<i><em>Voicemails for Isabelle</em></i>: The True Story Behind the New Netflix Rom-Com Everyone Is Watching This Summer

As Netflix’s latest romantic comedy continues to win over viewers, many are wondering if the tear-jerking story behind Voicemails for Isabelle has roots in real life.

Written and directed by Leah McKendrick, the film was actually penned more than seven years before it finally made its way to screens. Since premiering on June 19, the Zoey Deutch and Nick Robinson-led rom-com has become one of Netflix’s biggest films of the summer, climbing to the No. 1 film spot on the platform within days of its release. Audiences have particularly connected with its heartfelt exploration of grief, sisterhood, and unexpected romance.

The film follows Jill (Deutch), a chef struggling to cope with the death of her younger sister, Isabelle. To feel close to her, Jill continues leaving voicemails on Isabelle’s old phone number, unaware that it has been reassigned to a stranger named Wes (Robinson), who gradually falls for the woman behind the messages.

While the plot itself is fictional, many of the film’s emotional themes are rooted in McKendrick’s own life.

The writer-director has explained that the story’s themes were heavily inspired by her relationship with her younger sister, with the film ultimately becoming what she describes as “a love letter to sisterhood”—both the family we’re born into and the chosen family we find along the way.

So although Jill and Wes’s romance isn’t based on real events, the bond between the two sisters at the heart of the story came from a place McKendrick knew intimately.

The voicemail concept itself came from an unlikely source: a night at a comedy show. Speaking about the film’s origins, McKendrick recalled attending a stand-up showcase where her friend performed a routine about her father’s hilariously long and rambling voicemails. Another comedian followed with a much darker joke about her own father no longer calling because he had died. The contrast between the two stories stuck with McKendrick long after the show ended.

She began wondering what it would be like to keep leaving messages for someone who was no longer there to hear them and knew that losing her sister would be a devastating loss. She imagined that if her sister were no longer here, she would still find herself picking up the phone to call her, and from that single thought, Voicemails for Isabelle began to take shape.

The voicemail element became personal, too. After McKendrick’s own sister moved to New York for college, she would leave her “long rambling voicemails” about every aspect of her day. “I would just let it all hang out,” she told People. “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.” In many ways, those real-life voicemails became the emotional blueprint for the film, capturing the intimacy, vulnerability, and connection that sit at the heart of Jill and Isabelle’s relationship.

Voicemails for Isabelle is available to stream now on Netflix.