Will Ferrell may be a famous movie star, but in the new Netflix documentary Will & Harper he models a relatable process for many Americans. Faced with a close friend who has come out as transgender — former Saturday Night Live head writer Harper Steele — he stumbles his way through a reintroduction.
Though clearly full of affection for someone he has known for decades, Ferrell seems a bit anxious at the start of the cross-country road trip the pair has decided to take together. When Steele later asks him about that initial nervousness in the parking lot of an Indiana Walmart, Ferrell pauses for a long time before answering. “I was worried about what the new ground rules were,” he admits, “if there were any, [and] just how much had quote-unquote ‘changed’ or was the same.”
Steele, who came out as a trans woman to her inner circle in a 2021 email, assures Ferrell that “there are no ground rules with friends,” and she means it. From there, the pair settle into a more comfortable dynamic, but the journey is not without its speed bumps. Ferrell models allyship by automatically correcting people who misgender Steele, but when Indiana’s Republican governor Eric Holcomb approaches them at a Pacers game, Ferrell doesn’t think to do what any trans person would do: Google whether Holcomb has signed anti-trans legislation, which he has.
For her part, Steele also has her expectations subverted on the trip: At first scared to revisit parts of rural queer America she loved to visit pre-transition, she discovers unexpected hubs of belonging along the way, learning that coming out doesn’t mean she needs to cling to the coasts.
Ahead of the film’s streaming premiere, Ferrell, Steele, and director Josh Greenbaum talked with Them about filming the life-changing transcontinental journey.
Josh, how real was this road trip? I noticed one shot where someone from the crew was directing traffic, but mostly it seemed completely unobtrusive.
Josh Greenbaum: This is, I guess, my sixth or seventh documentary now and the name of the game is to try to figure out a way to keep things as real and authentic as possible. I kept the crew really small. I asked Harper to let me know where she wanted to go beforehand, because she’s the expert on road trips. And we just then spent 17 days doing our best to follow them and chase them around America.
Some moments seemed stranger than fiction, like when we were at her childhood home and all of a sudden, someone came out on a unicycle and Harper jumped on it and rode around. I’ve had people ask, “Did you set that up?” It’s like, “Of course I didn’t set that up. It’s a documentary!”
Will Ferrell: Couldn’t believe it.
Harper, I have a sillier question for you: Which Will Ferrell SNL character that you’ve written for is most likely to be secretly struggling with gender dysphoria?
Harper Steele: Definitely Robert Goulet.
J.G.: That was a fast answer.
H.S.: That was easy. Come on. Everyone knows Robert Goulet was secretly struggling.
W.F.: In so many ways.
Will, part of what I love about the movie is how authentic it feels from your end. It didn’t seem like you had sat down with the trans encyclopedia before you went on this road trip. Was that by design? Were you hoping to just go in fresh?
W.F.: That was exactly what the plan was: to ask questions that I came up with myself and be as articulate or as clunky as I was going to be. I’m lucky that Harper allowed me the grace and the opportunity to stumble my way through. And as she says, “You can ask me any question for my friends, I give them permission. Please, let’s talk about anything you want to."
Harper, you acknowledged on the trip that Will was a battering ram for you in certain situations. I’m wondering now, having gone through this trip, would you go back alone?
H.S. I’ve already gone back alone twice. And yes, when you’re going across the country with Will and a camera crew, it’s not a normal trans experience. But I have gone back with more confidence, across [the country] back and forth, and find similarly that a lot of my projected fears are wrong and misguided.
That’s not to say it’s not still fearful. There are dangerous things for trans people, especially people without my access to safety and privilege. I don’t want to paint a picture that what we saw in America was completely normal because I was with Will.
This conversation has been edited and condensed for clarity.
Will & Harper streams September 27 on Netflix.
Get the best of what’s queer. Sign up for Them’s weekly newsletter here.
