The streets of Boston have recently been all dressed up in Christmas cheer, but not because consumerism has gone wild even earlier than usual. It’s because the Apple TV+ holiday musical comedy Spirited is in production there. Stars Ryan Reynolds and Will Ferrell harmonized rather nicely their entry in the TikTok “Grace Kelly challenge” while on set.
Late to the Grace Kelly Tik Tok trend but WAY early for our Christmas movie musical. ➡️ @mikasounds pic.twitter.com/QdpfMv7QJw
— Ryan Reynolds (@VancityReynolds) September 14, 2021
The film is yet another rendition of Charles Dickens’ classic novella, A Christmas Carol. As you may well know, it’s the story of a miserly old misanthrope named Ebeneezer Scrooge. He comes to see the holiday in a new light and vows to be kindly and generous to all. But only after a wild night of spirit-guided visions of the past, present and future.
What’s the difference this time? Spirited will not only be a comedy version of the Dickens classic, like Scrooged, but a musical, like A Christmas Carol: The Musical. But way funnier, hopefully.
A new Christmas comedy (musical) classic?
And with comedic actors like Reynolds (Dead Pool, Free Guy) and Ferrell (Step Brothers, Talladega Nights) in starring roles, Spirited might actually be funny. After all, Ferrell brings all that North Pole experience from the Christmas movie Elf — something of a modern classic.
Reynolds had some fun with Twitter during the film’s first day of shooting in July. In the tweet below he makes an Apple product-placement joke (can you spot the AirPods?).
Day 1 shooting with one of my comedy idols, Will Ferrell. You'd barely notice this was an @Apple movie!
Also iOS 14.6 will begin installing in 7 seconds… pic.twitter.com/m4WNeIgGq4
— Ryan Reynolds (@VancityReynolds) July 6, 2021
Spirited: Other cast and credits
The film’s other cast members reportedly include Octavia Spencer (Truth Be Told on Apple TV+), Sunita Mani (Mr. Robot) and Patrick Page (Dr. Seuss’ How the Grinch Stole Christmas! The Musical). Spencer recently got an Emmy nomination for her work in the Netflix limited series Self Made.
Sean Anders and John Morris are writing and directing the film, which is being distributed by Apple TV+. The streaming service reportedly topped Paramount and Warner Bros. for the film rights. Collider reported the film’s budget for acting talent is above $75 million.
Apple TV+ has not yet announced a release date for Spirited.
