JIMMY Heads to Fort Worth for World Premiere at Lone Star Film Festival

Published: July 4, 2026

By Movieguide® Staff

JIMMY — the untold story of Jimmy Stewart’s World War II service and the role that pulled him back from the edge — is heading home.

“Great storytelling matters. The right message matters even more,” said Hien Papaian, founder of Papaian Studios, which will host the world premiere of the movie in Fort Worth, Texas, on Nov. 4, 2026, in conjunction with the Lone Star Film Festival. Papaian Studios is a newly formed media company dedicated to creating projects that illuminate faith, inspire hope and positively impact culture.

Fort Worth is not an arbitrary pick. Stewart served as the city’s celebrity ambassador during the 1970s, supporting philanthropic efforts for the Fort Worth Zoo, recording tourism advertisements and filming STRATEGIC AIR COMMAND in the area. The connection runs deep enough that the Lone Star Film Festival will open its 20th anniversary year with the premiere.

The festival will also present the inaugural Jimmy Stewart Service Award to an actor who exemplifies Stewart’s qualities of service and sacrifice — a fitting addition to a premiere that centers on exactly those qualities.

As Movieguide® has followed since the project was first announced, JIMMY traces the most transformative season in Stewart’s life — from winning the Academy Award® for Best Actor in THE PHILADELPHIA STORY to enlisting and becoming a combat pilot in the U.S. Army Air Corps during World War II. He flew 20 missions over Europe, rising to the rank of colonel, only to come home broken and disheartened. Then George Bailey and IT’S A WONDERFUL LIFE came calling.

KJ Apa leads the cast as Stewart. The role clearly got under his skin. “Many young people may not know who Jimmy Stewart is today. But after seeing his story, they will never forget it,” Apa said. “Jimmy Stewart was an American Hero.”

Joining Apa are Kara Killmer as Lady Julia, Neal McDonough as Stewart’s father Alexander, Max Casella as Frank Capra, Christopher McDonald as Lionel Barrymore, Sarah Drew as Hedda Hopper, Rob Riggle as Colonel Terrill, Julian Works as Second Lieutenant Martinez and Jen Lilley as Gloria Stewart. Aaron Burns directs from a script by Justin Strawhand.

The full cast will attend the Fort Worth premiere alongside Burns, Strawhand, producers David Cook, Angela Galgani Sullivan and Jack McClintock and executive producer Kelly Stewart-Harcourt — Stewart’s daughter.

“I am thrilled and grateful that Burns & Co. is making JIMMY about my father, Jimmy Stewart,” Stewart-Harcourt said. “It highlights the part of Dad’s life of which he was most proud: his military service.”

“My family and I are deeply grateful to all the partners who helped make the movie, JIMMY, a reality,” she said in another statement. “Many of these partners are organizations and companies who have a long history of supporting our military and our veterans, a fact which most Americans are unaware of. These iconic brands do not trumpet their support. They just provide it.”

“This is the kind of quiet patriotism that characterized my father, Jimmy Stewart. True patriots don’t have to beat their chests,” she emphasized.

Burns & Co. has partnered with a nonprofit to give veterans, service members, and Gold Star families the opportunity to see JIMMY for free — a fitting touch, given that Riggle himself served 23 years in the Marine Corps before his acting career. Director Burns has said the movie exists, in part, so his kids can know “the hero that Jimmy Stewart was and to see what he went through, the sacrifice he made for us.”

JIMMY opens nationwide through Fathom Entertainment on Nov. 6, 2026, two days after the Fort Worth premiere. Tickets go on sale in September and will be available at participating theatre box offices or at FathomEntertainment.com. For more information or to be notified when tickets go on sale, visit jimmythemovie.com.

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