Comedy legend Will Ferrell and former “Saturday Night Live” head writer Harper Steele are best friends. They’ve always shared everything. But two years ago, Steele wrote a letter to her closest family and friends saying she’d come out as a trans woman.

“That letter was really hard to send,” said Steele. “I just kept rewriting it over and over again trying to say what I wanted to say.”

Steele had always liked driving across the country alone, but was unsure of how it would be as a woman. So, Ferrell suggested they drive from upstate New York to California, and see what happened. 

It’s all in the new documentary “Will & Harper,” which opened Friday in theaters and will premiere later this month on Netflix. 

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

Their friendship began in the mid-’90s, when they were hired the very same week at “Saturday Night Live.” Steele helped create some of Ferrell’s most memorable characters. Among Steele’s favorite sketches: those featuring Ferrell as Robert Goulet.

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

Ferrell went on 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 anything but a superstar. “People were kind of saying, ‘Oh yeah, I met that guy, he seems nice. He doesn’t seem that funny. I don’t know what he’s gonna do on the show,'” Ferrell said. “And it was Harper who kind of reported back to some of the writers like, ‘Oh no, no, don’t sleep on him. He’s pretty funny, that guy’s funny.’ So, it was kind of like a guardian angel in a way, someone who was looking out for me when I didn’t realize it was happening.”

It seems that Ferrell became a kind of guardian angel himself, when the two of them hit the road last year. As he embarked in the film Steele said, “I love this country so much, I’m just don’t know if it loves me back right now.”

What did he expect? “I definitely walked into that experience a little afraid,” Steele said. “There was times when I wasn’t with Will. … That’s the part that needs to always be explained. I’m driving across the country with Will Ferrell. That’s an amazing forcefield.”

“Star power,” Ferrell explicated. “A-List.”

The trip itself was fun, and funny: 17 days of laughter and tears and beer. But maybe inevitably it was also punctuated with the reality of what it means to face the world as a trans person.

Steele said, “Trans people, for sure, have to be careful. There’s people out there that are filled with hate. And, not necessarily, it’s gonna be aimed at me; it’s gonna be aimed at people who don’t have the kind of advantages I have. And so, I’m not abdicating everyone run out in the middle of the country and run around, because I swear to God, we have some people out there that are not good people.”

But what she found on the road was more good than bad.

And what did they learn about each other?

“Honestly, Will is a sweet human being,” said Steele. “We were friends before. I don’t know what more to say really there than that.”

As for Farrell, he revealed, “I’m a much better driver than Harper. Like, that’s not even opinion; that’s fact, that’s science.”

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

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

“It was a lot of people being nice to us, all across the country,” said Steele. “And I think people just loved seeing that we can all still hang out with each other.”

      
For more info:

• “Will & Harper,” now playing in theaters, and streaming on Netflix beginning September 27

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

Tracy Smith

Tracy Smith is a correspondent for “CBS News Sunday Morning” and “48 Hours.” Smith is a versatile correspondent who is equally adept at interviewing actor and comic Billy Crystal as she is going head-to-head with outspoken New Jersey Governor Chris Christie. Her work on “CBS News Sunday Morning” has included covering news, the arts, pop culture and celebrity interviews.