Reason Will Ferrell 'Error' Included In Netflix Film Explained By Director
Will & Harper, which was released on Netflix on Friday, Saturday Night Live (SNL) alum Ferrell is seen going on a road trip with his friend and longtime collaborator Harper Steele, who two years ago came out as a transgender woman at the age of 61.When former SNL head writer Steele informed Ferrell, 57, the Los Angeles-based Elf star proposed that his friend leave her New York base to join him on a cross-country road trip, where they could talk about life and film it.The resulting production saw the pair make their way to a Texas steakhouse, where Ferrell took a shot at raising laughs by donning his Sherlock Holmes costume from the 2018 comedy movie Holmes & Watson.However, as Steele and Ferrell sat opposite one another to partake in a testing steak-eating challenge, the mood in the room shifted as patrons directed their attentions to Steele.
As photos of the pair at the eatery were shared on social media, a deluge of disparaging comments followed.The stunt had backfired, leaving Steele at the hands of detractors, who expressed anti-transgender sentiment.The following morning, Ferrell shared that he had let his friend down by inadvertently making her a target for negative attention.
Josh Greenbaum, the documentary's director, opted to allow this particular part of their road trip to play out for viewers, rather than relegate it to the cutting room floor."That was a learning point, certainly for Will, that not all attention is good attention, particularly for those in the trans community," Greenbaum told U.K.
newspaper The Guardian."It was an unforeseen error, but I didn't want to then sweep that under the rug and not include it. A huge part of the trans experience is that there is just a massive amount of hatred, a lot of it online."Citing a statistic presented to production during research for the documentary, Greenbaum added: "Seventy percent of people don't directly know or think they know a trans person.
