April 1 has to be the worst day for reporters and bloggers. If not in politics and sports, then certainly on the pop culture and entertainment beats. Which stories are real? Which are April Fool’s Day jokes? Most of the time, it’s easy to tell what’s a goof and what isn’t. But in some cases, the pranks are good enough to make one wonder.
So did Will Ferrell and Kristen Wiig play a great joke on the movie press with a report that the two were teaming up to make a Lifetime movie titled A Deadly Adoption? It had to be a joke, right? The story broke on April 1.
Yet The Hollywood Reporter‘s Lesley Goldberg led her article by saying this was not an April Fool’s joke. And the story is quite possibly legitimate. Jessica Lowndes (90210) is mentioned as a co-star, while Rachel Lee Goldenberg — who has 25 directing credits on IMDB, including a direct-to-video Sherlock Holmes and Love at the Christmas Table, a 2012 Lifetime movie — is reported as the director. Of course, Ferrell and his usual producing partner, Adam McKay, are listed as executive producers with their company, Gary Sanchez Productions.
All of this sounds entirely plausible, right? Perhaps even more so, considering that Ferrell and Wiig took part in a miniseries on IFC called The Spoils of Babylon. Remember that one? It had a very similar tone to that described for A Deadly Adoption.
According to THR, the two-hour movie has already been filmed. It’s described as a campy dramatic thriller following a couple (played by Ferrell and Wiig) who house and take care of a pregnant woman (Lowndes), and have intentions of adopting her unborn child. The project is intended to be a winking tribute to the sort of movies that Lifetime typically produces, celebrating the network’s 25th anniversary of making TV movies.
Just about every movie, TV and pop culture site took the THR story and aggregated it, seemingly given this further validity. And this had to be real, right? THR was reporting it as such and sticking with the story. Would they have run with it, and risked embarrassment otherwise?
Yet a day later, Ferrell and Wiig announced that they were scrapping plans for the movie because the news leaking out had ruined the surprise of the project.
“We are deeply disappointed that our planned top secret project was made public,” Ferrell told Entertainment Weekly. “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.”
But hasn’t the film already been made? That’s what the THR report said. It’s supposedly already in the can. So producers would just shelve this movie and walk away from it? How unlikely does that seem? As EW‘s James Hibberd and Lynette Rice point out in their story, Lifetime probably sank some money in this and would want some return on that investment. Would producers really have the power to spike the movie?
Plus, even if Ferrell and crew were walking away from Lifetime, couldn’t this movie be played on Funny or Die? Comedy Central? Or would playing anywhere besides Lifetime kind of negate the entire point of the project?
That’s apparently a moot point. The Wrap reports that Lifetime is moving ahead with the film — which, once again, has supposedly already been made — planning a summer release.
However, all of this is assuming that this entire endeavor isn’t an elaborate joke. Does A Deadly Adoption really exist? Or was the news and Ferrell’s subsequent announcement that it wasn’t happening just one big prank? And is the pop culture press extending the joke by reporting on it as if it’s a legitimate story? Even worse, are outlets doubling down on their coverage to avoid the possibility that they got played on this whole thing? That’s what Movie City news analyst and critic David Poland suggests.
Wow. There are people who don’t want to admit that the Ferrell/Wiig Lifetime movie was, obviously, an April Fool’s joke.
— David Poland (@DavidPoland) April 3, 2015
I already honor Team Sanchez for not acknowledging that this was always a gag. Way to not break. Would love an EXCLUSIVE clip. — David Poland (@DavidPoland) April 3, 2015
Poland goes on to commend Gary Sanchez Productions for not breaking and following through on this gag. Perhaps a trailer or an “exclusive” clip will be posted online soon to continue the joke. Or maybe all of this really is happening, and Ferrell was legitimately upset that news of the movie leaked out. But has Ferrell ever been that serious about something publicly? Maybe announcing the project was being scrapped was the real joke. It would certainly fall in line with the diva behavior Ferrell’s characters often pull.
Somewhere, someone — or many people — are laughing about this. Eventually, we’ll all find out whether or not we should join in and enjoy the gag. Maybe that will be when A Deadly Adoption plays on Lifetime. If it really is playing on Lifetime, that is…
