This truly unique documentary—Will & Harper—tells the story of a road trip across the country by two people who have been friends for over 30 years. One is Will Ferrell, comedian who is well-known for his years on Saturday Night Live (SNL) and for many films since that time. The other is Harper Steele, a comedy writer who helped Will get his start on SNL, and worked with him on films after that.
It's a road trip from New York to L.A. that Andrew Steele, originally from Iowa, had made—and loved—many times before, that included stops in cowboy bars, sports events, and more, along the way. This trip would be different, however—a few years before, at age 61, Andrew transitioned and was now Harper Steele, a transgender woman.
Taking this trip is Will's idea; a way to process this new stage in their friendship, and to share that process with audiences everywhere. And for Harper, it is a special opportunity to be with her close friend while she is beginning to experience, at long last, the joy of finally being her authentic self. And, inevitably, because of the society we now live in, all of this takes place on a trip that includes stops in parts of the country where a transgender female may not be welcome.
So the documentary, while filled with humor—is a continuous, personal dialogue of sharing and learning, for both of them—and for the audience as well. Including when Harper describes what it was like, from the time she was a child, to have to live with gender dysphoria.1
The filmmaker, Josh Greenbaum, said he and his team “wanted to ensure that for every moment of pain, struggle, and discomfort—of which there are many in the film—there were equal moments of levity and laughter....” Steele hopes her journey proves helpful for viewers—whether or not they’re transgender like her. And Ferrell made this film because he knew Harper needed him, and that others in the trans community need to know they have support.
Will & Harper premiered at the 2024 Sundance Film Festival, and can be seen on Netflix. (Watch trailer here.)
Watching this film in a country where the fascist Trump signed an executive order on Day 1 that declares his government will only recognize two sexes—and that Harper (and every other person who is transgender) do not exist—I kept thinking about this question BA asks (in an excerpt from his Dialogue with Cornel West as part of imagining the whole different world we could be living in after an actual revolution:
What if people who were different, in their sexual orientation or just in the way they went through life, instead of being discriminated against and bullied, were valued for their difference, if that were seen as part of the great diversity of humanity...
(from excerpt “What if...” by BA, from Dialogue with Cornel West)