Will Ferrell tells Oscars to ‘suck it’ over snubbing of his road trip documentary

Will Ferrell had some strong words for the Academy after his documentary Will & Harper failed to secure an Oscar nomination.

The Netflix documentary follows Ferrell and his longtime friend Harper Steele, a former Saturday Night Live writer, as they embark on a road trip across America. 

Steele, who recently came out as transgender, uses this journey to reflect on her transition and their evolving friendship.

Despite receiving critical acclaim, the film didn’t land an Oscar nomination in either of the categories it was shortlisted for - Best Documentary and Best Original Song for Kristen Wiig’s Harper and Will Go West.

During an appearance on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, Ferrell addressed the snub with his signature humour.

“Ask me if we got Oscar-nominated,” he said to Colbert.

“It’s such a good documentary,” Colbert replied.

He added, “It was beautiful, it was timely, it was heartfelt, I was inspired by it. How was the Oscar nomination?”

Ferrell responded, “We didn’t get it.”

Colbert then jokingly encouraged Ferrell to lash out at the Academy, saying: “Well, f*** those guys, right? F*** the Academy, say it!”

Ferrell played along, taking aim at the documentary branch in particular.

He said in response, “Especially the doc branch, the doc branch of the Academy.”

“You don’t want to hang out with the doc branch.”

“What a bunch of losers; in fact, I hope there’s some of them here tonight. See, if you’re a member of the doc branch - suck it!”

While promoting the film, Ferrell has also used the platform to speak out against transphobia.

He previously told The Independent, “I think we fear what we don’t know.”

“There is hatred out there. It’s very real and it’s very unsafe for trans people in certain situations.”

“But I don’t know why trans people are meant to be threatening to me as a cis male. I don’t know why Harper is threatening to me.”

He continued, “It’s so strange to me because Harper is finally… her. She’s finally who she was always meant to be.”

“Whether or not you can ultimately wrap your head around that, why would you care if somebody’s happy? Why is that threatening to you?”

Ferrell has admitted to Variety that he had little knowledge about the trans community before Steele came out to him.

He explained: “I had met trans people, but I didn’t have anyone personally in my life.”

“So this was all new territory for me, which is why I think this film is so exciting for us to kind of put out there in the world. “

“It’s a chance all of us in the cis community to be able to ask questions and also just to listen and be there as a friend to discuss this journey.”