The story behind the documentary “Will & Harper”

IN Will and Harper, Actor and comedian Will Ferrell and acclaimed author Harper Steele have been inseparable friends and creative partners for nearly three decades, traveling the country together, and their bond is such that they are fluent in the language of comedy, if it requires spoken words at all.

Still, their longtime camaraderie was at the beginning of a brand new chapter when they set out to make the film. Just three years ago, Steele came out as trans to Ferrell in an unexpected email. Ferrell immediately offered his support. Later, knowing Steele’s lifelong love of road trips, he proposed an idea: “How about we go on a road trip where we discuss what this transition means to us?” It was important to him that Steele knew he wasn’t trying to exploit their relationship for content. He just saw it as an opportunity for them to talk things out, for him to ask questions, and for her to revisit places that had always been a part of her life—but this time, to live openly as a trans woman.

Steele said yes, and their cross-country adventure between New York and LA (with stops in Iowa, Oklahoma, New Mexico and Texas) eventually became the Josh Greenbaum-directed documentary Will and Harpera nostalgic, heartfelt and funny road movie and one of the most beautiful films about friendship ever made. The film by Greenbaum (best known for the 2021 comedy Barb and Star go to Vista Del Mar) naturally captures the mood of the duo, charged by similar temperaments and a sense of humor that has been around since they met in Saturday Night Live in 1995.

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A friendship born under pressure

“I liked Will because his way of dealing with the world made me feel relaxed,” Steele recalls their first encounters during our meeting at the Telluride Film Festival, where Will and Harper was screened to an enthusiastic audience before the film’s release in theaters on September 13 and on Netflix on September 27. “I get a little nervous when great comedians try to make you laugh all the time. Will didn’t manage that. We were much quieter. I like that volume.”

“I loved how grumpy she was,” Ferrell adds with a giggle.Saturday Night Live can be a hectic place. And then I walk past Harper’s office, she’s sitting there with her feet up on the desk listening to a record while everyone else is running around.” (To Steele:) “You’ve probably been putting something off.”

“I’ve been putting it off.”

These long working hours gave rise to a shared impulse to poke fun at the notoriously stressful atmosphere on the show. Every now and then during rehearsals, Steele would send Ferrell an “urgent” message that simply read: “Don’t screw it up!“I am betting a lot that everything is that the best thing ever is simply pointless. That’s not how you write a comedy,” Steele reflects.

The lightness she speaks of and the effortless harmony with which Steele and Ferrell have always interacted determine much of Will and Harper. The film is not a collection of forced gags, but a documentary-style comedy with two very funny and deep buddies enjoying each other’s company over an endless supply of Pringles. Ferrell recalls: “We had a meeting with Rafael Marmor and Jessica Elbaum, two of our producers. And Jessica said, ‘You should just do it the way you joke around with each other now. It should just be where it is.'”

That spontaneous energy that underlies the film comes through in our interview, too. Just beneath their bickering lies the best kind of friendship, laced with as much droll sarcasm and self-deprecation as honesty and vulnerability. “Comedy is my love language,” Steele says. “It’s the only way we can talk,” Ferrell adds. “The wonderful thing about the documentary is that we have very serious and earnest discussions about the questions I have about Harper’s life. And then there’s a funny aside, but not intentionally. It was often initiated by Harper, making fun of me for not being an A-list actor. You’re with “I’m an A-list actor now. You realize that, right?” jokes Ferrell.

“No, I wasn’t,” Steele says seriously. “But you’re an asshole.”

“A for asshole,” laughs her friend.

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Ups and downs across the country

When planning the itinerary, the focus was on visiting places that were meaningful to Steele. One of those was Iowa City, where she grew up. A basketball game was also important, as going to basketball games ended up being a key part of their friendship. Then came other scenic ideas like the Grand Canyon, which any self-respecting road tripper should at least consider. The shoot yielded 200 hours of footage, and the duo say they trusted Greenbaum completely with it. “He edited it the way he felt and saw it,” says Steele. “He made such wonderful choices,” agrees Ferrell. “And he found a great cinematographer (Zoë White) who comes primarily from the storytelling world.”

The result of these creative choices is a classic cinematic look and feel that the duo loves. “I’m sure there are other documentaries that feel as cinematic as this. But I’m very proud that our film is so funny,” explains Steele. “And I like that Josh is just as funny as we are. But not as funny as we are.”

“That’s not possible,” Ferrell agrees with a grin. “You have to leave it in. It’s not that funny.”

The journey wasn’t always smooth sailing. Among all the pleasant encounters and family visits, there was an experience at a steakhouse in Amarillo, Texas, where they were greeted with hostility. The transphobic attacks on social media that followed, and which also feature in the film, were equally painful. As Ferrell puts it, one of the film’s themes is whether the country that loves Harper so much loves her back. The answer the experience in Amarillo offers is disturbing.

Nevertheless, Steele wants to carefully emphasize what Will and Harper is and is not when it comes to trans visibility. “I feel very uncomfortable calling this film a representation of all trans people,” she explains. “There are trans and LGBTQ people from all backgrounds, all races, all class. What we’re portraying is the power of the kind of conversations we should all be having. The hope is that people will realize that they have a queer person somewhere in their family. How do they feel about treating that person? Maybe a film like this can show how you can do that with humor.” Ferrell continues, “We’re just talking in the film, it’s as simple as that. You can see me sometimes struggling with how I express certain things. ‘Am I asking it right?’ Hopefully the film will take the mystery out of just talking about it.”

Learn to be vulnerable and take action

Has their friendship developed since filming Will and Harper? “Evolved is not the word I would use. Regressed,” Steele jokes. “We don’t want to be near each other.” Ferrell laughs, “It’s regressed. I’m just waiting for her to buy me dinner at least once in my life.” Putting the joke aside, Ferrell continues, “There’s no major evolution. We still hang out together. We were at a football game a couple weeks ago. We just do our thing.”

“We’re easy-going travel companions. Maybe we’ll go somewhere again sometime,” says Steele.

And what have they learned on this journey? “Vulnerability is a very powerful position,” says Steele. “Often our friendships are built in a way that doesn’t allow vulnerability. And once that vulnerability is allowed, it opens the friendship to new and better areas.”

Steele agrees: “I thought I was a sophisticated person who wasn’t afraid to be vulnerable,” Ferrell continues. “But this was a very different experience. I hope people understand that it’s really important for us to not just pay lip service when it comes to standing up for our friends, but to actually take action.”

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Steele explained how she views this kind of action in an email to her friends. “I’m not a political person by nature, but now I’m in a political arena as a trans woman, whether I like it or not,” she wrote. “All I’m asking is that you stand up for me. I’m Harper. My pronouns are they/her. And if someone calls me wrong, it doesn’t have to be a big deal. But just say, ‘No, no, you mean her. What do you think she.'” And Ferrell remembers thinking, “OK, I’m going to take that to heart.”

“It’s hard,” Steele says. “There might be some guys, friends my age, sitting off to the side saying, ‘Apparently he’s Harper now and he likes to be called she. And so we should call her she she.’ They might not be quite there yet. But Will has made it. very fast. He’s a C-level actor, but an A+ person.”

“That’s what we’re trying to say,” Ferrell nods. “I’m C-list, but an A-level person.”