Posted on: September 28, 2024, 10:33h.
Last updated on: September 29, 2024, 01:09h.
A heartwarming scene in “Will & Harper” takes place at SW Steakhouse inside Wynn Las Vegas. Former “Saturday Night Live” star Will Ferrell and his best friend, Harper Steele, make a stop there while road-tripping across the US in the new Netflix documentary.
Steele met Ferrell when both joined “Saturday Night Live” on the same week in 1995. Steele was hired as the show’s head writer.
The reason the road trip is Netflix-worthy is because Ferrell used to know Steele by the first name Andrew. Shortly before the documentary begins, he came out as transgender to Ferrell. So the two decided to explore the US, and their new relationship, as they test how accepting strangers are when they meet a transgender person.
For their dinner at SW, Ferrell dons a ridiculous disguise purchased earlier that day at a Las Vegas Goodwill store.
The disguise is intended both to prevent the two from benefiting from celebrity treatment but also to siphon attention away from Steele, who is not yet comfortable appearing in public as her new self.
“This whole trip, obviously you’re taking the heat off me, and that’s just not the life of a real trans person,” Steele tells Ferrell over dinner. “But when I was in the Goodwill today, I just felt way more comfortable, and that’s a bit of a result of this trip.”
Their server, John, seems to have been tipped off to Ferrell’s presence long before the “Anchorman” star’s fake moustache detaches from his face, however.
“I’m David Abernathy, I managed Bette Midler for a little while, and Air Supply,” Ferrell introduces himself to John, who smiles a little too widely.
After John disappears, Ferrell asks Steele: “Do you think John knows it’s me?”
Steele replies: “John is suspicious, let’s be honest.”
This dinner goes markedly better than one they had at another steakhouse, the Big Texan State Ranch in Amarillo, Tex., which led to Ferrell breaking down and apologizing on the car ride to the next town.
“I feel like I let you down in that moment,” Ferrell says through tears. “I was like, ‘Oh, shit, ‘We gotta worry about Harper’s safety.’… That’s where I just…”
“Will and Harper,” which also stars “SNL” album Wille Forte, Molly Shannon and Kristen Wiig, is currently streaming on Netflix.
