Actor Will Ferrell comically slammed the Academy for snubbing his 2024 documentary Will & Harper during an appearance on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.
The critically acclaimed documentary follows the Anchorman actor on a 17-day road trip accompanying his friend and former SNL head writer Harper Steele after she completed her gender transition.
Will & Harper received rave reviews and was named one of the top five documentary films of 2024 by the National Board of Review, yet didn't get an Oscar nomination for Best Documentary Feature Film this year—and Ferrell is none too pleased about it.
Colbert praised the film, to which Ferrell called it "One of the best things I ever got to be a part of and loved every second of it."
The host asked if the doc earned an Oscar nod after Ferrell cajoled him into asking the question.
"Did you?" asked Colbert, adding:
"It's such a good documentary. It's one of the best documentaries I've seen in years."
"It was beautiful, timely, heartfelt. I was inspired by it."
"Tell me…How was the Oscar nomination?" asked Colbert.
Ferrell deadpanned:
"We didn't get it."
Colbert expressed empathy by replying, "I'm sorry about that. Well, f'k those guys. F'k the Academy."
Emboldened by their shared frustration, Ferrell added:
"I know, yeah. Thank you. Especially the doc branch. 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," he said, and addressed the studio audience with:
“If you’re a member of the doc branch, suck it."
You can watch the segment here.
- YouTubeyoutu.be
Had the documentary been nominated, it would've been Ferrell's first-ever Oscar nod.
People were disappointed that Will & Harper didn't get the recognition it deserved.
They shared their positive takeaways after watching the film.
When Netflix dropped a preview for Will & Harper, fans were instantly moved by Ferrell's allyship with the trans community.
The 2025 nominated documentaries include Black Box Diaries, No Other Land, Porcelain War, Soundtrack to a Coup d’Etat, and Sugarcane.
The 97th Academy Awards ceremony will take place at the Dolby Theatre at Ovation Hollywood on March 2.
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