Will Ferrell and Kristen Wiig, who previously co-starred in Anchorman 2 together, have made a Lifetime TV movie in secret.
The pair will star in A Deadly Adoption, a knowing take on the US network’s overwrought melodramas, set to premiere early summer, according to The Hollywood Reporter. The thriller will see them play a successful couple who house a pregnant woman with the hope of adopting her child but things don’t quite go to plan. The film will also star 90210’s Jessica Lowndes.
It’s been described as “campy and fun” and will air on Lifetime to mark the 25th anniversary of the channel’s brand of TV movies. The film has already been made and is directed by Rachel Lee Goldenberg who has been behind shorts for Funny or Die as well as “mockbusters” such as Sunday School Musical and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes. The script comes from Andrew Steele, who wrote spoof IFC drama The Spoils of Babylon, also starring Kristen Wiig.
Ferrell has reportedly been keen to make a Lifetime movie for years, being a self-confessed big fan of the genre. He is also executive producing the film along with Anchorman director Adam McKay’s Gary Sanchez Productions. Ferrell has also produced the upcoming Kristen Wiig comedy Welcome to Me, where she plays a woman with borderline personality disorder who wins the lottery.
The first Lifetime movie was Memories of Murder in 1990 and since then, examples have included Killer Hair, Inspector Mom and A Woman Scorned: The Betty Broderick Story.
Ferrell and Wiig also delivered one of the most memorable awards show skits at the 2013 Golden Globes. The Get Hard star will next be seen in James Franco’s Zeroville while Wiig will be in Ridley Scott’s The Martian.
