Will Ferrell’s documentary with his best friend Harper Steele, a transgender woman, was purchased by Netflix.
The company bought “Will & Harper” following its debut last month at the Sundance Film Festival, Variety reports, where multiple studios expressed interest in the movie.
A release date has not yet been mentioned.
“We are thrilled about how audiences received the movie with open arms at Sundance,” the filmmakers said in a statement via the outlet. “It’s a movie about the power of friendship and acceptance, that we hope can help shift the culture, and so we are excited to have a partner in Netflix that has the ability to reach the largest possible audience worldwide.”
“Will & Harper,” Will Ferrell’s documentary with his best friend Harper Steele, a transgender woman, was purchased by Netflix. Photo: Screen shot from The Hollywood Reporter YouTube video.
The synopsis for “Will & Harper” describes it as an “intimate portrayal of friendship, transition, and America,” as Ferrell and Steele take a 17-day road trip from New York to California.
While Ferrell works to learn more about the transgender community and how to support his friend, Steele works to become comfortable in settings she went to before her transition, such as bars and sports games.
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Ferrell met Steele when the two worked on “Saturday Night Live.” Steele was a writer from 1995 to 2008.
She came out as transgender in 2022, which Ferrell said initially “surprised” him. Ferrell said he had “zero knowledge” of the trans community and sought ways to support Steele, he previously told Variety.
“I had met trans people, but I didn’t have anyone personally in my life,” he said. “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 for 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.”
