There aren’t many 2025 movie releases left, but if you’re looking for a holiday movie of the feel-good variety, look no further than James L. Brooks’ first movie in 15 years, Ella McCay. But I bet you didn’t see on your bingo card that this comedy might share some DNA with the last Alien movie? Yeah, me too.
The Alien: Romulus Connection To Ella McCay
Along with Ella McCay starring Emma Mackey, Jamie Lee Curtis, Woody Harrelson, Kumail Nanjiani and Julie Kavner, the voice behind Marge Simpson in her first live-action role in 20 years, Spike Fearn is also in the mix. The British actor plays the role of the younger brother to the titular character, who is dealing with challenges associated with suddenly becoming governor as their father also comes back into the picture. Fearn was in Alien: Romulus, but there’s a larger story about how he ended up moving from the sci-fi sequel to comedy. In his words to CinemaBlend:
Two weeks prior reading the script [Cailee Spaeny had] just shown me Broadcast News for the first time. And then, when I read James' name, I knew it was gonna be good, but it was just such an enjoyable read. And then the character, Casey was great, and I was just like really excited to just audition for it. Even if I was never gonna get the part, just the audition process would've been fun to just have a crack at some of those scenes, you know?
Caeley Spaeney is the breakout lead of Alien: Romulus, and as it turns out, she was schooling him on one of James L. Brooks’ most famous movies just prior to Fearn getting the script for Ella McCay. Surely his ears perked up a bit more regarding what would be his next part thanks to his Romulus co-star getting him into the 1987 classic, which is one of the late William Hurt’s best movies.
In Romulus, Spike Fearn played the role of Bjorn, who is the cousin of the characters of Tyler and Kay – played by Archie Renaux and Isabella Merced, respectively. He also acted alongside David Jonsson, and had a pretty gnarly, but very fun death scene to write home about there.
Spike Fearn On Going From An Alien Movie To Ella McCay
Fearn is a 25-year-old actor from Britain who’s been starring in quite a few buzzy movies and TV lately. From having roles in The Batman, Aftersun, the Amy Winehouse biopic Back to Black, and the teen drama Tell Me Everything, he’s finding his footing, but still making a name for himself. Here’s what he told us about landing Ella McCay not long after wrapping on Fede Álvarez’s 2024 take on Alien:
Essentially, it was the next thing I did after [Alien: Romulus]. I was just excited to jump into something beyond Alien, I guess. And like, even though I loved playing that part and I loved that film and everyone involved, I think I'd wanted to jump into something like this. And I was so excited that it was like a different accent. I'd never done an American accent before. And I was just super excited to just jump into this world and do something a little bit more like lighthearted, not so jumpy.
It goes to show that you never really know what experiences are going to lead you to your next one. You can check out what critics are saying about Ella McCay now and see the movie only in theaters starting December 12.
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