Close-Up: Will Forte
Posted by Rob Ortenzi on 29-Nov-07 @ 05:01 PM
Although he got his start writing for programs like That 70s Show and 3rd Rock From The Sun, Saturday Night Live regular WILL FORTE is proving that he's as equally adept in front of the camera as he is behind it. This month he'll tackle his first feature-writing and performing role alongside Will Arnett in The Brothers Solomon. Trust us, if you've been waiting for an updated version of Dumb And Dumber (and we know we have), this film will be just your forte. INTERVIEW: Jonah Bayer PHOTO: TKTKTKTKTK How's it going, Will? Oh, my god. I had to wake up really early and take someone to the airport today, so I'm on this crazy coffee high. I've been sick for a couple of days so all of yesterday I was in a daze. But I wanted to make sure I wasn't in a daze when I talked to AP, so I jammed a bunch of coffee and it is really overworking. [Laughs.] You grew up in California but now you obviously spend a lot of time in New York. How do you like the Big Apple? I love it because there is no city like New York. Everyone always says it has electricity, but it's true-there's just something about that place. Most of the rest of my life I was in California-either 30 minutes outside San Francisco or right in Los Angeles-and they're both great cities, but L.A. is just so spread out. There's something about being forced in that little landmass with all those people that creates this kind of magic. I love it. Do you feel like a real New Yorker yet? It took me, like, five years and I don't feel like a New Yorker yet, but I feel totally at home now; I guess I feel like an accepted transplant at this point. I was born and raised in California and I've been here for so long that all my friends and family are here, so I feel like I might never let myself feel like a true New Yorker. So how did the script for The Brothers Solomon come about? You started it a while ago, right? Yeah, I had written a pilot about eight years ago and the two characters from the The Brothers Solomon were in it. When I was leaving That 70s Show, the producers of the show said, "We'll let you break your contract, but you have to write a pilot," and they always liked those two characters, so they told me to focus it around them. Will Arnett seems so perfect for the John Solomon role. How did he get involved? I eventually met Will the first year I was on SNL through his wife, Amy Poehler. For a long time, I just kind of had in my head who John Solomon was, but every time I tried to picture someone for the role, it just didn't work out. Then one day my agent said, "Hey, you should think of Will Arnett for it," and then it was like fate because when I pictured him in the role it was like, "Oh, my god, he was the guy I was picturing all those years when I was writing dialogue but just didn't know it." For a while, [we were] just trying to work it out so he could do it schedule-wise, but thank god he was able to do it because he's just the best and he's so damn funny. I love him like a brother. [Laughs.] Did you always picture yourself starring in it as well? In my dreams I did, but back when I was writing, it was just a pipe dream because I didn't think there was actually a chance that someone would actually let me be in this thing. Once I started on SNL, it became a lot more real of a possibility that I could be in it and pull it off, but it wasn't until the day that the cameras started rolling that I really believed it. I kept thinking this isn't going to happen, they're going to bring in Kirk Cameron for the Will Forte role. Kirk wasn't available, though? Uh, no. I think he was still refining the Way Of The Master website. It seems like a lot of successful comedy actors started out as writers. Why do you think you personally made that transition? You know, I don't know. I'm just happy that I've gotten into a situation where I can do both because I love writing so much. It's as much of a passion-if not more of a passion-than acting, and the fact that I actually get to act it out now is wonderful, too, because it's just a dream come true. If I had to choose between acting and writing, I don't know what I would do because there's something I love so much about just shutting myself in a room and just trying to figure stuff out. |
