Netflix has released the trailer for its upcoming documentary featuring actor Will Ferrell taking a road trip with his “best friend” who is “transitioning” to a woman.
Titled, Will & Harper, the film follows the way former Saturday Night Live head writer Harper Steele informed Ferrell about his road to transition, and then details a road trip the two took — cameras in tow — as Will and Harper struggle to renew and realign their 30-year friendship with each other amid Harper’s transgenderism.
In the trailer, Ferrell explains that he and Harper were hired to SNL at the same time around 1994 and that as he became one of the show’s breakout stars, Harper rose to the role of head writer. While Ferrell left the show in 2001, Steele filled the role of head writer from 2004 to 2008. But the two remained fast friends even after Ferrell left the show.
The road trip idea was Ferrell’s, according to the write up on the Netflix website.
“We’d go to Lakers games, go on road trips together, surprise each other at random little bars in costume,” Ferrell said of his relationship with Steele pre-transition. But after the transition, he became worried that their close relationship would be a dead issue. So, he came up with the road trip idea to answer the questions concerning their decades old friendship.
“What if we went on a road trip together, giving her a chance to go into a cowboy bar or whatever places she misses, and I can be by her side and lend support as a friend?” Ferrell told the streamer. “At the same time, it would give us a chance to reconnect, and figure out what this transition means to our relationship.”
Steele also insisted that living just on the east or west coast was not optimal.
“I didn’t just want to come out in places like New York or LA and forever live on either coast,” Steele said. “I love the whole country. It’s my country, and I wanted to feel a little safer being in it. And I thought that going across the country with Will Ferrell would help me,” Steele explained.
“Ultimately, the main reason that got me to do it was, ‘Oh, maybe this could be useful for others,'” Steele continued. “I Iike to think that about any kind of work that I’m putting out there. Anything that I’m making or a part of, it’s like, ‘I hope this is somehow useful to people, that it makes them laugh or they get something out of it.'”
“We are thrilled about how audiences received the movie with open arms at Sundance,” the filmmakers said in a statement. “It’s a movie about the power of friendship and acceptance — that we hope can help shift the culture.”
Directed by Josh Greenbaum, Will & Harper will debut in select theaters on September 13 and will hit Netflix on Sept. 27
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