“Will & Harper”: Will Ferrell goes on a unique road trip with his best friend

Comedy legend Will Ferrell and former Saturday Night Live head writer Harper Steele are best friends. They have always shared everything with each other. But two years ago, Steele wrote a letter to her closest family and friends announcing that she was coming out as a transgender woman.

“It was really hard to send that letter,” Steele said. “I kept rewriting it, trying to express what I wanted to say.”

Steele had always enjoyed driving across the country alone, but wasn't sure what it would be like as a woman, so Ferrell suggested they drive from upstate New York to California and see what happens.

All of this is what the new documentary “Will & Harper” is about, which hit theaters on Friday and premieres on Netflix later this month.

To watch a trailer for “Will & Harper,” click on the video player below:

Their friendship began in the mid-'90s when they were cast on Saturday Night Live the same week. Steele helped create some of Ferrell's most memorable characters. Some of Steele's favorite sketches include those with Ferrell as Robert Goulet.

Will Ferrell as Robert Goulet in “The Red Ships of Spain”, from “Saturday Night Live” (2001):

Ferrell aspired to bigger things, such as his starring roles in films like “Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy.” But when he first arrived at SNL, he was far from a superstar. “People would say something like, 'Oh yeah, I met this guy, he seems nice. He doesn't seem that funny. I don't know what he's going to do on the show,'” Ferrell said. “And it was Harper who would reply to some of the writers, 'Oh no, no, don't underestimate him. He's pretty funny, this guy is funny.' So in a way, he was like a guardian angel, someone who was looking out for me when I didn't realize it yet.”

It seems as though Ferrell himself became a guardian angel of sorts when the two went on tour last year. Entering the film, Steele said, “I love this country so much, I just don't know if it loves me right now.”

What did he expect? “I definitely went into this experience a little scared,” Steele said. “There were times when I wasn't with Will. … That's the part that always has to be explained. I drive around the country with Will Ferrell. It's an amazing force field.”

“Star power,” Ferrell explained. “A-list.”

The trip itself was entertaining and fun: 17 days of laughter, tears and beer. But perhaps it was also marked by the reality of what it means to face the world as a transgender person.

Steele said: “Transgender people definitely need to be careful. There are people out there who are full of hate. And that hate is not necessarily directed at me, but at people who don't have the same advantages that I do. So I'm not going to give up on everyone running to the middle of the country and running around, because I swear to God, we have some people out there who are not good people.”

But what she found along the way was more good than bad.

And what did they learn from each other?

“Honestly, Will is a nice guy,” Steele said. “We were friends before. I really don't know what else to say.”

Farrell revealed: “I'm a much better driver than Harper. That's not even an opinion, that's fact, that's science.”

The documentary received two standing ovations at the Sundance Film Festival earlier this year.

Ferrell explained the reception of the film: “People are just ready for acts of civility. They just want to see people being nice to each other! And I think it was about their experience, it was about the experience of transgender people.”

“A lot of people across the country have been nice to us,” Steele said. “And I think people just loved seeing that we can still spend time together.”

For more information:

• “Will & Harper” is now in theaters and will be available to stream on Netflix starting September 27th.

Story produced by John D'Amelio. Editor: Steven Tyler.