Netflix Buys Will Ferrell's Sundance Documentary 'Will & Harper'

TV & Film

Feb 8

In response to a close friend, Harper Steele, coming out as a transgender woman, actor/comedian Will Ferrell proposed a cross-country road trip with Harper as a way of helping him (Ferrell) process his feelings about Harper’s transition, as well as help Harper feel like she could maintain her pre-transition interests. Their two-week road trip is the subject of a new documentary, Will & Harper. The film, directed by Joshua Greenbaum, premiered at the Sundance Film Festival last month to ovations at the end of the film’s screening. The cross-country trip takes the pair, which started together on Saturday Night Live in 1995, began their trip in New York City, starting at 30 Rock, to a Pacers Game in Indiana, Texas, and ending in Las Vegas. Celebrities such as Tina Fey and Seth Meyer make cameo appearances in the documentary.

Throughout the trip, the two of them reacquaint themselves with each other, Harper shares her hopes, dreams, and insecurities about transitioning and Will gets to ask questions and open up about his anxieties. Ferrell shows support for his longtime best friend, however, he makes some missteps along the way, specifically making Harper uncomfortable during a filmed interaction between Ferrell and Indiana Governor Eric Holcomb. Holcomb, like many Republican governors over the past couple of years, signed a ban on gender-affirming care for transgender youth in 2023, which Ferrell apologetically admitted he did not know about when he met Holcomb.

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Ferrell admitted that he had “zero knowledge” of the Transgender community before his road trip with Steele:

“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. It’s a chance for us in the cis community to ask questions, listen, and be there as a friend to discuss this journey.”

Filmmakers were pleased by the positive response to the film and hope that it will help the Transgender community in beating back repressive legislation targeting them in several states and engaging otherwise unengaged populations to become more supportive of transgender people.

“We are thrilled about how audiences received the movie with open arms at Sundance,” filmmakers told Netflix. “It’s a movie about the power of friendship and acceptance — that we hope can help shift the culture.”

Due to the interest generated by the film at its Sundance premiere, streaming giant Netflix, which has actively been purchasing Sundance films, has now purchased the streaming rights to Will & Harper, although a release date has yet to be announced. For a taste of Ferrell and Steele’s humorous writing in the meantime, you may check out their 2020 comedy, Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga.

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