What were actors Jamie Lee Curtis and Woody Harrelson doing in Providence Thursday?

PROVIDENCE − Actors Jamie Lee Curtis and Woody Harrelson were hanging out at the State House Thursday afternoon with a couple of hundred people as Gov. Dan McKee and the head of the state's Film and Television Office welcomed the cast and producers of the latest Hollywood movie being filmed in Rhode Island.

"Ella McCay," produced and directed by James L. Brooks and starring Emma Mackey, who played one of the Barbies in the summer blockbuster "Barbie," is about an idealistic candidate looking to move up from lieutenant governor to governor.

They were both on hand Thursday, along with actor Spike Fearn, who appears in the film.

"Does anybody else want to say a few words?" emcee Steven Feinberg, head of the film and television office, asked after Brooks and McKee and other politicians spoke.

"Sure!" said Curtis, before introducing herself, "My name is Jamie."

A new movie wants to film in RI: Why they want to use the Cranston Street Armory

"The movie business is a collaborative art form," Curtis said, comparing it to government, which also requires the efforts of many working together.

"This is a movie about ideas," she described "Ella McCay." "America is about ideas. This is a movie about big ideas."

During his remarks, Gov. Dan McKee divulged that Mackey, as "Ella McCay," will take over his office for several weeks, apparently to shadow him to learn the job as well as filming scenes.

Shooting begins on Monday and will run through late April, with 90% being shot in Providence, including at the State House, around the city, and the rest filming in another undisclosed community.

This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: Jamie Lee Curtis and Woody Harrelson at RI State House to begin filming