Harper Steele on Navigating America in 'Will & Harper'

Women Who Travel | Condé Nast Traveler

Condé Nast Traveler

Society & Culture, Places & Travel

4.4 • 636 Ratings

🗓️ 9 January 2025

⏱️ 30 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Since the documentary ‘Will & Harper’ first hit our screens in 2024, it’s received accolades for its poignant depiction of friendship and the ways we seek to understand each other’s lived experiences. In this week’s episode, Lale sits down with Harper Steele to talk about driving across the US with her best friend, actor Will Ferrell, for the movie, her enduring love of dive bars, and what it’s like to navigate the complexities of contemporary America as a trans woman.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Hi there, I'm Lale Arakoglu, and this is Women Who Travel.
0:10.2	Today we're going on a road trip and exploring the story behind Netflix's documentary, Will & Harper.
0:19.1	30 years ago, one Saturday Night Live writer and another actor became lifelong friends and collaborators.
0:25.6	They are Harper Steele and Will Ferrell.
0:27.6	In 2022, Steele came out to Farrell about her gender transition.
0:42.1	And soon after, they decided to embark on a cross-country road trip
0:45.3	to talk about whether or if or how their relationship might change.
0:50.1	And I am so excited to have Harper on the show today to talk about that trip.
0:58.2	You are, I think, in a hotel room right now. Where are you? You traveling?
1:01.8	Yes, I am traveling. We're still showing the film to audiences and talking about the film, which I love.
1:09.0	And I'm in New York City overlooking Central Park right now on a beautiful,
1:15.0	beautiful crisp, slightly too cold, sunny day.
1:18.5	It is really cold outside. I stepped out this morning and was like, are we actually going to get
1:22.7	a winter?
1:23.9	You know, I don't like this. I was unprepared, too. This was a little bit of a detour coming to New York, and I didn't know.
1:30.9	When did you start having conversations about embarking on this trip with Will, and how did the idea kind of come about?
1:40.5	Will and I, during the pandemic, we hadn't seen each other in a long time, and I had written this letter saying I was going to come out and be present as a woman.
1:51.6	And that's the wrong way to say that, to live my life authentically.
1:56.7	At any rate, I wrote this coming out letter, but I wasn't able to see Will, and then we ended up in Will's backyard still during the pandemic, and we were sitting around, and he said, how are these road trips, which I'm known for, I travel across the country back and forth many times.
2:14.5	How are these trips impacted by this new sort of decision? And then he just sort of out
2:21.1	of the blue said, what if we took a road trip and we filmed it? And I'm very camera shy, so I said no.
2:27.9	And then I sat around my house for a while and thought about it. And a couple of factors.
	...

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