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Will Ferrell and Harper Steele are sharing more about what went into (and came out of) their cross-country road trip in Will & Harper.
During a Q&A at the Telluride Film Festival following a screening of their new Josh Greenbaum-directed documentary on Saturday, Aug. 31, Ferrell, 57, and Steele, 63, who met on Saturday Night Live circa 1995, discussed the film, with Steele noting that it was not a “representation of trans women walking through the world,” but rather a film about how “friends should come together,” during “moments of change or crisis.”
“I will say just as a trans woman, I don’t think this is a representation of a trans woman walking through the world in either red states America, [or] really anywhere because they don’t have a camera, they don’t have Will Ferrell,” she said.
Steele continued, “We were very aware of that. I do think that the film is more about how friends should come together in moments of any, not just trans stuff, but any moments of change or crisis. And I think that [the film] does it beautifully.”
Ferrell also acknowledged his role in the documentary, playfully noting that on the trip, “Harper would constantly remind me that I’m a B level, I’ve fallen off of A, I’m struggling to stay a B level actor possibly dipping my toe to the C level. We don’t know yet. It remains to be seen.”
“But once that kind of melted away, everyone was asking, what are you guys doing? And then we got into the subject matter and we got into real discussion,” he continued.
Courtesy of Sundance Institute.
The two also shared their reactions to watching the documentary with Harper saying she doesn’t “love watching it, especially when we get to the end … [it’s] not easy.”
Ferrell added that he didn’t want to “disregard” Harper’s response but shared that he, “love[d] watching it. I cry every single time. I have my Kleenex right here.”
He continued that the documentary is “one of my favorite things I’ve ever gotten to be a part of and it’s so fun to watch with an audience.
Reads an official synopsis of the film, which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in January and is streaming on Netflix next month, “When Will Ferrell’s good friend Harper comes out as a trans woman, they take a road trip to bond and reintroduce Harper to the country as her true self.”
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Elsewhere in the Q&A, the two discussed what they had learned about one another while making the documentary.
“I mean, we joke about it in the movie of how cheap Harper is, but it’s really true. She’s so cheap. So I learned that,” Ferrell joked.
“But I also learned she’s just so incredibly articulate and one of the smartest people I really know in terms of these long in-depth conversations we would have. And I felt like I was in class every day in a great way, learning about the trans experience, learning the vernacular, learning everything. And she’s just one of the smartest people I know,” he continued.
For her part, Steele said, “My appreciation for who he is,” adding that Ferrell is a “brand” and noting the “controversy around Bud Light, [when] they gave a beer can to a trans woman.”
She continued, “He did say, ‘I want to take on a trans thing.’ This is a brand that will get hurt by it. There will be a lot of people that’ll go — you’ll see it on Twitter as soon as this is out — you’ll see, ‘I’m never watching a Will Ferrell movie again.’ ”
“…you’ll see that and people will get nervous. There’s a great risk for me, I would get the usual online love or not love, but [Ferrell] will also get that and I think that needs to be pointed out,” Steele said.
Dia Dipasupil/Getty
Ferrell and Steele first met on SNL about 30 years ago, when he was hired on as a cast member and she as a writer, when she was still known by her birth name, Andrew Steele. Both would go on to have years-long stints on the iconic sketch-comedy show.
In a release about Will & Harper, shared by Netflix in February, filmmakers said, “We are thrilled about how audiences received the movie with open arms at Sundance.”
“It’s a movie about the power of friendship and acceptance — that we hope can help shift the culture,” they added.
Will & Harper is streaming Sept. 27 on Netflix.
The 51st Telluride Film Festival runs through Monday, Sept. 2.
