved to me that we’re looking for connection, maybe beyond social media, maybe beyond our screens, maybe beyond AI. (People) just really want to feel something, feel alive … I think it has to relate to the success of a rom-com right now, after what feels like several years of people kind of rolling their eyes at them. When you think of Nora Ephron, you think of Nancy Meyers, nobody’s rolling their eyes. They (made) some of the greatest films of all time, layered and human and emotional, but funny. People know if something feels authentic, people know if something feels honed in. I think that rom-coms have gotten a bad rap for maybe feeling color by numbers. As soon as a rom-com feels real, people pay attention.
This movie has so many great references to films like “You’ve Got Mail” and “When Harry Met Sally …” What are some of your favorite rom-coms that give you that comfort and connection?
Oh, so many. I really love “The Holiday.” “The Holiday” is one of my favorite Christmas films, but I also love that it depicts L.A. and England. It’s Kate Winslet and Cameron (Diaz). I mean, iconic. I love “The Proposal.” Sandra Bullock. I loved that she’s not an immediately likable character to a lot of people. I like her from the first scene, but I know that she doesn’t fall into that quintessential ingénue leading lady from a rom-com.
“Sleepless in Seattle” was a huge inspiration for me. In my life, a big theme has been longing. Longing to have a career in Hollywood, longing to find my person. Any movie that really encapsulates the feeling of longing, feels like it’s shared. It shares my heart.