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The 40th Sundance Film Festival began last week. NBC News ran a lovely article about how Sundance has showcased a breadth of pivotal pieces of queer cinema since the festival’s inception. The seminal documentaries Before Stonewall and The Times of Harvey Milk both premiered there in 1985, the latter of which is getting special screenings to mark the anniversary. Joining that legacy this year is a documentary featuring… Will Ferrell? Yes! The backstory: in 2022 Will’s fellow SNL alum and friend of 30 years Harper Steele came out as trans. Will’s response? “Let’s have people film us driving cross-country to document this transition in our friendship.” And the result is Will & Harper, which just had its world premiere at Sundance in hopes of landing a distributor. Going off of the word of mouth so far, I don’t think they’ll have a problem finding one.
Will Ferrell touched down at the Sundance Film Festival to world premiere the new documentary “Will & Harper,” which centers on the relationship between the beloved comedian and his best friend Harper Steele as they take a road trip. The two met during their days on “Saturday Night Live,” which Harper wrote for from 1995 to 2008. Harper came out as transgender in 2022.
“It was three summers ago in which Harper emailed a lot of her close friends with the headline: ‘Here’s a Weird One,’” Ferrell said at the Variety Studio presented by Audible. “She went on to explain she was going to transition and we were all of course excited to hear the news and surprised to hear the news. All of us were extremely supportive and expressed love…but that sort of opened the questions like, how can we help you? What do you need us to do?
Ferrell said he had “zero knowledge” about the trans community before Harper came out to him.
“I had met trans people, but I didn’t have anyone personally in my life,” Ferrell said. “So this was all new territory for me, which is why I think this film is so exciting for us to kind of put out there in the world. It’s a chance for all of us in the cis community to be able to ask questions and also just to listen and be there as a friend to discuss this journey.”
“It tells the story of a cis friend of a trans person who has to transition himself,” Harper added of the movie.
The official synopsis for “Will & Harper” reads: “When Will Ferrell finds out his close friend of 30 years is coming out as a trans woman, the two decide to embark on a cross-country road trip to process this new stage of their relationship in an intimate portrait of friendship, transition, and America.”
To anyone thinking (as I briefly did) “Man, Will is totally centering himself in this other woman’s story,” I’ve watched a few videos of Will and Harper talking up their film, and in many of them Will makes the joke up front about how he’s “mansplaining.” Or he goes on for a bit describing the project and how they wanted it to be a listening opportunity for the cis community, and then after a lengthy answer he turns to Harper and says, “Did I just do a good job listening there?” He’s clearly self-aware. The thing is, you can tell from their dynamic on video, less so in print, that Will is the extrovert and used to the promotion circuit, whereas Harper is more reserved, doesn’t speak as much, but when she does she lands a zinger. Usually directed at Will. I respect that. If anything it makes me now even more eager to see the movie to get to hear more from her. That may sound contradictory, but my point is that I’m all for introverts being introverts! And I hope someone shells out a lot of moolah to get this road trip in theaters/on streamers soon. Random side note: apparently Kristen Wiig wrote the end credits song.
Well but thats the point– its Wil publicizing it and “teaching” more about it so to say, Harper isnt the famous one who can get this across as much as Wil can. So its advocacy on Wil’s part even though its someon elses story.
And, Harper seems very reserved.
Yes this. I would totally watch this movie. I think especially now, when trans people are especially under attach for people to see this kind of content.
Well said TeeHee!
Kudos to Will Ferrell for filming the transition of his friendship with his best friend and showing that love is love. And Harper for being brave enough to show her face on film. This sounds lovely!
I would love to watch this documentary.
Same, Netflix or Prime need to grab this immediately.
The filmmakers knew what they were doing by making this a cross country trip across America. You can’t get much more “American” than that. They put it right in their synopsis: “…the two decide to embark on a cross-country road trip to process this new stage of their relationship in an intimate portrait of friendship, transition, and America.” It feels timely. I have been thinking about trans rights even more than usual, particularly trans kids’ rights, as the next election heats up.
I know it is centreing a cis guy into Harper’s story, but Will Ferrell is well-liked by many Americans across sociopolitical and geographic boundaries.
This interview is great, and gives a substantial hint into their friendship and dynamics: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a_Bfw5_4A1I
There is also this review in Rolling Stone: https://www.rollingstone.com/tv-movies/tv-movie-reviews/will-and-harper-review-will-ferrell-transgender-harper-steele-doc-sundance-1234947471/
There’s never going to be a perfect documentary on the subject of Trans identity and rights and the path to learning to be an effective ally, because unless you have lived an experience, you will never fully understand it…but one filled with love, genuine inquiry, vulnerability, and acceptance is a great place to start.
Thanks for sharing those links!
Their THR video was great, they have a wonderful chemistry and it’s clear they truly love one another.
My son came out as trans 2 years ago and he is so much happier and on an upward trajectory with his mental health but there are still so many hurdles to climb and stigmas to deal with (not to mention the problem with getting insurance to cover any transitional care). It is so important for trans men and women to be surrounded by loving people who want to help them through the journey and who can communicate their questions with honesty and love.
I hope that this gets a wide release or a big streaming deal and Will and Harper go on every late night talk show and day time show. Showing them together as still the best of friends, if not closer than before, will be an eye opener for people who don’t understand it and have huge biases towards transitioning.
Congratulations on your son, D🩷🩵🤍
Thank you so much! We work hard to make sure he can be in the most supportive spaces as possible because it can be brutal out there. But we found an amazing school with open-minded faculty, staff, students and parents and to them he isn’t trans, he is just himself. As it should be!
Hugs to you and your son, D.
There’s a lovely Facebook group with a cringy name (Serendipitydodah — Home of the Real Mama Bears) that offers a lot of support to LGBTQ+ families. A lot of the moms on there have trans kids and share their wisdom.
I’m not even a Will fan, but think this sounds fantastic! Yes, Will is centred because it’s less a transition story (and can only assume Harper didn’t want that) and more an appeal to a very broad audience of Will Ferrell fans about trans rights.
In this climate, (and not to be rude but with a portion of his fan base), I admire them both for making a high profile project out of this and think it’s really brave, especially of Harper, and an important perspective.
It’s nice to hear there will be something uplifting with such a high profile ally. I live in a red state and it is just horrific right now for trans people here from literally the highest people in state government on down.
My youngest is Trans, so any such media content is welcomed and consumed in my home.
Also, I next need these two friends to make a series called: Harper Steele: PI and star Laverne Cox as a gritty detective who helps folks in need of real justice! Harper’s name is just *amazing*.
This documentary is going to be helpful I’m here for it. Good on Will.
This looks really interesting to me. I would definitely watch it.
I can’t wait to see this!
Count me in!
I stopped seeing many documentaries, after loving the genre for years, but this one has me watching for a release date. ❤️
I’m so glad we got Will Farrell in the Farrell/McKay break up.
Will’s comedy might not be everyone’s cup of tea, but as a person, he has shown to be solid.
There is a legitimate concern with cis white people centering themselves in stories that should be centered around people who are not cis and/or white.
But it sounds like this particular project was created to center cis people actually learning about transgender people. Like it or not, sometimes the person doing the teaching has to come from the community that is doing the rejection.
I am a white cis woman who has been in a path of learning, growth, and doing better for a long time. So when a cis and/or white person spouts off about a race/sexuality/gender issue I am able to talk with that person from their position and knowledge base.
A Black person telling a white person “that’s racist” or “you’re racist” can create an automatic defensiveness in the white person (which is NOT the Black person’s fault). But when I say “I understand why you think that way however, let’s make sure you have the information and facts you need to make a smart decision about this” and then I gently break down the racist/homophobic concepts that were drilled into them…it helps them see, at least in a small way, how they have been taught to believe something that isn’t true (like the concept of white supremacy being natural).
Secondly, cis white people are the ones who created modern bigotry (modern meaning approx. 2024 years) so cis white people need to lead the way in fixing these problems. BIPOC and LGBTQ+ people do not owe us their time, energy, or effort and the burden needs to be removed from them on these issues.
And while many amazing organizations have been working tirelessly in all of these issues and they deserve all the credit, we need to start bracing ourselves now for the inevitable onslaught of articles about how much Will has helped influence cis white Americans into being a tiny bit less bigoted. It’s unfair that Will will receive more accolades than those organizations and more than Harper herself. But at least Will didn’t sit on the sidelines and he stepped up to try to help reach people he knew he could reach. He’s doing what he can and he’s teaching the rest of us cis white people to do what we can.
The brother-in-law of one of my closest friends came out as trans about 5 years ago. Everyone, EVERYONE (including his wife and 2 grown children) supported her throughout the process. It was one of the sweetest things I’ve ever experienced. A few old friends dropped her quietly and that’s fine. Maybe someday they’ll realize she’s still the same person, just another gender.
One of the people I most love in this world realized she was a woman as she approached 40, after many years of thinking of herself as a guy with a strong feminine side. She’s more herself than ever, happier than ever.
Best wishes to them!