Category: Will Ferrell

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John Oliver & Will Ferrell reveal new song to use for naturalization ceremonies

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He did it again! Our favorite chaos gremlin who likes to meddle in foreign bird competitions, fire sale restaurant equipment, and ethically-challenged Supreme Court justices, just delivered with another one of his zany and elaborate interventions into unsuspecting institutions. But I’m getting ahead of myself. John Oliver spent the latest episode of Last Week Tonight focusing on immigration. This discussion took a detour with a brief history of Lee Greenwood’s song “God Bless the USA,” the 80s anthem that’s balls-to-the-walls patriotism (if a little light on artistry). The song has been played for years during naturalization ceremonies for newly-minted US citizens — including at Oliver’s ceremony five years ago. When Greenwood learned the government was playing his song regularly, he demanded payment and worked out a deal where he gets $700 a year. Enter Oliver, who is now offering to pay the government $701 a year to use a new song he commissioned and made a full-production music video for, starring none other than a cowboy-costumed Will Ferrell. You’re welcome, America!

To close out his show on Sunday night, Oliver reflected on his own immigration process to the U.S., which indeed ended with a music video for Greenwood’s song. The presence of it got Oliver curious, so he dug into the details of how it came to be a piece of the ceremony.

As it turns out, the government began using it on their own, and when Greenwood found out, his team forced the USCIS into a settlement deal that now sees the singer get $700 a year for use of the song. Naturally, Oliver mocked the move, and most of Greenwood’s attempts to monetize, well, everything, including attempting to trademark the phrase “God Bless the USA.”

Oliver was particularly amused by Greenwood releasing a version of the song for Canada, in which he didn’t really change any lyrics of the song beyond the ones that referenced America.

“All of this is to say, for multiple reasons, I’d argue Lee Greenwood’s song should never again be played at citizenship ceremonies, because they deserve one genuinely unique to this country,” Oliver said.

“A song that celebrates the nation new Americans are about to join, and the process that they’ve been through, while also not soft-pedaling some hard truths about it.”

The good news is, Oliver had a song at the ready, and promised not to charge $700 for it — in fact, he offered to pay the government $701 to replace Greenwood’s song with it. And Will Ferrell lent his voice to it.

“You studied hard,” Ferrell sings. “You did your best. Filled out the forms, and passed the test. Now you’re part of a land that’s so God blessed, and starting today, you’re American.”

As the song continues, Ferrell sings of corn dogs and apple pie, but also of the country’s “real big problems,” like televangelists, fossil fuels “and Ted f–kin’ Cruz.”

[From The Wrap]

Bravo to whomever Oliver tapped to write this song! It namechecks everything from Big Gulp to Chuck E. Cheese to L.L. Bean to Scientology. It’s honest, but still celebratory! And after Oliver thoroughly exposes Greenwood as one of those right-wingers with a fuzzy understanding of separation of church and state (who’s also peddled in bible-selling, sound familiar?), you’ll be voting to have “God Bless the USA” replaced too. Plus, Greenwood had the nerve to deride “Purple Rain” and “Margaritaville” as inferior to his work. Anyway, thank you John Oliver, for giving us another gem that will likely earn you another Emmy. I sincerely hope our government takes you up on this fine offer.

As for Will Ferrell, it was a big surprise and treat to see him pop up! I watched his new documentary, Will & Harper, on Netflix a few weeks ago and really enjoyed it. He and his good friend Harper Steele take a road trip after her transition, and Will very kindly asks her about, well, her whole life experience. (Sidenote: Harper attended the Academy Museum Gala recently and looked stunning, still with a quirky flair I adore.) I don’t want to spoil anything, but the gesture Will makes at the end was so touching. Both Will and Harper have commented on how it was important to them that the documentary be released before the election, and I see this music video appearance as an extension of Will wanting to show up more for his friend, politically speaking. In that vein, he also just did a fabulous stint on Billy on the Street with Billy Eichner, where they represented “Loud White Men for Kamala!” and it was hilarious. In that pairing, Will was actually the quieter one!

John Oliver is sick of Lee Greenwood’s “God Bless the U.S.A.” being played at U.S. naturalization ceremonies, so he created an alternative—with help from Will Ferrell. pic.twitter.com/UnW7hFBVoS

— LateNighter (@latenightercom) October 28, 2024

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Photos via Instagram/Last Week Tonight and credit Getty

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Will Ferrell has a new documentary with his best friend who came out as trans

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The 40th Sundance Film Festival began last week. NBC News ran a lovely article about how Sundance has showcased a breadth of pivotal pieces of queer cinema since the festival’s inception. The seminal documentaries Before Stonewall and The Times of Harvey Milk both premiered there in 1985, the latter of which is getting special screenings to mark the anniversary. Joining that legacy this year is a documentary featuring… Will Ferrell? Yes! The backstory: in 2022 Will’s fellow SNL alum and friend of 30 years Harper Steele came out as trans. Will’s response? “Let’s have people film us driving cross-country to document this transition in our friendship.” And the result is Will & Harper, which just had its world premiere at Sundance in hopes of landing a distributor. Going off of the word of mouth so far, I don’t think they’ll have a problem finding one.

Will Ferrell touched down at the Sundance Film Festival to world premiere the new documentary “Will & Harper,” which centers on the relationship between the beloved comedian and his best friend Harper Steele as they take a road trip. The two met during their days on “Saturday Night Live,” which Harper wrote for from 1995 to 2008. Harper came out as transgender in 2022.

“It was three summers ago in which Harper emailed a lot of her close friends with the headline: ‘Here’s a Weird One,’” Ferrell said at the Variety Studio presented by Audible. “She went on to explain she was going to transition and we were all of course excited to hear the news and surprised to hear the news. All of us were extremely supportive and expressed love…but that sort of opened the questions like, how can we help you? What do you need us to do?

Ferrell said he had “zero knowledge” about the trans community before Harper came out to him.

“I had met trans people, but I didn’t have anyone personally in my life,” Ferrell said. “So this was all new territory for me, which is why I think this film is so exciting for us to kind of put out there in the world. It’s a chance for all of us in the cis community to be able to ask questions and also just to listen and be there as a friend to discuss this journey.”

“It tells the story of a cis friend of a trans person who has to transition himself,” Harper added of the movie.

The official synopsis for “Will & Harper” reads: “When Will Ferrell finds out his close friend of 30 years is coming out as a trans woman, the two decide to embark on a cross-country road trip to process this new stage of their relationship in an intimate portrait of friendship, transition, and America.”

[From NBC News]

To anyone thinking (as I briefly did) “Man, Will is totally centering himself in this other woman’s story,” I’ve watched a few videos of Will and Harper talking up their film, and in many of them Will makes the joke up front about how he’s “mansplaining.” Or he goes on for a bit describing the project and how they wanted it to be a listening opportunity for the cis community, and then after a lengthy answer he turns to Harper and says, “Did I just do a good job listening there?” He’s clearly self-aware. The thing is, you can tell from their dynamic on video, less so in print, that Will is the extrovert and used to the promotion circuit, whereas Harper is more reserved, doesn’t speak as much, but when she does she lands a zinger. Usually directed at Will. I respect that. If anything it makes me now even more eager to see the movie to get to hear more from her. That may sound contradictory, but my point is that I’m all for introverts being introverts! And I hope someone shells out a lot of moolah to get this road trip in theaters/on streamers soon. Random side note: apparently Kristen Wiig wrote the end credits song.

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Tom Hiddleston: ‘I’m here to tell you that my butt is not dangerous’

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I still find Tom Hiddleston’s W Magazine editorial to be the funniest thing of the week. Now that I’ve had more time to process it, it’s actually even funnier to me. The thing is, I don’t doubt that Tom can be a sexy guy. But Tom needs the right conditions, and the right conditions don’t involve a brightly lit room, white boxer shorts and Zoolander poses. The editorial still seems like a satire of what a “sexy” dude photoshoot should be. Imagine Mike Meyers or Will Ferrell doing the same editorial and it would be JUST AS FUNNY.

There’s been a lot of breast-beating amongst the true-blue Dragonflies and Hiddlestoners that W Magazine did Tom wrong, that this editorial was supposed to be part of a larger profile of up-and-coming TV stars or Emmy hopefuls, maybe. Perhaps that’s the case. But that still doesn’t explain why in God’s name Tom agreed to the photoshoot. Someone needs to be fired! The editorial is the visual equivalent of Tom’s trying-too-hard Graham Norton interview. And besides that, my guess is that someone on Tom’s team had to give the go-ahead to W Mag to run this piece as an “Introduction to Taylor Swift’s Boyfriend!” article. And if that’s the case, someone should be fired.

I didn’t get around to discussing this new quote from the W piece either – Tom was asked about how AMC edited out his naked butt from the American airing of The Night Manager. Tom says:

“I was surprised to hear that they cut my butt out. I’m here to tell you that my butt is not dangerous. And there are many, many more dangerous things that people are happy to broadcast. I don’t know what that says about the world we live in, but it probably says something.”

[From W Magazine]

I watched TNM as it aired on AMC and let me tell you, I felt that edit in my soul. It’s not that I was that hungry for Hiddlesbum, it’s that the edit made it seem like Jonathan Pine and Jed’s lovemaking lasted about 30 seconds, if that.

Meanwhile, I have to say, I’ve been avoiding a lot of the “think pieces” on TIDDLES, because I do this for a living and it pains me a little bit when people write about Hiddleston or Taylor Swift without understanding their individual histories. If you’ve followed Taylor’s romantic history, nothing about TIDDLES is a surprise at all. If you’ve followed Tom’s romantic history, everything about TIDDLES is a surprise. Which brings me to this “think piece” at the NY Post – “Taylor Swift Is Dating Like A Dude.” The main argument is that Taylor: A) doesn’t apologize, B) is not afraid to air her dirty laundry and trash-talk exes, C) rolls with an entourage, and D) rebounds quickly. While I agree that Taylor is feeling herself these days, when I think of “women who date like dudes,” I think of women like Kate Hudson or even (dare I say) Gwyneth Paltrow. They own their sh-t. And most importantly, they don’t play the victim. We’re about one month away from Taylor crying to Vanity Fair that she’s being “slut shamed” because she staged photos of her romantic rendezvous with Hiddles.

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Rachel Weisz, US citizen, supports Bernie Sanders & wants higher taxes

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I love Rachel Weisz. I know some of you think she’s meh, but I really enjoy her. She’s sassy, funny and interesting, and she’s getting Daniel Craig’s business on the reg. What’s not to love? Rachel covers the new issue of More Magazine and the Englishwoman ends up chatting about American politics. Um, is she an American citizen now? Oooh, I just looked it up – SHE IS!! She talked about it back in 2012, saying: “I did it because I thought I would go back to England for a while and lose my green card. I’m not going back now but being a citizen means I can vote here which is exciting, not just being an outsider. When I come back into the country now and they stamp my passport they say ‘Welcome home, Ma’am.’ I think that’s a lovely formality. No one in England would say that, would they?” That answer is so much better than Emily Blunt’s shenanigans.

Anyway, I did know that Rachel and Daniel have a place in New York (I think they have a Manhattan apartment as well as a country home), which means Rachel is a New York voter. And she’s going to vote for Bernie Sanders! Well, well. Some highlights from More:

On how roles for women in Hollywood differ from roles for men: “Men get the more complex roles. Things have become too glossy for women. We have to be ‘likable,’ which is not very likable at all. It’s hard to like someone who’s just sweet. You want a real person, one who irritates you and mystifies you and frustrates you and makes you cry. You want everything from a character. Not to just stand there and look nice. Likability is code for ‘Shut up and look good.’”

Keeping her marriage private: “He’s just too famous. It would be a betrayal. You have to protect your marriage. When you’re young, you tell your girlfriends everything. One of the great pleasures of not being an adolescent is that you don’t have to share everything. When you’re married, that door closes. The audience goes, and you’re in your own life.”

On her support for Bernie Sanders: “As far as I can tell, Sanders is the only person talking about the poverty divide. And saying mums should have 12 weeks’ maternity leave to bond with their children. I come from Europe—I believe we should pay more taxes and have the state look after those who fall through the net. Isn’t that what Jesus would do?”

On how she feels about this time in her life: “Well, everybody’s aging, and we’re all going to die. Getting older, there’s a reality about mortality, but it’s hard to be young, too. It’s hard to not know who you are. My twenties were painful at times. Now I have wisdom and experience—I know what interests me in a way I didn’t before. I’m much more focused on what matters to me. I waste less time. There’s a huge relief in that.”

On her advice for aging gracefully: “I once did an interview with a friend, and she said, ‘Don’t you think Botox should be banned, like steroids for athletes?’ I said, ‘Yeah, yeah!’ And that became this quote of mine, when in fact I think people should do whatever they like, whatever gets them through the day.”

 

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Kanye West: ‘Sweatshirts are f-king important, mark my words like Mark Twain’

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I deserve some kind of award for getting all the way through Kanye West’s Vanity Fair interview. Seriously, you can read the full piece here, but I don’t recommend it. I read it so you don’t have to. Vanity Fair sat down with Kanye to discuss The Yeezy Collection Season 2 (which was poorly received), and Kanye did spend most of the interview chatting about clothes and all of that, very little of which was particularly noteworthy. Nothing in this piece is really Classic Kanye Rant ™ style, but there are some moments of Classic Yeezington. Some highlights:

Priorities: “It’s family first. And then when I work on music, I’ll sequester myself and work on it with a team of three, four, or five really focused experts for two weeks at a time. And then with apparel, the office is right across from my house, so I go to the office every day.

The most beautiful version: “I think people just wear yoga pants and sweatshirts, and I wanted to make the most beautiful version of that possible.”

How the fashion world sees him: “I think the entire fashion world at a certain point sort of looks at me and looks at my family as a child of theirs. Maybe not someone that completely grew up with them, but like an adopted child that came in, like a 17-year-old adoptee, you know? But still nonetheless like an adopted child. And I think it’s just interesting for them to see growth, and they can completely tell the difference in the way things were presented in the very first Paris collections to what we’re saying now.”

Design, Kanye 2020 & Ben Carson: “I think that the world can be helped through design. Because we don’t just sit up there and read the f–king [look] board. We look at it and we ask hours and hours and hours of questions, and the better people that you have in the room and the more information you have, the better opportunity you have of making a great decision and of creating a great proposal that people will connect to. I want everyone to win. When I run for president, I’d prefer not to run against someone. I would be like “I want to work with you.” As soon as I heard [Ben] Carson speak, I tried for three weeks to get on the phone with him. I was like this is the most brilliant guy. And I think all the people running right now have something that each of the others needs. But the idea of this separation and this gladiator battle takes away from the main focus that the world needs help and the world needs all the people in a position of power or influence to come together.

No, seriously, he’s truly considering the presidential run: “Oh, definitely. Especially from the six years of this misconception or the six years I went through of “We don’t like Kanye.” And then as soon as I said that, it was like, “Wait a second, we would really be into that, because actually if you think about it, he’s extremely thoughtful. Every time he’s ever gotten in trouble, he was really jumping in front of a bullet for someone else. He’s probably the most honest celebrity that we have.” I didn’t approach that because I thought it would be fun. It wasn’t like, Oh, let’s go rent some jet skis in Hawaii. No, the exact opposite. I sit in clubs and I’m like, Wow, I’ve got five years before I go and run for office and I’ve got a lot of research to do, I’ve got a lot of growing up to do. My dad has two masters degrees. My mom has a PhD, she used to work at Operation PUSH. Somehow the more and more creative I get, the closer and closer I get to who I was as a child. When I was a child, I was holding my mom’s hand at Operation PUSH. I think it’s time. Rap is great. It’s fun. It’s fun to be a rock star, and I’ll never not be one I guess, but there’ll be a point where I become my mother’s child. With all the things I’ve done that people would consider to be accomplishments, what’s the point where I become the person that Donda and Raymond West raised? My parents’ child.

He loves sweatshirts: “I was so happy to just show so many sweatshirts. It’s as simple as that. I think sweatshirts are the way of the future. And we worked so hard on our development of our actual sweatshirts to make them fall a certain way, the dyeing that we do, the type of washing where we take a thicker Japanese stretch French terry and wash it down to where it keeps its original qualities but then feels so thin. . . . Sweatshirts are f–king important. That might sound like the funniest quote ever. How can you say all this stuff about running for president in 2020 and then say sweatshirts are important? But they are. Just mark my words. Mark my words like Mark Twain.

He apologizes to the other NYFW designers: “I totally apologize to any of those designers and anyone that wanted that slot. I would love to send them some flowers or maybe wear a sweatshirt if that could help to make up for it. A lot of times I feel like Will Ferrell in the movie Elf. You know this big guy that wants to [join in] and his hands are a little bit too big. . . . I could just say please forgive me if I ever step on any toes, because there’s nothing that I would ever want to do or say that would take away from any designer, that would take away from anyone’s work or what they’re working so hard on.”

[From Vanity Fair]

I wish I could fit more of Kanye’s words in this post. He talks a lot about the genius of The Gap, and his admiration for so many designers. Kanye considers so many of those men his peers and inspirations, and I do wonder what they think of him. Anyway, just let the Yeezy wash over you. Sweatshirts are important. Ben Carson is a genius who would not take Kanye’s calls. When he runs for president, no one can run against him. Bless.

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Lea Michele Quizzed About Sex with Matthew Morrison

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–Lea Michele dodged a question about what Matthew Morrison is like in bed, saving us all from untold amounts of therapy.

–Miley Cyrus reportedly misses Liam Hemsworth and wants to get back together. Why?!

-The Kimye wedding may be happening right now. It’s probably best to avoid Twitter for the next 72 hours or so.

-Here’s the trailer for Jennifer Aniston’s Life of Crime, which was well-received last TIFF.

–Robert Pattinson needs a hug: “I’m kind of like, way too sensitive to criticism; I’ve got enough criticism on one front.”

-Meanwhile, critics are raving about Kristen Stewart‘s performance in Clouds of Sils Maria, saying it will fundamentally change your perception of her. I just wish she wore a different outfit to the Cannes premiere.

-I can barely believe it, but this teaser makes it seem like The Comeback is really, truly returning to HBO. Got it?

–Taylor Swift wears shoes that help her pretend she’s a different person. That’s a lot of pressure to put on a pair of oxfords.

-Fanboys everywhere are freaking out about the news that Edgar Wright has dropped out of Marvel’s Ant-Man due to “differences of vision.”  What was the point of hiring him if they didn’t want an Edgar Wright-y movie?

-What happens when Lance Armstrong plays Cards Against Humanity? Things get awkward, that’s what. Celebrities: they’re just like us!

-Here is Red Hot Chili Peppers’ Chad Smith and Will Ferrell‘s hilarious drum-off on The Tonight Show. Needs more cowbell.

-Following reports of a “touchy-feely” dinner, Meryl Davis and Maks Chmerkovskiy were asked point blank if they’re sleeping together.

-A new book on underground poker calls Tobey Maguire “the best player and the worst tipper.”

–Katharine McPhee has filed for divorce from Nick Cokas 7 months after her cheating scandal.

–Twitter users have responded to being featured in Jimmy Kimmel’s “Celebrities Read Mean Tweets About Them.”

-Information about the new characters that will be featured on next season’s Game of Thrones has leaked.

-Speaking of GoT, someone gave Brienne and Podrick the Perfect Strangers theme treatment and it’s amazing.

–Hugh Jackman says he hated having to diet while shooting X-Men in Montreal because of all the delicious food.

–Rachel Bilson bared her baby bump in a bikini while vacationing with Hayden Christensen in Barbados.

-This is depressing: Jack White says he “almost never” sees Meg.

-Much less depressing: Netflix in talks for Wet Hot American Summer TV series.

–John Travolta and Kelly Preston helped facilitate a red carpet proposal at Cannes.

-A new teaser for The Leftovers has arrived. I’m super intrigued by this show.

-Speaking of TV, here are the five toughest timeslot battles in the new fall season.

-Here’s a new trailer for Red Band Society, one of the most buzzed about new series for fall. Is that Ricky from My So-Called Life?! YES!!!!

The post Lea Michele Quizzed About Sex with Matthew Morrison appeared first on Scandal Sheet.

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Don’t Ask Ryan Gosling To Sign Anything That Isn’t A Photo

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Ryan Gosling is everyone’s favorite sweet lil dreamboat, so this tabloid story about his bad behavior had me laughing. It just sounds so silly. Basically, if you ask Ryan Gosling to sign a piece of paper — or anything but a photo of him — he’ll throw a tantrum and won’t do it. (Reminds me of that Mila Kunis story.) Here’s the goss from the Inquirer:

… RYAN GOSLING was about to board a flight at JFK when a professional autograph collector ran up, shoved sheets of white paper at him and asked for autographs.

Said Ryan: “What are these? I don’t sign pieces of paper. I sign my autograph on photos! Where are your photos?”

Whined the signature hound: “How did I know you’d be here? I was waiting for other celebs flying today. But tell you what – I’ll download and attach your photos after you sign these.”

Snapped Ryan: “I can’t just sign my name on a white piece of paper!”

Stammered the autograph hound: “But what’s the difference?”

Said Ryan: “The difference is…I’m leaving. BYE!”

They describe him like he’s Zoolander (“What is this? A center for ANTS?!”). I’m not saying that Mr. Gosling isn’t capable of diva behavior, I’m just saying I doubt he sounds like a Ben Stiller or Will Ferrell character. But who knows? Hey, how about someone try this again with him and report back?

Happy New Year!

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