News

Margot (Reese Witherspoon) and Jim (Will Ferrell) in You’Re Cordially Invited. Photo Credit: Glen Wilson/Prime Video

Now that we’re shaking off the ice and snow (at least for a few days), is it too early to think about weddings, or even movie weddings? Sure, they’re always a ripe setting for romance and drama, though for the last couple of decades, it’s proven to be a perfect backdrop for comedy, from the Father Of The Bride reboots to Bride Wars, the Best Man series, and, of course, Bridesmaids. which often concern the ceremony itself and the long “prep”. Well, for this new flick we get two wedding parties, but the big focus isn’t on the couple, but rather on two relatives of the brides. And it’s the first pairing of two movie comedy vets. It’s a rare mix of a “rom-com” icon and...

“The fact that you’d drive up to this hellhole, Santa Barbara, means the world to me,” Will Ferrell joked Wednesday night as he thanked family, friends and costars — including Kristen Wiig and Octavia Spencer — for coming to the picturesque “American Riviera,” two hours north of Los Angeles, to participate in the Santa Barbara International Film Festival’s presentation to him of the Kirk Douglas Award for Excellence in Film.

Since 2006, the Sbiff has annually presented the honor, which is named after the late star of Hollywood’s Golden Age who lived part-time in town, at a black-tie gala dinner at the local Ritz-Carlton Bacara. Held several months before the actual fest (the next edition of which will run Feb. 4-15), the event raises money for the fest’s numerous educational initiatives. It has previously celebrated Ryan Gosling, Michelle Yeoh, Martin Scorsese, Hugh Jackman, Judi Dench, Warren Beatty, Jane Fonda,...

Will Ferrell and Harper Steele have been friends since almost their first day working together on Saturday Night Live. “We hit it off pretty quickly,” Steele told Netflix. “I wrote a lot of stuff for Will, much of which didn’t make it to air because it was too good.” Steele would eventually serve as head writer at SNL from 2004 to 2008, while Ferrell became one of its breakout stars. Now, you can sit in on the pair’s evolving friendship in a new documentary: Will & Harper.

After their work on SNL,Ferrell and Steele continued to work together. Steele wrote Ferrell’s telenovela homage Casa de mi Padre and his Lifetime movie A Deadly Adoption; she also served as creative director at his comedy website and production company Funny or Die. And they never stopped hanging out outside of work.

“We’d go to Lakers games, go on road trips together,...

Harper Steele is, with no exaggeration, one of my favorite comedy writers to ever do it. Not only did she write on "Saturday Night Live" from 1995-2015, the years when I was developing my own sense of humor, but she's also behind the Lifetime film "A Deadly Adoption" and the Academy Award-nominated Netflix flick, "Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga." She was also a writer on the "Doug" episode "Doug's Cool Shoes," which has some of the best visual joke-telling of the animated series' first season. This is to say that Steele has been formative in shaping my ability to find humor in the world around me.

Over the years, Steele has become best friends with Will Ferrell, arguably one of the most recognizable comedic actors in the world. Ferrell and Steele are frequent collaborators, and their latest project is "Will & Harper," a documentary about the pair...

Plot: Will Ferrell learns that one of his closest friends and collaborators is now trans. Unsure of the ground rules in the next stage of their relationship, the two drive from New York to Los Angeles together and reconnect.

Review: Will & Harper is a gentle, often hilarious documentary about two friends reconnecting after one comes out as trans. The fact that one of the friends is Will Ferrell made it a must-see for me at Sundance. But, it has a lot of resonance beyond its showbiz aspects, with it a nuanced portrait of a life in transition. It starts with essentially being about how the world views Ferrell’s friend, Harper, but eventually, it becomes more about how she views herself.

It’s a complex question because Harper Steele made her transition later in life, with her being sixty-one as the movie starts. She’s interesting, having been the...

Will Ferrell has some pretty cool friends. That shouldn’t come as any kind of surprise to his fans. He appeared on “Saturday Night Live” for seven seasons and still keeps in touch with co-stars like Seth Meyers, Tina Fey and Kristen Wiig. Less familiar, but no less fascinating, is former “SNL” writer Harper Steele, who befriended Ferrell when he first joined the show, believing in the crazy cut-up when others were still skeptical of his talent.

Structured as an on-camera road trip between two longtime friends, fueled by laughs and tears and the occasional “Borat”-style stunt, “Will & Harper” gives the general public a chance to meet this incredible woman. Technically, Ferrell is meeting her for the first time, too, since Steele spent the first six decades of her life as a man. After receiving a long, vulnerable coming-out email from Steele describing her decision to transition at...

Kristen Wiig and Will Ferrell had a scene-stealing moment during the 2024 Golden Globes on Sunday night (January 7)!

The Saturday Night Live alums and A Deadly Adoption co-stars reunited to present the Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture in a Musical or Comedy, and things took a turn when random orchestra music started playing during their introduction to the nominees.

Check out the funny clip inside…

While the two were introducing the category, music started playing randomly in the middle of their lines, and they looked confused at what was going on.

“Not sure what that was. Sorry about that,” they said.

After a couple of times of the music interrupting them, they got into and started to dance on stage!

As Will started to get agitated, he chimed, “Guys, this song does something to us, as you can see.”

“It always has, for decades,” Kristen continued, followed by Will saying,...

Exclusive: The Wilds’ Sarah Pidgeon and newcomer Tanzyn Crawford have been cast as series regulars alongside Kathryn Hahn and Quentin Plair in Hulu’s Tiny Beautiful Things, based on Cheryl Strayed’s bestselling book, from ABC Signature and Hello Sunshine. Additionally, Rachel Lee Goldenberg has been tapped to direct the first two episodes.

Created and written by Liz Tigelaar based on Strayed’s book, Tiny Beautiful Things is a half-hour series about a woman, Claire (Hahn), who reluctantly becomes Dear Sugar — an anonymous, revered advice columnist — when her own life is falling apart. Told in multiple timelines with astonishing intimacy, nerve and candor, she excavates the beauty, struggle and humor in her own life to show us that we are not beyond rescue, that it’s our stories that will ultimately save us.

Pidgeon will play Young Clare, the younger version of the lead character, played by Hahn. Rebellious and sharp-tongued,...

The second season of “The Amber Ruffin Show” will return with new episodes Feb. 25, Peacock announced Tuesday.

The critically acclaimed late-night variety series is hosted by comedian Amber Ruffin, who made history as the first Black woman to write for a late-night network TV show when she joined the writer’s room of “Late Night with Seth Meyers” in 2014. Ruffin’s own show premiered in 2020, as one of the first originals for the Peacock streaming platform. Over the course of the first and second seasons for the show, Ruffin has used the show to cover breaking topics in the news cycle, including police brutality, Meghan Markle, violence against Asian Americans and the Jan. 6 Capitol riots.

“The Amber Ruffin Show” received a nomination for outstanding variety series writing at the 2021 Emmy awards. The series is produced by Universal Television and Sethmaker Shoemeyers Productions, and Ruffin executive produces alongside Jenny Hagel, Seth Meyers and Mike Shoemaker.

Exclusive: Multi-hyphenate Jessica Lowndes has signed a four-picture deal to star in, write, direct and executive produce original films for Gac Family.

The announcement follows the weekend premiere of Harmony From The Heart, in which Lowndes starred with Jesse Metcalfe. She also wrote the original screenplay and executive produced the film.

Lowndes is also the latest Hallmark Channel alum to sign a deal with Gac Family, which is run by Bill Abbott, former CEO of Crown Media Family Networks, parent of Hallmark Channel. Abbott has been bringing in established Hallmark Channel talent he worked with while running the network. Lowndes joins fellow Hallmark Channel vets including Jen Lilley, Danica McKellar and Trevor Donovan, all of whom have signed multi-picture deals with Gac Family. Additionally, When Calls the Heart alums Lori Loughlin and Daniel Lissing reunited for the return of spinoff When Hope Calls on Gac Family.

Harmony From The Heart...

Exclusive: Saturday Night Live alums Rachel Dratch and Ana Gasteyer have teamed to write, executive produce and star in A Clüsterfünke Christmas, described as “a celebratory parody of the corny and ubiquitous traditional TV movie holiday romance genre.” Vella Lovell (Crazy Ex-Girlfriend), Cheyenne Jackson (American Horror Story) and Ryan McPartlin (L.A.’s Finest) also star in the MTV Entertainment Studios movie, which has started production in Vancouver with Anna Dokoza directing. This film will premiere on one of the ViacomCBS platforms to be announced later.

A Clüsterfünke Christmas follows Holly (Lovell), a go-getter real estate executive from New York City who heads on assignment to a small town to buy up the quaint Clüsterfünke Inn and transform it into a mega-resort. First order of business? She must convince the inn’s spinster owners (Gasteyer and Dratch) to make the sale. But before she can, she meets their nephew Frank (Jackson), a hot hunk of smoldering woodsman.

Max Osswald, Chase Hinton will help company expand operations.

Los Angeles-based Balcony 9 Productions, who recently wrapped The Immaculate Room with Kate Bosworth, Ashley Greene and Emile Hirsch, has hired Max Osswald as head of development and EVP of production, and promoted Chase Hinton to development executive.

The executives will oversee development and production on projects across film, television, documentary, documentary series, and podcasts.

Osswald arrives from National Picture Show Entertainment, which he co-founded in 2009 and oversaw development and production on A Deadly Adoption starring Will Ferrell and Kristen Wiig, and American Koko, on which he served as executive producer...

Exclusive: Rachel Lee Goldenberg has been tapped to direct HBO Max’s comedy pilot Minx, from writer Ellen Rapoport, Paul Feig’s Feigco Entertainment and Lionsgate TV.

Written by Rapoport, the half-hour Minx is set in 1970s Los Angeles and centers around an earnest young feminist who joins forces with a low-rent publisher to create the first erotic magazine for women.

Rapoport executive produces with Paul Feig and Dan Magnante for Feigco. Lionsgate is the studio.

Goldenberg most recently directed MGM’s Valley Girl, a musical remake of the 1983 cult classic. Her latest project, HBO Max Original film Unpregnant premieres September 10 on the platform. The film, which she directed and co-wrote, is based on the 2019 novel of the same name by Ted Caplan and Jenni Hendriks, and produced by Greg Berlanti, Sarah Schechter and Erik Feig.

Goldenberg...

Netflix has released the first clip for their new Will Ferrell and Rachel McAdams comedy, Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga and it’s… something. The movie follows Ferrell and McAdams as aspiring musicians who get a chance to represent their country by competing in the world’s biggest song competition.

The clip features the leads in full-on Game of Thrones cosplay outfits and they’re on what looks like an island in Scandinavia captured by Ridley Scott, with lots of aerial shots, wintry landscapes and ocean waves. It’s actually more of a music video or perhaps an audition to appear in the Eurovision song contest than a clip from the film though, as the two sing passionately while playing on their matching red keyboards.

Of course, Ferrell has made a career of parodying different worlds. Whether it’s local newsmen in the ‘70s, Nascar, figure skating,...

ViacomCBS Entertainment & Youth Group has tapped Lifetime veteran Meghan Hooper White to oversee a new unit for original movies and limited series, the company announced Tuesday.

The unit will produce original films to air on the group’s cable channels, including MTV, Comedy Central and Paramount Network, with the goal of producing as many as 100 per year. The group will focus on ViacomCBS’s portfolio of IP and franchises and partner with other divisions in the company to produce the films.

Hooper White’s title will be executive vice president and head of original movies and limited series. She will report to the Entertainment & Youth Group’s president of content and chief creative officer, Nina L. Diaz, beginning May 18

Also Read: Bob Bakish Outlines 'Major Changes' for CBS All Access Rebrand This Summer

The launch of the new unit comes amid significant restructuring at ViacomCBS’s Entertainment & Youth Group, which...

When the original Valley Girl was released in 1983, most of you weren't even a thought in your parents' imaginations.

Meanwhile, like the Valley Girls themselves, I was a high school senior navigating the chilly waters of teenage acceptance.

Because of that film and its place in history, most of you probably have a better idea of girls from the valley than I did at that time. All we knew of such places came from entertainment, and until the Frank and Moon Zappa song arrived (which very loosely inspired the film), everything from The Valley was as distant as Arabia to a girl from Pittsburgh.

Fast forward an incredible 37 years, and the movie that fascinated a generation and launched the career of Nicolas Cage gets a reboot.

Given my very soft feelings for the original film, the thought of replacing it worried me. And it's a musical, which is not, by any stretch,...

It must be written somewhere that any and all cinematic homages to the neon-tinged ’80s have to include the use of Cyndi Lauper’s pop classic “Girls Just Want to Have Fun.” That’s doubly true for films focused on girls coming of age during the decade: Lauper’s 1983 song even inspired a 1985 comedy with the same name. And the cinematic truism still holds in Rachel Lee Goldenberg’s new “Valley Girl,” a musical reimagining of Martha Coolidge’s 1983 cult classic.

For the first-time feature filmmaker, turning the film into a jukebox musical was actually a means of saluting the original. “I wanted to feel like there’s a reason and we’re not just rehashing this classic cult film, and the musical element felt like it gave permission to pay homage to it,” Goldenberg said in a recent interview. “Taking all these songs and re-producing them and re-imagining them...

In an alternate reality, MGM and Orion’s Valley Girl remake would have (maybe?) set hearts and theaters ablaze in June with its romantic, musical tale of new love discovered on the wrong side of town, but in this one, they’ve had to settle for a VOD release in the midst of an ongoing Covid-19 pandemic that has forced cinema chains around world to shut up shop. Consequently, Valley Girl‘s debut has now moved up a month to May, and a first trailer has arrived online to publicize the shift in plans.

Starring Happy Death Day‘s Jessica Rothe and Poldark‘s Josh Whitehouse, this remake reimagines the 1983 film, which featured a couple of blinding performances by Deborah Foreman and Nicolas Cage in his element. Clean-cut Julie and rocker Randy, aka Romeo and Juliet, are once again star-crossed lovers connecting at a party under the disapproving eye of society.

It’s been a like, totally awesome, ohmygosh couple of weeks for fans of ’80s cult classic “Valley Girl.” The Martha Coolidge-directed 1983 rom-com is available on streaming platforms for the first time ever, and now its long-gestating musical remake is finally getting a release date.

Directed by Rachel Lee Goldenberg (best known for her amusing Lifetime sendup “A Deadly Adoption”) and released by Orion Classics, this new take on the “Valley Girl” mythos — basically, Romeo and Juliet for Sunset Strip punks and Sherman Oaks mallrats — was first announced way back in 2016, when Goldenberg and star Jessica Rothe (of “Happy Death Day” franchise fame) signed on to craft a reboot that added in musical elements to its star-crossed lovers story. Originally set with a 2018 release date, news on the film has been mostly quiet in recent years, making it something of a weird curio for both fans of the first...

Miami — In a big, bold affirmation of the value of movies in a new TV world, WarnerMedia’s Turner Latin America, one of Latin America’s biggest pay TV operators, is launching Particular Crowd, a film production-acquisition company with a 90 English-language movie slate for 2020.

Based out of Los Angeles, Particular Crowd will make many of its movies available on TNT and Space, flagship Turner channels in Latin America.

Broadening its distribution gamut, however, Particular Crowd has also signed with Cinepolis Distribución, the Mexican exhibition giant’s theatrical distribution arm, for it to open select Particular Crowd titles in cinema theaters in Latin America. Other movies will be available in serialized episodic format across social media platforms.

Yet other movies may of course go straight to HBO Max. Particular Crowd began to produce in early 2019 with linear networks in mind. With the announcement and launch of HBO Max, however, it is...

From the death of Marvin Gaye to a Will Ferrell-Kristen Wiig Lifetime movie, these events were unfortunately timed for April Fools’ Day but were 100 percent real. Happy April Fool’s Day. We hope you don’t fall for any tricks — and that you don’t take any real headline to be fake. Here are some examples of April 1 headlines that turned out to be completely real.

Singer Marvin Gaye was fatally shot by his father, Marvin Gaye Sr., on April 1, 1984. The news was so shocking and the timing so unfortunate that even Gaye’s close friend Smokey Robinson thought it was a morbid prank by the disc jockey on the radio station where he heard it.

Van Halen was one of the biggest rock bands on the planet in 1985, so it’s not a surprise that lead singer David Lee Roth announcing his exit from the band, on...

Last year we reported that Will Ferrell had signed on to star in a movie for Netflix entitled Eurovision.

The story is based on the "wildly popular and long-running international TV music competition The Eurovision Song Contest. It is a contest that began in Switzerland in 1956, when seven West European nations participated. This year 43 countries competed for the prize, won in Lisbon by Netta (Israel) performing the song Toy. Abba (winner in 1974 for Sweden) and Céline Dion (winner in 1988 for Switzerland) are among the former contestants who launched successful worldwide careers after their wins at The Eurovision Song Contest."

We already knew that Ferrell was writing the script alongside Andrew Steele, known for his time as writer and head-writer at SNL and his comedic collaborations with Ferrell in the past, writing the ridiculously hilarious The Spoils of Babylon, The Royal Wedding Live With Cord and Tish!, and the spoof Lifetime movie,...

"It was literally a company started in my dad's garage," says Fernando Szew, who launched MarVista Entertainment in 2003 off the back of Whamo Entertainment, a sales agency distributing animated content that was owned by his father, Joseph Szew.

Fernando's Westwood-based company began primarily as a global TV distributor but expanded into original TV films. Through partnerships with companies like Disney Channel, Nickelodeon, Lifetime and Hallmark, Szew, 43, has built the banner into a multifaceted production and distribution company, with recent projects including Lifetime's A Deadly Adoption, starring Will Ferrell and Kristen Wiig in 2015; 2017 ...

No less than two Oscar winners are hopelessly adrift in Jonathan Baker’s low-rent thriller that feels so much like a parody of a Lifetime television movie it should have starred Will Ferrell and Kristen Wiig. Indeed, this film feels so similar to the 2015 spoof A Deadly Adoption that featured those comic performers that it’s hard to know where one ends and the other begins. In any case, the aptly titled Inconceivable is something that both Nicolas Cage and Faye Dunaway will want to leave off their filmographies, and at this point that’s saying something.

The story revolves around affluent...

When “A Deadly Adoption” landed as an (almost) surprise movie on Lifetime two years ago, no one knew what to make of it. The film, starring Will Ferrell and Kristin Wiig, was a very specific spoof on Lifetime‘s usually over-the-top dramas, directed by Rachel Lee Goldenberg (“Escape From Polygamy,” “Love at the Christmas Table,” “Toddlers and Tiaras: Where Are They Now?

Continue reading Will Ferrell Says Lifetime Comedy ‘A Deadly Adoption’ Is “One Of My Favorite Things I’ve Ever Made” at The Playlist.

Saturday Night Live alum Will Ferrell will likely always be pushing the comedy envelope, but with A Deadly Adoption–his 2015 Lifetime movie–he really took the cake. As Ferrell himself said during a post-screening panel discussion at the Atx Television Festival, "If you’re sitting in this audience thinking, 'This is the worst thing I’ve ever seen,' I can’t argue with you." Making a Lifetime movie had been a dream for the actor. "I kept thinking it would be fun to star in a…...

Kyra Sedgwick is the latest big-name joining the star-studded line-up at the 2017 Atx TV Festival in Austin, Texas, next month, Et can exclusively reveal.

The Closer actress will be participating in a new panel titled "From Actor to 'Action!'" which will feature an in-depth discussion about the transition from actor to director and the challenges that come from stepping behind the camera.

Sedgwick recently made her directorial debut in the upcoming Lifetime movie Story of a Girl, which also stars her husband, Kevin Bacon.

"From Actor to 'Action!'", which will take place Saturday, June 10, will also feature Suits star Patrick J. Adams, Sons of Anarchy's Adam Arkin and Battlestar Galactica alum Edward James Olmos on the panel

More: 'Friday Night Lights' Cast Reunites to Celebrate 10-Year Anniversary at Atx Television Festival

Sedgwick will also be participating in another new Atx Festival panel entitled, "Complex not Complicated: A Look at a Woman's Character...

Time for another cinematic trek to the land of “second chance” romance, where those wounded lovers get another try at happiness in a picture-perfect little town complete with a cozy home (fireplace included, of course) and an adorable moppet. But this journey to a happy ending can’t be a smooth one. The fly in the ointment (or the more crass “t%#d in the punch bowl) is the more than a little unhinged ex. Then the trip goes from hearts and flowers to demented nannies and boiled bunny rabbits. Perhaps as a way to mark the 30th anniversary of Fatal Attraction, movie-goers are now treated to a “female-centric” take on torture and turmoil mixed with thwarted desire and homicide in Unforgettable.

We first meet a battered and bruised Julia Banks (Rosario Dawson) as she is interrogated by a pair of somber stoic police detectives. Ms B is in big...

Meghan Hooper White has been upped to Senior Vice President, Original Co-Productions and Acquisitions, for Lifetime and Lmn, from her VP role. Based in New York, Hooper White oversees the development and production of co-production film commissions, international co-productions and all program acquisitions for Lifetime and Lmn. Since joining the networks in 2011, she has overseen the co-production of A Deadly Adoption starring Will Ferrell and Kristen Wiig, the remake of…...

The pair will join the producer of La La Land on an original musical sending up the Us phenomenon of corporate shows used to motivate workforces

After appearing together in spoof Lifetime movie A Deadly Adoption, Will Ferrell and Kristen Wiig are to reunite on another takedown of the tacky side of American culture: this time taking aim at “industrial musicals”, the corporate-funded shows designed to boost sales or motivate workforces that were popular from the 1950s to the 1980s.

Related: Will Ferrell: ‘Ignorance is a key part of comedy’

Continue reading...

The new horror film “Abattoir” takes the concept of a haunted house to its conceptual limit. The film follows investigative reporter Julia Talben (Jessica Lowndes) whose life is turned upside when her family is brutally murdered. Though believed to be an open-and-shut case, she quickly realizes there’s more to the story. Soon she and her ex-lover Declan Grady (Joe Anderson) are drawn to the town of New English where they find Jebediah Crone and the Abattoir – a monstrous house stitched together with unending rooms of death and the damned. Now Julia must solve the case before it’s too late. Watch an exclusive clip from the film below.

Read More: ‘Abattoir’ Exclusive Clip and Photos: Jessica Lowndes and Joe Anderson Discover a Terrible Sight

The film is directed by Darren Lynn Bousman, who was one of the writers of the “Abattoir” graphic novel series. He has previously directed “Saw II” through “Saw IV,...

The carcass of the 1980s has not yet been picked clean, so MGM is going forward with its musical adaptation of Martha Coolidge’s well-remembered 1983 cult film Valley Girl. And now, the project even has a director: Rachel Goldenberg, probably best known for helming the 2015 Lifetime movie A Deadly Adoption with Will Ferrell and Kristen Wiig. (Goldenberg has also directed episodes of The Mindy Project and Angie Tribeca.) Matt Smith will produce this newfangled Valley Girl, and Goldenberg will direct from a script by Amy Talkington, who also appears to be working on a Private Benjamin reboot.

In the original independent sleeper hit, Nicolas Cage plays a Hollywood punk rocker named Randy who falls in love with Julie (Deborah Foreman), a resident of the San Fernando Valley, famed at the time for its unique slang and fashion. Considering that Valley Girl was made to cash in on an ...

Exclusive: Rachel Goldenberg has been attached to direct MGM's musical adaptation of the 1983 romantic comedy Valley Girl, about a teenage valley girl who begins to question the life she's always known when she falls in love with a punk rocker from Hollywood. Goldenberg most recently helmed A Deadly Adoption for Lifetime starring Will Ferrell and Kristen Wiig. The remake of the old Martha Coolidge-directed film that starred and helped launch the career of Nicholas Cage…...

Exclusive: There's some Nip/Tuck and 90210 coming to Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency with Julian McMahon and Jessica Lowndes now joining the BBC America series. The duo will appear in guest roles in the Samuel Barnett, Elijah Wood and Hannah Marks starring October 22 debuting show based on Douglas Adams' novels. News of the addition of the Hunters alum and the A Deadly Adoption actor to Dirk Gently comes as BBC America stages its New York Comic-Con mega-panel…...

Here are some things that have been in the news in recent weeks: A male college student raping an unconscious woman. A killer motivated by his own homophobia. Mass shootings in Florida. Here are some things that appear in James Franco's remake of 1996 the Lifetime movie Mother, May I Sleep With Danger? A male college student attempting to rape an unconscious woman. A killer motivated by his own homophobia. Mass shootings in Florida.

The Franco-masterminded 20th anniversary remake of the Tori Spelling-starring original also contains nubile teenage vampires,...

Fun fact: If you happen to mention on Twitter that an upcoming Lifetime movie features a large amount of gratuitous lesbian vampire sex, people way outside the traditional Lifetime movie demo suddenly have questions about when it airs.

That is exactly what actor/writer/director/IndieWire contributor James Franco is counting on as the executive producer of this weekend’s “Mother, May I Sleep With Danger?” remake. But is there also a deeper meaning to his madness?

Read More: Review: Lifetime’s ‘UnREAL’ Season 2 Bets Big As It Declares War

The original “Mother” was relatively simple — a bad boy came to town and seduced baby Tori Spelling, “Vertigo”-ing her haircut before descending into true villainy. But this new film swaps an emotionally manipulative boyfriend for a lady vampire who’s just hoping to find the true love that will help her escape her bloodlust and…

Look, it’s weird.

Short version of the plot (based on a story by Franco, who also plays a supporting role): Pearl (Emily Meade) has been inducted into a “nightwalker” cabal largely against her will, but if she can connect with true love, she’ll no longer have to prey upon the living to slack her thirst. Fortunately, she seems to have found a soulmate in new lover/aspiring actress Leah (Leila George).

But while Pearl is a genuinely sympathetic character, Leah’s mother Julie (Tori Spelling) does not approve. At first, that’s because of her conservative values, but later, after some investigation, Julie senses that her daughter – wait for it – might be sleeping with danger…

On the surface, that’s not too complicated. But even giving one additional moment of thought to the film’s thematic implications is brain-exploding on a “Scanners” level, because quite sincerely, the premise feels like a legitimate dare from Franco to critics. How are we meant to interpret a remake of a famous example of the prototypical “Lifetime movie,” where the deranged male stalker has been substituted with a loving female partner who also just so happens to be a “nightwalker”? What the hell does that mean? It’s like the anti-angle, actively defying interpretation, demanding that we look deeper into the abyss even though sometimes a pipe is just a pipe…

That’s it: James Franco has found a way to make Lifetime movies into Dadaist art. In this way, he has exceeded the ambitions of last year’s “A Deadly Adoption,” Will Ferrell and Kristen Wiig’s failed attempt to secretly make a Lifetime movie. The reason why “Mother” works better than “Adoption” is easy to grasp: “A Deadly Adoption” leaned way too hard in its efforts to ape the generic Lifetime thriller that the original “Mother, May I Sleep With Danger?” epitomized. Meanwhile, with this new sort of “Mother,” Franco is truly pushing the boundaries of what you might presume this network to be capable of.

Two years ago, that’d be unimaginable for this network. But if you were to anthropomorphize the modern-day Lifetime, the best metaphor would be to see it as a once-shackled woman bored by routine, but now unleashed and ready to cut loose. (Which would actually be the beginning of a pretty compelling Lifetime movie, in retrospect.)

Sure, the network still runs its standard reality fare, but it’s been making baby steps towards more compelling content since 2014’s “The Lottery” (an under-appreciated dystopian drama series). And right now, the second season of “UnREAL” is one of the summer’s best and most daring shows, across the board.

Now, one of the network’s most iconic films has now been “reinterpreted” as a lesbian vampire love story. That, honestly, is the hardest part to accept. If you strip the remake aspect of this project from your consciousness, it’s actually a pretty watchable film – as lesbian vampire movies go. “Mother” comes with solid direction from Melanie Aitkenhead and a tight script by Amber Coney. The script might be a little too tight, actually, moving awfully fast through major plot beats, but there’s an interesting twist when it comes to the casting of a theatrical production of “MacBeth”… and also, yes, there are lesbian vampires and they have a lot of sex on screen.

Even if we were to get a full and coherent explanation from James Franco about why this “Mother” remake exists, it probably wouldn’t make the actual film any better. And there’s a part of me that likes the fact that it just exists, in all its ridiculousness.

But there is one sequence which proves difficult to engage with, and perhaps it’s because it’s the most grounded of the film. When Leah tries to tell her mother that the girl she’s brought home for dinner isn’t just a friend, but her girlfriend, it leads to the sort of brutal coming-out scene that feels more in tune with 1996 than 2016. (Yes, Julie has a right to be concerned, but c’mon.)

The clear takeaway — like most things in this world that rely on an absurd sensibility in order to be truly appreciated — is that honest human emotion has no place in this sort of scenario. Especially given that, yes, the real danger Leah faces with her lover has nothing to do with the fact that Pearl is a woman — it’s that she’s a vampire. But we’ve recently been hit hard by the reminder that homosexuality on its own non-vampire terms can still be seen as threatening. It’s the hardest part of this blood-soaked story to watch.

Because that’s also when it become hard to enjoy “Mother” as a Dadaist farce, especially given the earnestness with which its leads engage both with each other and the narrative. Perhaps a film called “Mother, May I Sleep With Danger?” shouldn’t be a love story, but that’s what this is. It titillates, and it baffles, and it may be ultimately a terrible idea.

But, yeah, we told you about the lesbian vampires. So we get why you’re gonna watch.

“Mother, May I Sleep With Danger?” premieres Saturday, June 18 at 8pm on Lifetime.

Grade: B

Stay on top of the latest TV news! Sign up for our TV email newsletter here.

Related storiesReview: The 'Aquarius' Two-Hour, Commercial-Free Season 2 Premiere Blends the Best of Summer Movies & TVReview: 'UnREAL' Takes Aim at Confederate Flag ControversyReview: 'Veep' Predicts the Apocalypse With a Stunning Twist...

If first impressions last, Animal Kingdom is in trouble.

Based on a 2010 Australian movie, the now-SoCal-set TNT drama is well-acted, and the pilot (June 14, 9/8c), sharply directed by co-executive producer John Wells (The West Wing). But the moment it introduces the Codys — a family of outlaws headed by Ellen Barkin as a toughie nicknamed (no kidding) Smurf — they work overtime to make it clear that they’re not just badass, they’re bad, period. Middle son Craig (Ben Robson) and kid brother Deran (Jake Weary, A Deadly Adoption) are a–holes on the highway. They’re a–holes in the ocean.

Exclusive: MarVista Entertainment is pacting with SpectreVision on four films over two years where MarVista will finance and co-produce genre films — horror and thrillers. MarVista is the privately-held firm behind the titles Most Likely to Die, Satanic, and A Deadly Adoption starring Will Ferrell and Kristin Wiig. They are also in production on the thriller The Deep End. The two companies plan to go into production on their first project this summer. The size of the…...

Displaying a transparency that few filmmakers of his fame and / or caliber would even bother with, Steven Soderbergh has, for a couple of years, been keen on releasing lists of what he watched and read during the previous twelve months. If you’re at all interested in this sort of thing — and why not? what else are you even doing with your day? — the 2015 selection should be of strong interest, this being a time when he was fully enmeshed in the world of creating television.

He’s clearly observing the medium with a close eye, be it what’s on air or what his friends (specifically David Fincher and his stillborn projects) show him, and how that might relate to his apparent love of 48 Hours Mystery or approach to a comparatively light slate of cinematic assignments — specifically: it seems odd that the last time he watched Magic Mike Xxl, a...

While Kristen Wiig will be back in the comedy mode we know her for in "Ghostbusters" next summer, she's spending 2015 going down a variety of different cinematic avenues. She's currently in theaters now with "The Diary Of A Teenage Girl," she appeared with Will Ferrell in the Lifetime effort "A Deadly Adoption," went to TV for "The Spoils Before Dying" and "Wet Hot American Summer: First Day Of Camp," and this fall she puts on her sci-fi boots for Ridley Scott's "The Martian." And yet you might've forgotten about "Nasty Baby." Premiering at Sundance earlier this year, there hasn't been much talk about it since, but the picture is gearing up to open overseas and first trailer has landed. Co-starring Tunde Adebimpe and Alia Shawkat, the latest from Sebastian Silva (who also appears in the film) follows a gay Brooklyn couple, Freddy and his boyfriend Mo, who decide to...

Afters weeks of revealing casting scoop and small plot details, American Crime creator John Ridley has revealed the full premise for Season 2 of his anthology series.

Per our sister site Variety, Season 2 of the ABC drama will take place in Indianapolis, where a public high school student accuses several players on a private school’s championship basketball team of sexually assaulting him, then taking photos and posting them online.

RelatedAmerican Crime Adds André Benjamin in ‘Fierce’ Season 2 Role

Lili Taylor, who appeared on American Crime‘s first season, will play the mother of the victim (Falling Skies‘ Connor Jessup...

If Kristen Wiig's appearance in that Lifetime melodrama "A Deadly Adoption" is any indication, she'll be weirding us out for years to come. Fortunately, we think we can single out her weirdest moment on film so far. It's coming to Netflix in August.  "Welcome to Me" (August 6) In the short time since Kristen Wiig left "SNL" in 2012, she's starred in a host of movies. Some are quaint indies (like "The Skeleton Twins") and some were heartfelt farces ("Bridesmaids"), but "Welcome to Me" is perhaps her most provocative and strange feature. Wiig plays a woman with Borderline Personality Disorder who uses a financial windfall to pay for her own talk show. Is it her finest hour? No, but it sees her costarring with the formidable Linda Cardellini, which is a treat. "Two Days, One Night" (August 11) The surprise Best Actress nomination of 2014 that devastated the Jennifer Aniston fan community. Yes to Marion Cotillard!

Will Ferrell stepped up to the plate this spring when he joined 10 different Mlb teams for spring training in Arizona. His adventure has been captured on film, and the first official trailer for HBO's Ferrell Takes the Field now previews his baseball debut.

"When I embarked on this journey, I thought to myself, 'Could I do it?'" Ferrell reflects during a speech. The preview shows Ferrell on various fields with all of the teams he joined. With each team, he found himself taking on a different role both on and off the field.

If you squint your eyes, tilt your head and down two bottles of wine, the cast of Lifetime’s Unauthorized Melrose Place Story (Oct. 10, 8/7c) could totally pass for the ensemble of Fox’s iconic primetime soap.

RelatedPerfect High: 10 Important Lessons From Bella Thorne’s Lifetime Drama

Lifetime has released the first official cast shot from its upcoming tell-all, which aims to reveal what went down behind the scenes of Aaron Spelling’s popular drama from 1992 to 1999. Curiously, several key Melrose players are missing from the group shot, including whichever lucky actresses been given the honor of playing Kelly Rutherford and Lisa Rinna.

Will Ferrell seems to be getting even looser and limber these days as far as his comedy goes. It’s as if he’s taken the lark-ish, what-the hell approach from Funny Or Die and applied it to any riff that comes to mind. This year alone he’s made a Lifetime spoof “A Deadly Adoption,” co-starred in a Tennessee Williams-esque generations-spanning saga spoof in “The Spoils Before Dying,” and now has another joke in the can. Back in March of this year, Will Ferrell made some history; at least in the world of Major League Baseball spring training. He suited up, headed down to Arizona, and played every position on the field for ten different teams all in one day. His frequent flier miles must be off the charts (though in truth, helicopters were a big help). The day has been distilled down into “Ferrell Takes The Field...

Following their much talked about Will Ferrell/Kristen Wiig telemovie "A Deadly Adoption," cable network Lifetime has announced another high-profile telemovie project.

Lifetime is set to develop a new film adaptation of the William March novel "The Bad Seed," which has been twice adapted for the screen before, most notably in 1956 with that film scoring multiple Oscar nominations.

The story follows Kate, a successful working wife and mother confronted with one problem she can't overcome - her daughter is a relentless, vicious, cunning and lethal sociopath.

Barbara Marshall ("Exorcism Diaries") will pen the script for the new version.

Source: THR...

Lifetime’s Perfect High is not your typical ‘girl injures her leg and becomes addicted to heroin’ story. Bella Thorne‘s high-octane drama, based on real-life events, is a cautionary tale about the dangers of drugs. And dance.

RelatedA Deadly Adoption: Jessica Lowndes Says Kissing Will Ferrell and Fighting Kristen Wiig Was a ‘Dream Come True’

Thorne stars as Amanda, a high-school dancer whose life spirals into disarray when she suffers a nasty fall — hence her new nickname, “that chick who fell” — during an intense rehearsal. How far into disarray does it spiral, you ask? Our girl Mandy...

We’ve got questions, and you’ve (maybe) got answers! With another week of TV gone by, we’re lobbing queries left and right about shows including Orphan Black, True Detective, Beauty and the Beast and Rookie Blue!

1 | From a technical perspective, might Orphan Black‘s family dinner scene have been even more impressive than last season’s dance party?

RelatedOrphan Black Boss on [Spoiler]’s Fate, Clone Club’s New Threat

2 | Have you watched and fallen in love with the British rom-com Catastrophe on Amazon yet? (If not, go watch it now!) And doesn’t lead Sharon Horgan look...

Lifetime is officially giving Lizzie Borden the ax; the Christina Ricci-led drama will not return for a second season, TVLine has confirmed.

RelatedCable Renewal Scorecard 2015: What’s Coming Back? What’s Cancelled? What’s on the Bubble?

Originally billed as a limited series, The Lizzie Borden Chronicles — which starred Ricci as the real-life historical figure, acquitted of murder in 1892 — ran for eight episodes earlier this year. Chronicles was a spinoff of the Lifetime original movie Lizzie Borden Took an Ax, which centered around the titular character’s murder trial.

But don’t worry about Ricci finding her next...

Will Ferrell and Kristen Wiig's Lifetime movie A Deadly Adoption is heading across the pond to Channel 5.

The film - a knowing wink to the Us network's melodramas - will air on the channel on July 5 at 10pm.

Also starring 90210 star Jessica Lowndes, A Deadly Adoption is due to air on Lifetime in the Us later this month, and marks the 25th anniversary of Lifetime's TV movie strand.

Funny or Die and mockbuster filmmaker Rachel Lee Goldenberg has directed the film, while Ferrell - a self-confessed fan of Lifetime TV movies - is also an executive producer.

It was written by The Spoils of Babylon's Andrew Steele.

Back in April, it was reportedly that the movie had been scrapped by Ferrell and Wiig, but the rumours were dismissed after a huge billboard was unveiled on Hollywood Boulevard.

It was recently announced that Ferrell will star in Lasse Hallström's upcoming comedy Tom's Dad.