Spike Fearn on His Breakout Role in Ella McCay

Spike Fearn is hooked on a feeling.

The 25-year-old actor from Leicestershire, England, just wrapped the Alice Birch film Sweetsick before jetting off to Los Angeles for a few days of press, so understandably, his brain is a bit scrambled. Speaking at a frenetic pace, he tosses around the words “grateful,” “excited,” and “in awe” in heavy rotation as he attempts to describe the trance-like state he was in mere days before our interview. Watching the genius work around him, Fearn says he found a new feeling on that job, one he knows he’ll be chasing for the rest of his life. “All I can say is I’m so excited for people to see that movie,” he says, flashing a grin.

Spike Fearn sits in a worn orange leather chair against a white brick wall background. He is wearing a dark brown leather jacket over a white tank top, Bulgari necklace, brown trousers, and loafers.

People will soon be seeing a lot of Fearn and his piercing baby blues and tousled brunette locks. With three films hitting theaters over the next few months, his slate reads like that of a seasoned A-list actor. Rom-com, ensemble heist film, powerful drama—there’s a little bit of everything. It all starts this month with Ella McCay from Oscar- and Emmy-winning filmmaker James L. Brooks. The comedic drama follows its titular character, an idealistic 34-year-old politician, as she becomes governor of the state she was born and raised in while juggling a complicated family and home life that threatens to get in the way. Fearn shares the screen with an all-star cast in the film, including Emma Mackey, Jamie Lee Curtis, Woody Harrelson, and Ayo Edebiri. It’s a magnetic breakout performance for the actor playing Ella’s younger brother Casey.

“I think that was the best experience ever,” Fearn says. “This whole experience is a very ‘pinch me’ moment.” The actor was familiar with some of Brooks’s iconic catalog, like The Simpsons, Terms of Endearment, and As Good as It Gets, but it wasn’t until a friend showed him Broadcast News, the filmmaker’s 1987 television news satire, two weeks prior to receiving the Ella McCay script that it really clicked for Fearn. “I was very, very excited,” he tells me.

On the left, Spike Fearn is looking into a camcorder, which shows a close up of his right eye. On the right, Fearn is standing on the arms of a worn orange leather chair. His dark brown leather jacket is hanging off his shoulders revealing a white tank top underneath and his brown trousers.

Fearn went into the audition not expecting anything to come of it, but much to his surprise, he got a callback and was invited to meet with Brooks. “I should back myself a little bit more,” he says, his hands fidgeting. “I ended up meeting Jim and speaking about the role, and I remember making him laugh.” Fearn flew out to L.A. and met Brooks at his home, where the two sat and spoke for a while about feelings. Fearn had just come off another project, and as was usually the case for him when wrapping a shoot and coming out of that bubble, he was feeling a bit down.

“It was a massive challenge for me, this [film],” Fearn says. “It felt like I was really out of my depth. I got the part, and then I instantly just crawled into a hole for a week and was really scared about how I was ever going to do this.”

Spike Fearn looks up at the ceiling while sitting in an old worn orange leather chair. He is wearing a dark brown leather jacket and Bulgari watch.

Quote from Spike Fearn that reads, "[Ella McCay] was a massive challenge for me. It felt like I was really out of my depth. I got the part, and then I instantly just crawled into a hole for a week and was really scared about how I was ever going to do this."

At the time, he was listening to a lot of late English singer-songwriter Nick Drake and was inspired by the artist’s tragic story. “I was just very sad and depressed,” he says. “I remember speaking to [James] about Nick Drake, and he was like, ‘That’s it, man! That’s the feeling, that downness.'” Fearn ran with that in finding Casey.