In the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic, former Saturday Night Live writer Harper Steele reached out to her old friend and former SNL cast member Will Ferrell to tell him of her decision to live as a woman. The two decided to embark on a road trip adventure together to better understand themselves and its all documented in the Netflix documentary film “Will & Harper.”
‘Will & Harper’ had its world premiere at this year’s 40th Sundance Film Festival and will also screen at the 2024 Toronto International Film Festival.
Release Date
Directed by Josh Greenbaum, ‘Will & Harper’ opens in select US theaters and on Netflix on September 27, 2024.
Synopsis
When Will Ferrell’s good friend of 30 years, Harper Steele, comes out as a trans woman, the pair embark on a road trip to process this new stage in their friendship and reintroduce Steele to the country she loves as her authentic self.
“When Will and Harper talked to me about directing this documentary, I knew it was a story that needed to be told, and I was so excited to go on this special journey with a group of close friends both on-screen and behind the camera.” Said director Josh Greenbaum on the documentary.
“Being on camera as yourself for 16 hours a day or however long we did it, I knew that was going to be new,” Ferell said. “What if we run out of things to talk about? We’re in that car a long time.”
“I could almost pinpoint the moment where I’m like, ‘Will sees me the way I want him to see me now,’ ” Steele said. “It was a wonderful experience to see someone not struggling with accepting me, but working to understand how I wanted him to understand it.”
Reviews
Peter Debruge in a Variety review praised the importance of the documentary, writing, “It can sound like a cliché to say that any given movie is what the world needs now, but “Will & Harper” earns that distinction.”
Richard Lawson in a Vanity Fair review also praised the documentary, writing, “The film’s greatest strength is the way it grants access to a topic many are deliberately ignorant about. Ideally, Will & Harper will invite in the people who most need to hear Steele’s testimony.”
Official Trailer
Watch the official trailer for ‘Will & Harper’.