Next year’s Oscars have a surprising original song contender: Kristen Wiig

“‘Talented musician’ might be a little strong� to describe Kristen Wiig, the “Saturday Night Live� veteran demurs when complimented about her chops. So another label will have to do.

How about “Oscar-nominated musician Kristen Wiig�?

It’s now a distinct possibility: Netflix will campaign for Wiig and co-writer Sean Douglas in the original song category for the folksy comic ditty “Harper and Will Go West,� from the forthcoming documentary “Will & Harper,� the company confirmed exclusively to The Times. The film, which premiered at this year’s Sundance Film Festival, arrives on Netflix on Sept. 27 after an Oscar-qualifying theatrical run.

“Will & Harper� follows former “SNL� star Will Ferrell and his friend, longtime “SNL� writer Harper Steele, on a cross-country road trip after Steele comes out as a trans woman. Along the way, they meet trans people carving out a life in small-town America, discuss the challenges Steele faced pre- and post-transition and much more. They also park their classic Jeep Wagoneer to conscript Wiig, via FaceTime, to write a “tear-to-your-eye, fun, uptempo, jazzy with a little country� theme song for their journey.

The resulting number, filmed in Wiig’s backyard and accompanied by ukulele and saxophone, combines humor — the opening verse rhymes the song’s title with the phrase “a couple brand new breasts� — and heartfelt emotion (“A friend is a friend is a friend ... ’til the end�) in a way that reflects the film as a whole.

“It was kind of like this funny thing when they called me saying they wanted it to be all these different types of music,� laughs Wiig, who studied piano and sang in church and school choirs as a child, before taking up the ukulele in recent years. But instead of a full-on spoof, she, Douglas and the film’s director, Josh Greenbaum, decided to “steer away from something too jokey�: “We just wanted a nice song for the two of them.�

Songs with humorous elements have previously broken into the Oscars’ original song category. The film academy famously nominated the satirical, profanity-laden “Blame Canada� from “South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut� in 2000 and has more recently tapped the likes of “Husavik,� from the 2020 comedy “Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga,� and “I’m Just Ken,� from last year’s blockbuster “Barbie.� The most recent winner, also from “Barbie,� was “What Was I Made For?� by Billie Eilish and Finneas O’Connell.