‘Will & Harper’ Trailer: Will Ferrell’s Best Friend Came Out as Transgender, So They Took a Road Trip to Rediscover Each Other
Netflix has unveiled the trailer for Will Ferrell’s roadtrip documentary “Will & Harper,” which premiered at the 2024 Sundance Film Festival. The streaming giant acquired distribution rights to the film in February.
The official synopsis for “Will & Harper” from Netflix reads: “Two years ago, Will Ferrell was filming a movie when he received a most surprising email: His dear friend of nearly 30 years was coming out to him as a trans woman. That friend was Harper Steele, a writer Will met on his first day at ‘Saturday Night Live’ back in 1995. From that fateful first meeting in the halls of 30 Rock, Will knew he had found a match made in comedy, and their friendship and creative partnership would only continue to grow over the next 3 decades. In this intimate, honest, and heartfelt documentary, Will and Harper hit the open road together to process this new stage of their friendship and reintroduce Harper to the country that she loves – this time, as herself. Over 16 days, the two drive from New York to LA, visiting stops that are meaningful to them, to their friendship, and to America. Through laughter, tears, and many cans of Pringles, they push past their comfort zones as they re-examine their relationships to these spaces, and to each other, in this new light.”
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Steele wrote some of Ferrell’s most iconic “SNL” characters during their seven-year run together. The two have remained close friends since and most recently collaborated on their 2020 comedy film “Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga.”
The film was directed by Josh Greenbaum (“Strays,” “Barb and Star Go to Vista Del Mar”). Variety film critic Peter Debruge wrote in his rave review of the movie that Greenbaum “eschews fly-on-the-wall vérité in favor of the more manipulated, multi-camera approach associated with reality TV.”
“We are thrilled about how audiences received the movie with open arms at Sundance,” the filmmakers told Netflix in a statement. “It’s a movie about the power of friendship and acceptance — that we hope can help shift the culture.”
“Will & Harper” will play at the Toronto International Film Festival on Sept. 5. The film will be released in select theaters Sept. 13 and stream on Netflix starting Sept. 27.
Watch the trailer below.
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