Will Ferrell and Trans Comedy Writer Harper Steele’s Heartfelt Documentary Draws Multiple Standing Ovations at Sundance Premiere
Rebecca Rubin Film and Media Reporter Unlike Cannes and Venice, Sundance isn’t a film festival that inspires too many standing ovations.
But moviegoers at the Eccles Theatre were moved (more than once!) to stand up and applaud after the premiere of “Will & Harper,” a funny, heartbreaking and poignant documentary about Will Ferrell taking a road trip with his longtime friend, Harper Steele, who transitioned at 61. “Look at this!
And this is for a documentary,” Ferrell said as he greeted the packed house in Park City on Monday night. “Wow! If we were going to be at Sundance, we thought it would be at a 10 a.m.
screening in someone’s garage.” “Will & Harper” chronicles the duo over 17 days as they drive from New York to California, making pit stops at basketball games, dive bars, “swanky” Las Vegas restaurants and other places where Steele hopes to feel more comfortable since she came out as a trans woman in 2022.
