Yeah, so, before you ask… It’s not a leftover April Fool’s joke.
According to an exclusive originally reported by The Hollywood Reporter, former Saturday Night Live comics Will Ferrell and Kristen Wiig have already filmed a complete Lifetime TV movie called A Deadly Adoption. Assuming this is real, the satiric telepic will air on the network in early summer.
The film seems to be a dramatic thriller about a wealthy couple who bring a pregnant woman into their house in hopes of adopting her baby. Undoubtedly, the film will dance the line between satirizing the Lifetime telepic genre and being a Lifetime telepic. Lifetime will celebrate its 25th anniversary this year of producing such melodramatic teledramas as Liz & Dick, the African-American Steel Magnolias, and Why I Wore Lipstick To My Mastectomy.
It’s not a completely out of left field choice for Wiig as she starred in IFC’s The Spoils of Babylon last year and received an Emmy nomination for her participation with a follow-up due later this year. Ferrell had an extended cameo in that mini-series as an Orson Welles-like writer. Spoils writer Andrew Steele penned the Deadly script.
I’m a little concerned that this is being touted as a more legitimate, heartfelt attempt at a Lifetime TV movie rather than the skewering I so desperately want it to be. Spoils felt like a step in the right direction by satirizing decade-spanning mini-series like The Thorn Birds but quickly wore out its welcome mostly due to an annoying performance by Tobey Maguire. Deadly, however, boasts a higher wattage, comically gifted main cast.
That is, unless I’ve fallen for a massive April Fool’s joke. And, if that’s the case, then screw you, Hollywood Reporter.
Update: According to Entertainment Weekly, Ferrell and Wiig have cancelled this mysterious Lifetime project, furthering the speculation that it was indeed an April Fool’s joke all along. Other sources claim the film is completely made. Who knows?
Here is Ferrell’s statement as relayed to Entertainment Weekly: “We are deeply disappointed that our planned top secret project was made public. Kristen and I have decided it is in the best interest for everyone to forego the project entirely, and we thank Lifetime and all the people who were ready to help us make this film.”
