Will Ferrell and Harper Steele attend Will & Harper NY Special Screening at The Paris Theater on September 24, 2024 in New York City. (Photo by Roy Rochlin/Getty Images for Netflix)
Half-an-hour into the new Netflix documentary “Will & Harper,” Hollywood actor and comedian Will Ferrell and his close friend Harper Steele find themselves in Indianapolis, having what they’ve since described as an “uncomfortable” encounter with Indiana Gov. Eric Holcomb.
The film documents a cross-country trip the two embarked on in 2023 and centers on Steele’s transition and identity as a trans woman. Steele, a former “Saturday Night Live” writer, came out during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The two-hour documentary — which released on Netflix last week — follows the decades-old friends as they reacquaint with one another following Steele’s transition, setting the stage for Steele to come into her own while meeting people from coast to coast.
Indiana Gov. Eric Holcomb on Tuesday, August 6, 2024. (Leslie Bonilla Muñiz/Indiana Capital Chronicle)
In an early scene in the film, Steele and Ferrell meet and take photos with Holcomb, a Republican, at an Indiana Pacers basketball game. Afterward, the two discuss Holcomb’s views on transgender issues, as well as his 2023 approval of legislation that outlawed gender-affirming care for minors.
As they debrief the encounter, the duo talk about how they wish they had specifically asked the governor about the issue in the moment.
Ferrell and Steele additionally elaborated on the scene last week during an interview on “Late Night With Seth Meyers.”
The two recalled meeting Holcomb, who they said was eager for a photo opportunity with Ferrell while at the basketball game.
“I will say that, when you walk into a bar or basketball game with Will Ferrell, people tend to want to be kind,” Steele told Meyers. “We have an uncomfortable moment with the governor of Indiana, who is not very kind of trans people, but he needed to take a picture with Will so bad that he dropped all of his principles. And that, to me, is what Will does for me.”
Steele continued that it’s “politicians that are polarizing us,” but said her experience while filming the documentary showed her that “the resting place for people is generally kindness. I think we found that across the country.”
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Holcomb did not respond to the Indiana Capital Chronicle’s request for comment about the documentary or his encounter with Ferrell and Steele.
The 2023 bill in question made law a controversial medical care ban for transgender minors, which Holcomb approved over the protests of families, medical professionals and transgender children.
A court challenge previously put the law on hold, but a federal judge’s February ruling reinstated the ban while litigation continues.
In 2022, Holcomb vetoed a different measure that would have barred transgender female athletes from competing with their peers, saying the Indiana High School Athletic Association already had a policy for transgender athletes. Within weeks, the General Assembly returned for a technical corrections day and voted to overturn his veto with a simple majority.
Had Holcomb decided to veto the gender-affirming care bill, it’s likely that lawmakers would have ultimately overturned his veto again.
Read the full dialogue from the documentary, below:
In downtown Indianapolis, walking into Gainbridge Fieldhouse.
Steele: I’ve gotta tell you, we’ve been to a lot of Lakers games. I’ve never seen Jack Nicholson, I’ve never seen Leonardo DiCaprio, I’ve never seen Vince Vaughn at a basketball game sitting next to their trans friend.
Ferrell: Right.
Steele: I’ve just never seen it myself.
Scene cuts to Pacers game versus the Philadelphia 76ers on March 6, 2023.
Harper: It’s so complicated because I used sports all the time to let people know that I was not a woman. I mean, not that women can’t like sports, but I was trying to, you know — I was trying to be ‘that guy.’ … By doing that all the time, I did learn a lot about sports, and I do kind of like it.
Scene cuts to Ferrell addressing Pacers fans from the court: “Let me hear you Pacers fans!”
Ferrell, addressing the fieldhouse: I wanna thank you, Indianapolis. I’m here with my friend, Harper Steele. She just transitioned.
The fieldhouse screen cuts out — switching back to the game, though Ferrell continues: “And Indy, you’ve shown us nothing but love.” The documentary then cuts to Ferrell, Steele and Holcomb talking on the court sideline.
Holcomb to Ferrell: So, you’re working your way across the country? How do you end up here?
Ferrell: Harper and I have known each other for 30 years, and we’re going across the country.
Holcomb: To basketball field houses or anything?
Ferrell: No, this was just — this is our first professional sporting event since Harper’s transition. (Holcomb nods his head, smiling, and shrugs) So, the Pacers were nice enough to allow us access.
Documentary cuts back to game.
Steele: Wait, was that the governor of this state?
Ferrell (sipping from beer): Mhmm.
Ferrell and Steele, looking at their phones.
Steele: What’s his name?
Ferrell: Eric Holcomb.
Steele: Holcomb? Let me see.
As Ferrell and Steele are shown back in their car — on the road toward Peoria, Illinois — audio is played from TV news coverage of Holcomb’s signage of a bill that bans gender-affirming care for minors in Indiana. News reports of similar bills passed in other states — like Texas, Kansas, North Dakota and Tennessee — are played, too.
The documentary then cuts to Ferrell and Steele in the car the next day.
Ferrell: Here’s where I dropped the ball. I obviously didn’t anticipate meeting the governor of Indiana. And he asked what we were doing, and we told him, and he seemed to … to be, ‘Oh, great.’ … And I wish I had the wherewithal to go, like, ‘What’s your stance on trans people?’
Steele: I actually didn’t know he was the governor, and then, later in the conversation, someone said something —
Ferrell: Yeah, and I did. I heard, like, ‘I want you to meet the governor.’
Steele: Oh.
Ferrell: And I’m like, ‘Oh.’
Steele: This must happen to you a lot. The photo you don’t want to be in.
Ferrell: Yeah.
Steele: I don’t get that very often.
Ferrell: Right.
Steele: And someone comes in, and there’s someone down there on the (basketball court) floor snapping, ‘Oh, this person’s with Will Ferrell.’ But then I’m in this photo with this governor, and I don’t know his politics.
Ferrell: That was the thing … that was my negative take. That was the one place where I was like, ‘I should have —’ … Just to see what he happened to say.
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