Will & Harper stars talk changing hearts & minds, filming THAT steakhouse scene

This year's must-see documentary is Will & Harper, which follows longtime friends Will Ferrell and Harper Steele as they go on a cross-country road trip to get reacquainted after Steele came out as trans.

It's both hilarious and heartwarming, and it's the kind of documentary that changes minds, and can even save lives.

Steele and Ferrell are on the cover of the latest The Advocate, a magazine Steele said she remembers seeing "on a shelf behind GQ and Men's Health and being too afraid to pick it up," and now, they and director Josh Greenbaum chatted with Stephen Walker to talk about the film and how they continue to learn about each other and trans issues to this day.

In the interview, Ferrell talked about one of the most heartbreaking moments in the film, where the two go to a steakhouse and are filmed and put on social media, only for the videos to go viral with transphobic hate.

"Oh, I mean, it was really interesting because we were in that situation and it felt slightly oppressive. There was a kind of palpable feeling in it, and yet there was no direct confrontation. It all kind of accumulated later as we saw all the social media, and I'm not on social, so I'm not privy to a lot of that, but it was eye opening," he says. "That is a constant drumbeat out there. And as Harper says in the film, that stuff just sits in your head. And that was important for me to see and read and hear those messages on social media and know that it's while she is experiencing this unsurpassed level of joy in her life. At the same time, you have to be leery. And we have to understand that there's still a lot of acceptance we have to fight for."

Steele also talked about how she's expecting to possibly face some more of that hate when the film starts streaming on Netflix.

"A lot of times representation suddenly means a little bit of backlash, so we'll find out," she says. "We had a trans tipping point, what, 7, 8, 9 years ago, and it didn't tip as much as everyone thought it did. So I'm just hopeful."

Ferrell is also hopeful. When asked if he's excited for his father-in-law to see the film, Ferrell agreed.

"I think that's who we're excited most about," he says. "People like your father-in-law, families who've possibly had difficulty discussing this topic in the past. And if we can reach out to a lot of people that I would consider my audience, that'll be wonderful."

Watch the full interview in the video above. Will & Harper is now streaming on Netflix.