Will Ferrell And Harper Steele’s Road Trip Doc ‘Will & Harper’ Drives Home Inclusive Message And Slot On Oscar Shortlist

deadline.com:

When Will & Harper made the Oscar shortlist for Documentary Feature, director Josh Greenbaum told Deadline, “I am just absolutely thrilled, and I know I share that emotion with Will and Harper, and the whole team behind the film.

Obviously, when you work on something for years, and then you go off and edit it in a dark room with your editor, you never totally know how something is going to be received once you put it out into the world.” But then acceptance has always been the theme of Will & Harper — acceptance of self, acceptance of family and friends, and acceptance of the people you encounter in life.

Early in the nearly two-hour film, protagonist Harper Steele says with heartbreaking candor, “I love this country so much. I just don’t know if it loves me back right now.”  As a 61-year-old, newly-transitioned woman, Harper felt the pull to travel America as she had done frequently before, and embarked on a cross-country road trip with her longtime friend, comedic actor Will Ferrell — who displays a winsome vulnerability and sense of humanity that audiences don’t often get a chance to see, or don’t choose to see, because his goofy roles in Elf and Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy are so iconic.

The real-life friendship between Will and Harper goes back three decades, to 1995, and the hallowed halls of Saturday Night Live, where Harper was a writer, and Will, a newbie cast member.