Netflix’s ‘Voicemails for Isabelle’ Isn’t a True Story — But Its Dark Inspiration Is Shocking

Netflix’s new romance film Voicemails for Isabelle may look like a simple love story, but the idea behind the movie came from a much darker and more unusual place. The film’s creator, Leah McKendrick, revealed that the inspiration for the story came from a joke she heard during a stand-up comedy show.

The movie follows Wes, played by Nick Robinson, who unexpectedly becomes connected to Jill, played by Zoey Deutch, after he receives a phone number that once belonged to her. Wes begins getting emotional voicemails from Jill that were actually meant for her late sister Isabelle. As he listens to Jill’s private thoughts and memories, a unique relationship begins to form.

While Voicemails for Isabelle is not based on a true story, McKendrick explained in an interview with People that the idea started after hearing a comedian tell a dark joke about a family member who could no longer call.

McKendrick remembered a moment when another comedian came on stage and talked about her father not calling her anymore. The audience expected an emotional story, but the punchline took the joke in a completely different direction.

“Then the next comedian gets on stage, and she goes, ‘It’s so nice that your dad calls you. My dad hasn’t called me in three years.’ And everyone’s kind of like, ‘Ooh,’” McKendrick told People. “And then she’s like, ‘He’s dead.’ I was the only one that laughed.”

That unexpected joke stayed with McKendrick and made her think about the emotional idea behind it. She started imagining what it would feel like to wait for a call from someone who could never answer.

“It really got the wheels turning, and I thought to myself, it’s so funny, this idea of a girl who keeps waiting for her dad to call her back,” she explained.

From there, the filmmaker began changing the idea into something more personal. She wondered what kind of loss would make someone keep reaching out, even when they knew they would never get a response.

“And then I thought, if my sister died, I’d be waiting for her to call me back. And then I thought, no, if my sister died, I would just keep calling her,” McKendrick said.

The director also used her own experiences with long phone messages as another source of inspiration. She explained that she often sent long, emotional voicemails to her sister, sharing everything from problems with dating to worries about work.

Those personal moments helped shape the emotional side of Voicemails for Isabelle. McKendrick said there was something interesting about the idea of someone hearing another person’s most honest and unfiltered thoughts.

“I would just let it all hang out,” she said. “And what a horror story it could be if somebody were to ever hear my most unfiltered self. But you would know that if somebody fell in love with that unfiltered self, it would be real.”

The film combines romance, grief, and personal connection through a simple idea: what happens when someone accidentally hears the most private parts of another person’s life? While the story may have started with a dark comedy moment, McKendrick turned that idea into a more emotional story about love, loss, and finding someone who understands you.