Having missed it in Telluride, I finally saw Will and Harper (Netflix) last night. It’s basically a cross-country road doc about Will Ferrell and Harper Steele, SNL colleagues and friends since the mid ’90s, exploring and working through Steele’s relatively recent decision to become a woman.
The film amounts to more than just an asphalt journey, of course. It gradually becomes a probing inward thing — gentle, affecting, emotionally vulnerable. The theme might be an echo of a Steele quote: “There isn’t a trans person I’ve met who doesn’t have a sense of humor about themselves.” Steele has described herself, politically and philosophically, as “purple-haired woke.”
The 62-year-old Steele further describes herself as well past her relationship sell-by date, but adds that she misses being in a relationship and would love to find someone. She also discloses that she hasn’t had her dick surgically removed so, you know, finding the right person might be a challenge. She also has a voice as deep as Harvey Fierstein‘s. She also insists on wearing heels everywhere, and I don’t know a single woman who doesn’t prefer sensible shoes or sneakers. She also has a thing about visiting rural, blue-collar bars with Ferrell and telling the local yokels why she’s transitioned. (Wise?)
Harper knew she was different as a little kid, she recalls, but never wore dresses or beads or became actively gay. She wanted to transition decades ago, she says, but kept it all under wraps. Plus she never mentions if she enjoyed an occasional discrete same-sex affair.
The film is full of many such questions and curiosities, but it’s a compassionate, kind-hearted thing so let’s not pass along too much grief.
Farrell, 57, is almost totally gray-haired in the doc but was back to his trademark light-brown hair color on a recent talk-show appearance. The gray hair makes him look at least 20 years older.
