Lifestyle original movies are known for many things, including their drama-heavy plotlines, but one thing we don’t usually expect from them is a lot of star power. All that changed when it came out that Kristen Wiig and Will Ferrell had teamed up to work on one. After conflicting reports initially, we now have definitive proof that it isn’t some elaborate joke. The trailer has just been released, and the tongue-in-cheek TV movie looks like a lot of fun — or at least as much fun as a film called A Deadly Adoption can be.
Inspired by a true story, according to Lifetime, the made-for-TV movie is painted as “a high-stakes dramatic thriller.” It follows Ferrell and Wiig as a couple who decides to take in a pregnant woman as she approaches her due date. Their motives aren’t selfless, however, as they hope to adopt her unborn child.
Something must go very, very wrong, though, because the trailer shows the woman (played by Jessica Lowndes) gunning straight for Ferrell’s character in a truck as he stands already bloodied in the road. It’s unclear who’s responsible for the situation going south (to say the least). Not only do Ferrell’s character’s injuries look like gunshot wounds, Wiig’s voiceover accuses someone of ruining their “happy life,” right before we see her with a gun in her hand. In another scene, Lowndes and Ferrell’s characters are seen joking about what a “strange girl” she is. (Interestingly, Lowndes was involved in another complicated fictional adoption scenario when she starred on the 90210 reboot.)
News broke on April Fools’ Day this year that Ferrell in Wiig would be working with Lifetime, but the Anchorman star confused everyone when he told EW in a statement, “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 forgo the project entirely, and we thank Lifetime and all the people who were ready to help us make this film.”
It wouldn’t be much of a stretch to imagine this satire of the quintessential Lifetime drama will yet be revealed as a hoax — after all, it wouldn’t take much effort to put together a couple of clips for a teaser of a movie that never happened. However, as the Daily News reports, a billboard on Hollywood Boulevard seems to all but guarantee this strange creation that clowns on the very movies upon which Lifetime was founded is actually happening.
And while the idea of two such established actors doing a Lifetime original movie still seems more than a little farfetched, the SNL alums are both at a point in their career where they can do unexpected projects like this. (They’re kind of a big deal.) Frankly, we wouldn’t be surprised if other big Hollywood names decided to follow in their footsteps. In the meantime, mark your calendar for Saturday, June 20 at 8/7c, because A Deadly Adoption is not to be missed.
