Will Ferrell on learning to ‘honour’ the trans community in new film ‘Will & Harper’

The latest apparent attempt to assassinate Donald Trump highlights the divisions in the country, ahead of November’s election. Particularly divisive is the issue of transgender rights. And it’s one the actor Will Ferrell is tackling head on in his latest film.

‘Will and Harper’ follows him and his friend Harper Steele on a road trip they decide to take after she revealed she was a trans woman.

They revisit some of her favourite places across small-town America, along with director Josh Greenbaum – some are more tolerant than others.

Will Ferrell: Definitely from my perspective, here’s the first person I knew who was trans and all the questions that were in my mind, not wanting to make a mistake, wanting to honour her in the right way and learn the vernacular – learn what had changed, what had not changed, if anything.

But for Harper Steele, she had to think about whether she was ready.

Harper Steele: I love this country so much. I just don’t know if it loves me back right now. I want to be on camera, which I don’t particularly like. The things that sort of pulled me in the direction of a ‘Yes well it’s my friend Will, he makes things comfortable for me,’ looking at all the anti-trans legislation happening in the US at the time, and I did think there would be something useful to do with it.

Will Ferrell: But you know, we’re on camera right now, right?

Harper Steele: What the…? Are you kidding me? They have to tell me this stuff.

Kiran Moodley: And Josh, you know, this is 17 days of travelling, 250 hours of footage. How did you approach what to include, what not to include?

Josh Greenbaum: For me, the most important thing was finding the balance tonally that I think reciprocated and honoured the relationship that these two incredible people have, which is rooted in comedy.

The pair are surprised by the warm reception they receive in a bar in Oklahoma. But at a steakhouse in Texas, even Ferrell dressed as Sherlock Holmes cannot defuse a tense situation with people staring and posting anti-trans hate online.

Kiran Moodley: Is there anything you regret about that scene, or was it important in some ways to see that hostility?

Will Ferrell: The next day I felt like I put my friend in a strange situation. But, you know, in hindsight, yeah, it was emotional. It was disturbing, but important to experience that for me.

While many Republican states are pushing through anti LGBTQ legislation, the film shows a welcoming America.

Kiran Moodley: Is the sense that you got that the attitudes of most Americans is more positive to the transgender community than perhaps we in the media, or politicians, make out to be?

Harper Steele: 100%. Again, there are people who hate trans people. There are people who are uncomfortable with trans people, are afraid of trans people. That’s a fact. But I also think that the politicians and the media do sort of try to polarise us.

Will Ferrell: You can feel it. People want to see acts and engage in civility. We’re just hearing so much yelling at each other. I use the example of ‘if I knock on your door, and we’re neighbours, and I ask you for a cup, a cup of sugar. You say – of course, sure.’ You don’t go, ‘What are your political beliefs?’

Kiran Moodley: The fact that the film is now coming out just a few months before a presidential election. Was that a conscious thing when we talk about that atmosphere?

Harper Steele: Yeah, 100%. Yeah, we wanted it out there. But we released early because I’m running for president now.

Kiran Moodley: Is that an exclusive?

Harper Steele: Yes it is, you can run with that.

Kiran Moodley: Will & Harper is a road trip, but more simply, it is a conversation between friends, a fact that Ferrell hopes will appeal to a wide audience.

Will Ferrell: The movie is about what it means to be trans, for sure, but people are really responding to it as well as – it’s just advocacy for a friend – regardless of what they’re going through.

Josh Greenbaum: The joy for me of watching us share this film with people and then Will and Harper getting called on stage, usually Harper last, and getting a giant standing ovation fills me with such love and joy – and envy. I just hope it doesn’t destroy this friendship because Will’s getting really….

Will Ferrell: She kind of hates it all at the same time, which is what I love.

Josh Greenbaum: It’s true. It is true.