Will Ferrell Says Trans Community’s Support of ‘Will & Harper’ Has “Blown Us Away”
When longtime friends Will Ferrell and Harper Steele — a former head writer at Saturday Night Live who came out as a trans woman in 2021 — decided to film their cross-country road trip documentary Will & Harper, it came after several months of discussing whether to open up their personal lives on camera.
“The ultimate selling point, I don’t want to sound like a politician or altruistic, but there were a lot of trans bills, a lot of legislation being introduced, legislation across every state, across the country and it’s still looking a little restrictive and maybe a little dire for trans people,” Steele told The Hollywood Reporter at the film’s L.A. premiere on Thursday. “I don’t know if this movie is going to change hearts and minds, but you have to try to do something with your life and we felt like this might be useful.”
More from The Hollywood Reporter
The pair have been friends for 30 years after starting at SNL in the same week, and three years ago Steele wrote an email to Ferrell saying that she was transitioning to live as a woman. She had been road tripping the country for most of her adult life, so the friends decided to take a 16-day trip from New York to L.A. together to process this new stage of their friendship.
“Harper loves to do these cross-country road trips, she’s done hundreds of them, and since she had transitioned she hadn’t done any,” director Josh Greenbaum explained. “Will realized that and she was kind of lamenting the fact that she wasn’t sure if she felt safe, so the idea really started there because Will said, ‘Why don’t I fly to New York and I’ll be by your side for your first cross-country road trip as Harper.'”
Will Ferrell and Harper Steele arrive at the premiere of their Netflix doc “Will & Harper” pic.twitter.com/xULN9ilhq1
— The Hollywood Reporter (@THR) September 20, 2024
The doc has made stops at Sundance, Telluride and TIFF over the course of this year, picking up lots of acclaim along the way. The reaction from the trans community in particular, Ferrell said, has “blown us away. We’re a little overwhelmed. In our hearts we’re self-loathing comedians, so to have this thing actually work on so many levels and be so funny and have people that we love and like and respect like it so much, it’s been incredible.”
As for its possible impact on the comedy community, which has not always been the most accepting of trans people, Steele noted, “You can’t control the comedy community … it’s always going to be a free for all and it’s always going to battle itself out, it has from the very beginning.” Greenbaum added, “Comedy is a reflection of culture, and culture changes. So it may take a minute for comedy to catch up, but it will.”
Releasing at this time politically, Greenbaum also emphasized that he hopes the film takes trans issues “out of the political conversation in a lot of ways because it’s such a human story; it’s a personal story of two friends and I think part of the issue is so many people don’t know trans people. They say 70 percent or something don’t know a trans person, so what they get information-wise comes from politicians or the media. Instead of letting those outlets control the story and the narrative, let’s let ourselves tell these stories.”
He continued, “If you don’t know a trans person and you watch this film, now you’ll know Harper and she’s the best.”
Will & Harper starts streaming on Netflix on Sept. 27.
Best of The Hollywood Reporter
Sign up for THR's Newsletter. For the latest news, follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.