Will Ferrell has received praise for his support of the transgender community ahead of the premiere of the new documentary Will & Harper.
The film explores the friendship between Ferrell and Harper Steele, a former Saturday Night Live writer, who came out as transgender in 2022. The film received its first official screening at the Sundance Film Festival this week.
In a video clip with Variety that has gone viral, Ferrell says: “It was three summers ago in which Harper emailed a lot of her close friends with the headline: ‘Here’s a Weird One’. She went on to explain she was going to transition and we were all of course excited to hear the news and surprised to hear the news.”
“All of us were extremely supportive and expressed love…but that sort of opened the questions like, how can we help you? What do you need us to do?”
Explaining that he had “zero knowledge” about the trans community before Harper’s statement, Ferrell continued: “I had met trans people, but I didn’t have anyone personally in my life. So this was all new territory for me, which is why I think this film is so exciting for us to kind of put out there in the world. It’s a chance all of us in the cis community to be able to ask questions and also just to listen and be there as a friend to discuss this journey.”
Will & Harper is directed by Josh Greenbaum (Barb and Star Go to Vista Del Mar), and in it, Ferrell and Steele embark on a cross-country road trip and discuss openly their friendship and Steele’s decision to transition. The film is currently seeking distribution.
Check out some of the reaction to Ferrell’s viral clip below.
Biggest standing O of the fest goes to the completely wonderful “Will & Harper,” a new doc about Will Ferrell taking a road trip with his longtime friend, Harper Steele, who transitioned at 61. The cheers and love in this room are so moving. #Sundance2024 pic.twitter.com/VIabydAggA
— Jada Yuan (@jadabird) January 23, 2024
Unlike other comedy legends like Ricky Gervais or Dave Chappelle that use trans people as targets in their inability to write funny jokes anymore, Will Ferrell decided to both educate himself and others on the entire issue once one of his best friends came out pic.twitter.com/sk2UvaFuQE
— The Serfs (@theserfstv) January 23, 2024
Did I have Will Ferrell being a babe of a trans ally on my 2024 bingo? No. But it’s great to be pleasantly surprised.
All the love to Harper and Will for using their story as a learning opportunity for likely millions of cis folk.
Can’t wait to see the film https://t.co/jfwqjXhOX3
— Toryn Caitriona Glavin (@torynglavin) January 22, 2024
Will Ferrell’s best friend of 30 years, Harper, came out to him in 2022
Will’s response?
he showed her support both in words and action by making a documentary about his friendship with Harper, and her coming out as a trans woman, to educate cis people https://t.co/IrV0heHNvf
— Jerrica (@JinkiesJerrica) January 22, 2024
Last October, Ferrell and his Step Brothers co-star John C. Reilly surprised Snoop Dogg with an onstage birthday serenade of ‘Boats ‘N Hoes’, the song that features in the 2008 comedy, while earlier in the same month, he was spotted DJing at a frat party in California.
The post Will Ferrell praised for support of trans community in viral clip appeared first on NME.
