Will Ferrell is opening up about how he navigated his best friend coming out as trans
The actor’s latest project is a documentary called Will & Harper, which chronicles a road trip taken by the actor with his best friend Harper Steele.
“When Will Ferrell finds out his close friend of 30 years is coming out as a trans woman, the two decide to embark on a cross-country road trip to process this new stage of their relationship in an intimate portrait of friendship, transition, and America,” the official synopsis reads.
Ferrell explained that he had ‘zero ground knowledge’ of the trans community before Harper came out.
The duo have been friends for nearly 30 years after originally meeting while working on Saturday Night Live in 1995.
The 56-year-old comedian revealed that his initial response to Harper’s coming out was ‘how can we help you? What do you need us to do?’
Ferrell opened up about the experience during Variety Studio presented by Audible.
“It was three summers ago in which Harper emailed a lot of her close friends with the headline: ‘Here’s a Weird One’,” he said.
“She went on to explain she was going to transition and we were all, of course, excited to hear the news and surprised to hear the news.
“All of us were extremely supportive and expressed love…but that sort of opened the questions like, ‘how can we help you? What do you need us to do?’”
He praised Harper for allowing him to ‘learn and ask questions’ as he admits he had ‘zero knowledge’ of the trans community beforehand.
“I had met trans people, but I didn’t have anyone personally in my life,” Ferrell continued.
“So this was all new territory for me, which is why I think this film is so exciting for us to kind of put out there in the world.
“It’s a chance all of us in the cis community to be able to ask questions and also just to listen and be there as a friend to discuss this journey.”
Harper said of the film: “It tells the story of a cis friend of a trans person who has to transition himself.”
