Entertainment Weekly
How impromptu brunch karaoke led to Bette Midler and Sheryl Lee Ralph singing in The Fabulous Four
By Lauren Huff
July 26, 2024
“What have we done?”
These were the thoughts running through Bette Midler‘s mind, she says, when she realized a previously uncalled-for song and dance number was being added to The Fabulous Four (out now in theaters). It was technically costar Sheryl Lee Ralph’s fault, she says.
Midler recalls being at a brunch with the film’s director, Jocelyn Moorhouse, producer Richard Barton Lewis, and Ralph, and talking about the “sun and skies and sand and the beach and the glory of Key West” — where the film is set — when Ralph suddenly started singing Jimmy Cliff’s “I Can See Clearly Now.”
“I chimed in — I did the third above — and the producer literally jumped out of his chair,” Midler recalls. “He jumped up, and he said, ‘That’s it! We’re going to do that. That’s our end credit song.’ And Sheryl and I went, ‘Oh my God.’ We didn’t know. We thought, what have we done? I mean, it was only a six-week shoot. So how many more days did we just add to this movie?”
“It is all true,” Ralph confirms with a laugh. “To me, it was very interesting. It just shows you that sometimes, making movies and great entertainment can be so inspired by a moment. I mean, we had a script, and who had any idea that I’d be sitting there at a hotel table with Bette Midler singing, and somebody would say, ‘That’s going in a movie.’ And there it is in the film — we’re singing and dancing in a movie to ‘I Can See Clearly Now.'”
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The raunch-com follows a group of lifelong friends (played by Susan Sarandon, Megan Mullally, and Ralph) who travel to Key West, Fla., to be bridesmaids in the surprise wedding of their best college girlfriend, Marilyn (Midler). Over the course of the outrageous trip, sisterhoods are rekindled, the past resurfaces, and there are enough sparks, raunch, and romance to change all their lives in unexpected ways.
Edibles are had, sex toys are thrown, and there are enough wild moments to make The Hangover boys blush. Ever the consummate professional, Midler was down for “all of it,” she says. “I was really looking forward to all of it. I thought, wow, this is something. This is interesting that these are characters of a certain age involved in these sorts of things and sort of not exactly reliving their youth — but hanging on,” she says.
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Despite all of the bonkers onscreen antics, though, Ralph says the wildest behind-the-scenes moment was filming the dance to “I Can See Clearly Now.” “Everybody learning that dance number? Oh my God, that was truly like herding cats,” Ralph says. “I was like, oh my goodness, the takes, the takes, the takes.”
The movie may be set in Florida, but it was filmed in Savannah, Ga., which added an unfortunate complication to the dance scene. “The bugs in Savannah. Oh my goodness,” Ralph says. “There are even more ghosts in Savannah, the haunted city that it is, but it’s beautiful and has great food. Savannah was great, but it was the dance number. I was like, oh my goodness gracious. It was very funny. Very funny.”
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Bug complications aside, it was nothing but love between the ladies on set. “I do have to say, just as a sidebar, how gifted all these women are,” Midler says. “Susan Sarandon is absolutely brilliant in this picture, and Megan Mullally is also brilliant. And of course, Sheryl Lee Ralph, whose work I’ve known for many, many years, fantastic work, really fantastic work. I can’t say enough about them. I’m really, really proud of it.”
For her part, Ralph says it’s an experience she won’t forget: “To be able to grow a relationship with Bette was great. I really enjoyed it, and I treasure it.”
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The importance of female friendships such as these is, in a roundabout way, what the film is all about, says Ralph. “Don’t throw away your friendships. Reevaluate your relationships. And between women, sisterhood is very important. The need to be together, especially in times like this, to have conversations together, to think together, to be together, in a time when it is important for women to come together and fight for their rights as women — value your friendships and relationships.”
The Fabulous Four, also starring Bruce Greenwood and Timothy V. Murphy, is now playing in theaters.
