Will Ferrell, Harper Still and Kristen Wiig make Oscars happen with ‘Will & Harper’

when Will and Harper Director Josh Greenbaum said the film was shortlisted for the Academy Awards for Documentary Feature Delivery time“I’m very happy, and I know I share those sentiments with Will and Harper, and the whole team behind the film. Obviously when you work on something for years, and then you edit it in a darkroom with your editor, you never know how something will be received once Put it out to the world.

But then acceptance has always been a theme Will and Harper – Self-acceptance, acceptance of family and friends, and acceptance of the people you meet in life.

Early in the nearly two-hour film, protagonist Harper Still says with heartbreaking candor: “I love this country so much. I don’t know if it loves me back now.”

Harper, a 61-year-old newly transgender woman, felt the urge to travel to America as she had done so many times before, and embarked on a cross-country road trip with her old friend, comedian Will Ferrell – who shows off a charming personality. A vulnerability and a sense of humanity that audiences often don’t get a chance to see, or don’t get He chooses Let’s see, because his roles are goofy in dwarf and Announcer: The Legend of Ron Burgundy She is very creative. The real-life friendship between Will and Harper goes back three decades, to 1995, and the hallowed halls of… Saturday Night Livewhere Harper was a writer, and Will, a rookie cast member.

Equal parts road movie, buddy movie, and self-discovery drama, Will and Harper Filmed during the pandemic in 2021, the couple traveled from New York to Los Angeles in a vintage Jeep Grand Wagoneer. They shop at Walmart, drink beer with the locals, and grind up countless jars of sour cream and onion-flavored Pringles. In Iowa City, Harper visits her childhood home. In Meeker, Oklahoma, she finds unexpected acceptance at a biker bar. But in Amarillo, Texas, things take a darker turn when the crowd becomes hostile during a night out at a steakhouse. The incident threatens not only Harper’s sense of physical security, but also her emotional state. Throughout these moments, Will plays the role of a sometimes bumbling wingman and comedic foil.

“Their love language is comedy. That’s how they’ve known each other for 30 years,” Greenbaum explains.Barb and Star go to Vista Del Mar, Electrolytes). “It was important for them to have an understanding of comedy, whoever the filmmaker was. It also helped that we all knew each other before. This is my seventh documentary project, and the first documentary where I know my subjects beforehand.”

But that didn’t stop Greenbaum from feeling a little nervous about pitching the film to Harper and Will.

“For me, as a documentary filmmaker, the scariest moment in the entire production is when I first sit down and show them the film,” he admits. “You shoot for 17 days, and then you hug each other and say, ‘Okay, I’ll see you in five months.’ [when the edit is done]. And you hope they don’t say, “Oh, don’t use that part.” Don’t show me crying. Or “I made a mistake and said the wrong thing.” Can you not show it? But they gave me almost zero feedback.

when Will and Harper It premiered at the Sundance Film Festival last January — nearly a year ago to the day — to a standing ovation. A month later, Netflix acquired the film. In contrast, the film reached Netflix’s potential audience of 282 million subscribers.

“Their wide reach was very important to Lowell and Harper and me,” Greenbaum says. “We just want most people in the world to see this.”

The streamer’s PR and marketing team immediately seized on the documentary’s uniqueness, the director says.

“The first time Netflix sent me a trailer, I said, ‘I love it.’ This is the first time in my career that’s ever happened. I usually have a lot of notes,” Greenbaum says. “They also understood the tone of the film and the poster.” “And of all the marketing and outsourcing stuff, we’ve become very consistent.”

The alignment was also in the stars when SNL Alum Kristen Wiig composed a theme tune for the film, which she performs during the closing credits. Its acoustic number “Harper and Will Go West” was also shortlisted for an Academy Award in the Best Original Song category.

“It’s pure Kristen Wiig. She’s funny, sweet, warm, and just like her,” Greenbaum says. “It also sums up the tone and feel of the film. As she says at the end: “A friend is a friend to the end.” It’s a beautiful sentiment, albeit a simple one, but one worth repeating.

Support early awards for Will and Harper It bucks the current trend of ignoring documentaries about entertainment figures. There were one hundred and sixty-nine Oscar-eligible projects in the Feature Documentary category, but only two were celebrity-related — Will and Harper and Eno (about musician and producer Brian Eno) – shortlisted of 15 titles. Despite huge interest, films about Celine Dion, Elton John, Martha Stewart, Luther Vandross, Pharrell Williams and composer John Williams did not make the list.

It is also worth noting the role that political polarization may have played in voting. With LGBTQ issues at the forefront of the 2024 presidential election, support Will and Harper, Its message of tolerance and inclusion may have been a way for members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to respond to growing anti-trans rhetoric.

Then there is social media. Will and Harper aren’t active on digital platforms, but Greenbaum will occasionally pass along posts and bring to their attention something they find compelling.

“I was a conduit to let them know what the world was saying,” says the director. “I recommended the documentary,” one wrote Will and Harper For a colleague who was experiencing her sister’s transition. “I watched the show,” she said. It changed everything for me. Lovely little stories like this are really a joy to see. It creates connections, it creates a language for people to have these difficult conversations.

In the movie, we see that even Will and Harper have awkward conversations. Some of the discussions he had with strangers on the road trip became lessons learned for both sides.

“We discover again and again that it is difficult to hate up close,” Greenbaum concludes. “We just want this message to be heard and received by as many people as possible in America, but also around the world. We are optimistic that it can change hearts and minds — not just for the transgender community, but for any marginalized community.”