Ryan Reynolds and Will Ferrell Get Expert Miming Help From Lip Sync Legend in ‘Spirited’ Promo
If you caught a glimpse of Ryan Reynolds and Will Ferrell’s promo clip for their upcoming holiday movie musical Spirited on Monday (Nov. 1) and something seemed a bit off with their voices there’s a very good reason. “I’m excited for you to see our movie musical, Spirited,” Reynolds says in a halting, foreign-sounding voice as he lounges by a roaring fire with his co-star.
“Now, we want to dispel the rumors that we didn’t do all the singing ourselves. This is 100% pure Ryan and Will here,” Ferrell explains for the doubters out there who wonder how two comedic geniuses not known for their vocal abilities were tapped to topline the Apple TV+ original film that turns the beloved Charles Dickens holiday tale A Christmas Carol on its head.
Reynolds asks for a brief break just a few second in, during which he hops on his walkie talkie to speak with someone in the recording studio. “Get your act together, your lip synching is for s–t,” the Deadpool star berates the heavily accented voice-over artist who is clearly doing all the talking for the two actors. The camera then cuts to none other than Milli Vanilli singer Fabrice Morvan, who, along with late partner Rob Pilatus is best known for the lip synching scandal that resulted in the duo being forced to return their best new artist Grammy in 1990 after it was revealed that they didn’t sing in concert or on their hit records.
“Sorry Ryan, it’s been a long time since I’ve done this,” Morvan sighs. The full trailer for the film that also stars Octavia Spencer dropped on Wednesday morning (Nov. 2); Spirited hits theaters on Nov. 11 and premieres on Apple TV+ on Nov. 18. In the re-imagining, Reynolds plays Clint Briggs, who turns the tables on the Ghost of Christmas Present (Ferrell) in a remix of the Dickens tale of hope and regret that, for the first time, tells the story from the three ghosts’ perspective.
Spirited was directed by Sean Anders (Daddy’s Home) and features original songs by Oscar-winners Benj Pasek and Justin Paul (La La Land).
Check out the Morvan bit and the full movie trailer below.
Gil Kaufman
Billboard
