James L. Brooks has finally revealed what drove him to create Ella McCay after a break of more than ten years.
For those who don’t know, the 85-year-old American director and film producer hasn’t directed a film in the last fifteen years. His last project was How do you know that, a 2010 comedy romance film starring Reese Witherspoon, Paul Rudd, Owen Wilson, Jack Nicholson and other top stars.
He shares his thoughts in an interview with PEOPLE magazine, Brooks said, “I never wanted to come back. It wasn’t like that.”
The three-time Oscar winner, who tied the knot with his longtime girlfriend Jennifer Simchowitz in 2024, added: “In that, I fell in love, got married and really have no conscious answer to it other than I had jobs that I loved. Something I really enjoy doing.”
Professionally, he also produced films such as Are you there God? It’s me, Margaret And The edge of seventeen.
“And God bless, there’s always The Simpsons,” Brooks joked, reflecting on his long-running animated series Fox sitcom, as he has worked as an executive producer on the show since its debut in the late 1980s.
“So I was working, but it suddenly dawned on me: the thing I respect most about anything in movies is writing, and suddenly it hit me, like an identity crisis that I hadn’t written in a while, and that set me off like a gunshot went off,” the actor said. Terms of endearment director said of his return, referring to Ella McCay.
It is relevant to mention that Ella McCay was released in theaters in the United States on December 12, 2025.
