KJ Apa steps into the role of James “Jimmy” Stewart in the first teaser for Jimmy, a period biopic that tracks the screen legend’s pivot from Hollywood stardom to wartime service. Burns & Co. Entertainment released the trailer Wednesday, setting the film for a theatrical release on Nov. 6, 2026.
The footage opens with Apa performing Stewart’s famed barroom breakdown from It’s a Wonderful Life, then snaps to studio-era flashbulbs as Louis B. Mayer (Jason Alexander) tells him, “You are a star. And America needs stars right now.” The story follows Stewart after his Best Actor win for The Philadelphia Story as he pushes to join the U.S. Army Air Corps at the start of World War II. A key beat lands on the tension between celebrity and service: Colonel Terrill (Rob Riggle) turns him away with, “America can’t afford to lose Jimmy Stewart.”
The film, directed by Aaron Burns from a script by Justin Strawhand, concentrates on Stewart’s 1940s arc, including his combat flying and the difficult return home that preceded his Capra-era landmark. The supporting cast includes Kara Killmer, Neal McDonough, Max Casella, Christopher McDonald, Sarah Drew, Julian Works and Jen Lilley. Stewart’s daughter, Kelly Stewart-Harcourt, serves as an executive producer and has visited the production in Ireland, calling Apa the rare actor who can capture her father without turning the performance into a sustained impersonation.
Stewart-Harcourt has stressed that the movie foregrounds the part of her father’s life he valued most: his military service. The veterans-history community has long treated Stewart’s enlistment as a case study in persistence; historian Richard L. Hayes has recounted Stewart’s battle to meet the Army’s weight requirement, including the moment he finally cleared the bar and ran outside shouting, “I’m in! I’m in!” Apa, in a statement tied to the trailer, framed Stewart as “an American hero” whose story centers sacrifice and duty.
