Will Forte Post-SNL, MacGruber and film roles (2011-2014)
What is the relation between Will Forte and film roles
What is the relation between Will Forte and film roles
MacGruber was shot on a tight schedule of 28 days in Albuquerque, New Mexico, during the summer of 2009. It was written while simultaneously producing the weekly episode of SNL, and the show's production process left the trio deprived of sleep. Forte was positive regarding the film, saying, "What you see with this movie is exactly what we wanted to do. It's the three of us having a bunch of fun writing it, then having fun making it with a bunch of our friends--old friends and new friends. I think that fun comes across when you watch it. It's rare that you get that kind of creative freedom." The film was released in May 2010 and received mixed reviews. It fared worse at the box office, where it failed to recoup its budget and was pulled from theaters after its third week. Forte found the failure tolerable, commenting, "When you make something that you're really proud of and it doesn't do well, you can live with it." The film has since seen more positive reception and has been dubbed a cult classic. Forte left Saturday Night Live, shortly before the beginning of the show's thirty-sixth season in 2010. He felt it the "right time to go," considering his eight-year tenure there, his expansion into film with MacGruber, and his age. In addition, his sister had just had kids and he wanted to move to the West Coast to be closer to them. He soon regretted the decision, calling the following year an "emotionally trying period," as he felt "devastated" that he would no longer be on the program. He assumed his shot at a film career was ruined, and he imagined that if acting did not work out, he would return to writing primarily. Following this, he entered what he has called a "lost period" and had small supporting roles, such as Rock of Ages, That's My Boy and The Watch, all of which were not successful. The only commercial successful film he worked on was Grown Ups 2, where he made a cameo as a male cheerleader. He also took a role as Paul L'Astname, the cross-dressing boyfriend of Jenna Maroney on the critically acclaimed sitcom 30 Rock. Forte took his first dramatic role for the 2013 film Run & Jump. Director Steph Green offered him the part, and Forte imagined it a "fun thing to try," though he noted that she had more confidence in him than he had himself. Later, he sent an audition tape to director Alexander Payne for a role in his next film, Nebraska. He equated his casting in the film to his fear of joining SNL a decade prior, noting that he was "terrified" to begin working on it. He felt hard initially, but followed co-star Bruce Dern's acting advice to "look for the truth" in each scene--in other words, "In every scene, you're just trying to play it as honestly and as real as you can." CANNOTANSWER
Forte was positive regarding the film, saying, "What you see with this movie is exactly what we wanted to do. It's
Orville Willis Forte IV ( ; born June 17, 1970) is an American actor, comedian, writer, and producer. He is best known for being a cast member on Saturday Night Live (2002–2010) and for creating and starring in the sitcom The Last Man on Earth. For the series, he received three Primetime Emmy Award nominations: two for acting and one for writing.

After obtaining a history degree from the University of California, Los Angeles and becoming a financial broker like his father, Forte changed his career path to comedy and took classes with the improv group The Groundlings. He worked as a writer and producer on That '70s Show before joining Saturday Night Live. His most famous recurring character on the show led to a feature film adaptation, MacGruber (2010). He played various roles in comedy films before starring in the drama film Nebraska (2013). He has provided voice-work for Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs films (2009–2013), The Lego Movie films (2014–2019), My Life as a Courgette, Get Squirrely (2016), Luis & the Aliens (2018), The Willoughbys, and Scoob! (2020). He also voiced Eddy in Disney XD’s Lab Rats their smart home security system.

Early life
Orville Willis Forte IV was born in Alameda, California, on June 17, 1970, the son of artist and former schoolteacher Patricia C. (née Stivers) and financial broker Orville Willis "Reb" Forte III. He was raised in Moraga before moving to Lafayette at age 13. He went by "Billy" in his early years until he was teased at school for it also being a girl's name, at which point he decided he would from then on be known as "Will". Forte describes himself as having been a "really happy little boy" whose parents were "wonderful" and created a "very loving environment". He was interested in comedy from a young age, growing up idolizing comedians Peter Sellers, David Letterman, and Steve Martin, as well as the sketch-comedy television series Saturday Night Live. He often pranked his parents, and would record himself performing imaginary radio shows. He did not aim to be a comedian, however, and initially wanted to become a football player.

Forte was "a laid-back teen with a lot of friends" and a member of the varsity football and swim teams at Acalanes High School, from which he graduated in 1988. He was voted "Best Personality" by his graduating class and served as freshman class president. He had no ambitions for a television or film career, though his mother noticed a "creative streak" in him. Following high school, he attended the University of California, Los Angeles, where he was a member of the Lambda Chi Alpha fraternity and completed a degree in history. Planning to follow his father, he became a financial broker at Smith Barney Shearson in Beverly Hills, but felt "miserable" there. He co-wrote a feature-length script while there, and later said that he discovered he loved writing "more than anything [he] had ever done in [his] life". He had been encouraged to attempt comedy during his years at university, and he decided to change his career path to do so.

Career

Forte began taking classes at the Groundlings in Los Angeles, an improvisational and sketch comedy troupe and school, while tutoring children to make ends meet. Forte's first successful foray into comedy was 101 Things to Definitely Not Do If You Want to Get a Chick, a comic book he produced that details incompetent men. The comics landed him his first professional job writing for The Jenny McCarthy Show, a short-lived variety show starring Jenny McCarthy. Shortly thereafter, he was asked to submit a packet to the Late Show with David Letterman and was told Letterman responded favorably to animation. After only nine months at Letterman, he was "let go" from the job. He recalled his stint on the program as unpleasant, noting that he did not have enough experience in writing. "What an honor to work at that show but I don't think I was fully mentally prepared. [...] I always wonder what it would be like if I’d had a couple more years of experience before going there."

Forte returned to Los Angeles and began performing with the Groundlings' Main Company, with Cheryl Hines, Jim Rash and Maya Rudolph. He tried stand-up comedy three times, mostly at open mic nights, but quit after being voted into the Main Company. He joined the writing teams of two failed sitcoms, including The Army Show and Action. Forte got jobs writing for 3rd Rock from the Sun and That '70s Show, two successful programs. He loved writing and had mostly given up on acting, aside from acting with the Groundlings. While performing with the troupe in 2001, he was spotted by Lorne Michaels, the creator of Saturday Night Live (SNL). Forte felt his confidence was higher than usual, as That '70s Show had been picked up for two more years. He was invited to audition for SNL, which he regarded as unexpected.

At his audition for SNL, he performed multiple original characters, including Tim Calhoun, a speed reader, a prison guard, in addition to impressions of singer Michael McDonald and actor Martin Sheen. His final character was an older piece from his days with the Groundlings, in which he portrays a gold-painted street performer who performs fellatio to pay for his face paint, which devolves into a song needlessly uttering the words "cock" and "face paint" dozens of times. He felt his time to shine as a performer was already over, as he was in his thirties when he auditioned. To his surprise, he was offered a chance to be on the show, but declined, opting instead for the financial stability of his work at That '70s Show. He felt working for SNL could not live up to the idealized version he had dreamed of, but he later realized he would be making a mistake.

After Will Ferrell left Saturday Night Live the following spring, Forte joined the cast, premiering at the beginning of the show's twenty-eighth season in the fall. He was promoted to repertory player after his first year. His early years on the program were characterized by stage fright and an inability to properly interpret sketches that he did not write himself. He had to "re-learn" how to perform after years as a writer, and later felt his natural tendency to "overthink" things improved his performance. He was particularly uncomfortable portraying President George W. Bush, as he felt he was not the best impressionist and it paled in comparison to Ferrell's impersonation of Bush. His only role was often Bush, leaving him no chance for more "absurd" pieces he favored. He was nearly fired from the program following his third season (2004–05), but after two three-week extensions to decide his fate, he was brought back. Forte estimated it took five seasons for him to feel fully comfortable performing on the show. He made his film debut in Around the World in 80 Days.

Forte's humor at SNL has been described as bizarre, and he became known for many "10-to-1" sketchespieces that were considered odd, placed at the very end of the show. Among these were a sketch titled "Potato Chip", in which Forte plays a NASA recruiter that warns a candidate (Jason Sudeikis) not to touch a bowl of potato chips on his desk, or his turn as Jeff Montgomery, a sex offender who dresses up as a sex offender for Halloween. He was also well known for his characters Tim Calhoun, Greg Stink, and the Falconer. Forte's favorite sketch on the show was one in which he played a motivational coach alongside football star Peyton Manning. He also co-starred with Andy Samberg in the first SNL Digital Short, "Lettuce". He often spent long hours crafting his sketches for the program, missing deadlines, but his pieces were often greeted warmly at table reads. During his time at the show, he co-starred in and wrote the 2007 film The Brothers Solomon. The film was originally a pilot for Carsey-Werner, and its creation was an extension of his agreement to terminate his contract to appear on SNL.

Forte's best-known character on SNL was MacGruber, a special operations agent who is tasked in each episode with deactivating a ticking bomb but becomes distracted by personal issues. The sketches were based on the television series MacGyver. It was created by the writer Jorma Taccone, who pitched the idea relentlessly to Forte. He was initially reluctant to commit to the sketch, deeming it too dumb, but accepted after persuasion from Taccone. The first sketch aired in January 2007, and led to multiple more segments in the following years. In 2009, the sketches were spun off into a series of commercials sponsored by Pepsi premiering during Super Bowl XLIII that featured the actor behind MacGyver, Richard Dean Anderson, as MacGruber's father. The advertisements led the character and sketches to receive a wider level of popularity. Following the success of the advertisements, creator Lorne Michaels approached Forte, Taccone, and writer John Solomon with the idea to produce a MacGruber film.

Regarding his experiences on SNL, Forte remarked, "Looking back, the experience is something I'll never forget. I still miss it, and I'll always miss it. That's my family." His celebrity impressions included George W. Bush, Tom DeLay, John Edwards, Timothy Geithner, Newt Gingrich, Chad Lowe, Zell Miller, David Petraeus, Harry Reid, Brian Williams and Hu Jintao.

In the summer of 2009, MacGruber was shot on a tight schedule for four weeks in Albuquerque, New Mexico. It was written while simultaneously producing the weekly episode of SNL, and the show's production process left the trio deprived of sleep. Forte was positive regarding the film, saying,  The film was released in May 2010 and received mixed reviews. It fared worse at the box office, where it failed to recoup its budget and was pulled from theaters after its third week. Forte found the failure tolerable, commenting, "When you make something that you’re really proud of and it doesn’t do well, you can live with it." The film has since seen more positive reception and has been dubbed a cult classic.

Forte left Saturday Night Live shortly before the beginning of the show's thirty-sixth season in 2010. He felt it the "right time to go," considering his eight-year tenure there, his expansion into film with MacGruber, and his age. In addition, his sister had just had kids and he wanted to move to the West Coast to be closer to them. He soon regretted the decision, calling the following year an "emotionally trying period," as he felt "devastated" that he would no longer be on the program. He assumed his shot at a film career was ruined, and he imagined that if acting did not work out, he would return to writing primarily. Following this, he entered what he has called a "lost period" and had small supporting roles, such as Rock of Ages, That's My Boy and The Watch, all of which were not successful.  The only commercial successful film he worked on was Grown Ups 2, where he made a cameo as a male cheerleader.  He also took a role as Paul L'astnamé, the cross-dressing boyfriend of Jenna Maroney on the critically acclaimed sitcom 30 Rock.

Forte took his first dramatic role for the 2013 film Run & Jump. Director Steph Green offered him the part, and Forte imagined it a "fun thing to try," though he noted that she had more confidence in him than he had himself. Later, he sent an audition tape to Alexander Payne for a role in his next film, Nebraska. He equated his casting in the film to his fear of joining SNL a decade prior, noting that he was "terrified" to begin working on it. He felt scared initially, but followed Bruce Dern's acting advice to "look for the truth" in each scene—in other words, "In every scene, you're just trying to play it as honestly and as real as you can."

Forte began work on The Last Man on Earth, a sitcom, with longtime collaborators Phil Lord and Christopher Miller in 2013. Though it was the duo's idea, Forte attached himself to the concept, crafting a treatment over a weekend. The series was pitched around Hollywood to positive responses and was picked up in 2014 by Fox. Forte serves as the series' creator, a writer, the lead role, and showrunner for the first season. He felt odd being in charge of its writing team (composed of longtime friends), and awkward at delegating tasks, so much so that he would end up doing the work himself. Being a showrunner "truly was an amount of work I never knew existed," he said, which involved him working a "minimum of 12 hours" daily. The series premiered in 2015 to positive responses, and was renewed for the next three seasons.

In 2016, Forte played Hulka, a low-level weed dealer, in the comedy Keanu, starring Jordan Peele and Keegan-Michael Key. In 2018, he starred as National Lampoon magazine co-founder and writer Doug Kenney in the Netflix biographical film A Futile and Stupid Gesture. The film was directed by David Wain and also features Domhnall Gleeson as co-founder Henry Beard. Forte voiced Shaggy Rogers in the Scooby-Doo film Scoob!.

In 2021 Will Forte began starring in Sweet Tooth, a Netflix Original Series produced by Robert Downey Jr. Additionally, he reprised his role as MacGruber in a TV series on Peacock.

Other work
Forte is a supporter of the camp Wampler's Kids and recorded a promotional piece at SNL with Will Ferrell. Forte was a childhood friend of founder Steven Wampler and previously the national spokesman for SciEyes, a non-profit organization created to support research, training and public education in stem cell biology and to further the field by recognizing and supporting its potential for creating new therapies for the treatment of blinding and debilitating eye diseases. He was a primary donor towards the establishment of a research fellowship for third-year medical students at Duke Medical Center. He serves on the Board of Directors of the National Policy and Advocacy Council on Homelessness.

Personal life
Forte resides in Santa Monica, California. He purchased his home there just two weeks before joining the cast of Saturday Night Live, which required him to move to New York City, and later admitted that "it was not the greatest timing". He dated his Last Man on Earth co-star January Jones in 2015. In 2019, he became engaged to Olivia Modling, whom he met in 2018. Their first child, a girl named Zoe, was born on February 15, 2021. He married Olivia Modling on July 31, 2021.

Forte's mother has visited every film set on which he has worked and made an appearance on a Mother's Day episode of SNL, in which he sang a song to her on Weekend Update. He also officiated his sister Michelle's wedding and filmed the birth of his niece and nephew.

Forte has discussed and joked about his OCD tendencies. He recounted listening to only one song in his office at SNL for an entire year because he wanted to challenge himself. During an interview with Larry King, he discussed his OCD as a challenge he had to overcome but not one he wished he did not have, as it is a part of his personality. In a February 2015 feature on him and his show The Last Man on Earth, the writer of the article said that Forte mentioned OCD often but it was not clear if he had ever been formally diagnosed, though Forte related how he and a former girlfriend had gone through an OCD questionnaire and it concluded that Forte "should immediately talk to someone about this".

Filmography

Film

Television

Music videos

Video games

Web

Crew work

Awards and nominations

References

Bibliography

External links

 
 Will Forte LiveJournal Community
 Will Forte shares his favorite NY places at ontheinside.info
 Interview with Will Forte at CollegeHumor
 

1970 births
Living people
20th-century American comedians
20th-century American male actors
21st-century American comedians
21st-century American male actors
American impressionists (entertainers)
American male comedians
American male film actors
American male screenwriters
American male television actors
American male television writers
American male voice actors
American sketch comedians
American television writers
Comedians from California
Male actors from the San Francisco Bay Area
People from Alameda, California
People from Lafayette, California
People from Moraga, California
Screenwriters from California
University of California, Los Angeles alumni
Ana Marlene Forte Machado, better known as Marlene Forte, is a Cuban actress and producer. She is perhaps best known for her role as Carmen Ramos on the television soap opera Dallas (2012–2014).

Life and career
Forte was born in Havana, Cuba. She studied English literature at Rutgers and education at Montclair State University. She has appeared in many independent films since the early 1990s. She received an Imagen Award nomination for performance in the 2008 film Little Girl Lost: The Delimar Vera Story.  On television, Forte appeared in recurring roles on House of Payne, Crossing Jordan, and The Secret Life of the American Teenager. Her film appearances include the transporter chief in the 2009 Star Trek reboot and Mrs. Glass in Real Women Have Curves.

In 2012, Forte was cast on TNT's revamped Dallas, playing Carmen Ramos, longtime Ewing family housekeeper and mother to Elena (played by Jordana Brewster). She played another housekeeper in the 2013 comedy film, A Haunted House, and co-starred in the Tyler Perry's The Single Moms Club (2014). After Dallas, Forte had recurring role as Elena Gutierrez in the ABC Family drama series, The Fosters from 2015 to 2017.

In 2016, Forte played Celia Flores, the main antagonist during the first half of season 2 of the AMC horror drama series, Fear the Walking Dead. In 2018, she was cast as Alazne Ortega for the first season of the Netflix science fiction drama series, Altered Carbon. Her other television credits include Claws, Mayans M.C., Runaways, Superstore and The Conners. Forte also played supporting roles in the 2018 superhero film El Chicano as Raúl Castillo's character' mother, 2019 mystery crime comedy Knives Out as Ana de Armas' mother, and 2020 drama film The Way Back.

Filmography

Film

Television

References

External links
 
 

Living people
American entertainers of Cuban descent
American film actresses
American soap opera actresses
American television actresses
Cuban emigrants to the United States
People from Havana
Year of birth missing (living people)
20th-century American actresses
21st-century American actresses MacGruber is an American action-comedy streaming television series based on the recurring Saturday Night Live sketch of the same name, a parody of the action-adventure series MacGyver. Serving as a sequel to the 2010 film of the same name, the series stars Will Forte as the title character, who goes up against Brigadier Commander Enos Queeth, a villain from his past. Kristen Wiig, Ryan Phillippe, Sam Elliott, Laurence Fishburne, Billy Zane, and Timothy V. Murphy also star. A co-production between Universal Television and Broadway Video, filming took place in Albuquerque, New Mexico. The series was released on Peacock on December 16, 2021.

Premise

Cast

Main
 Will Forte as MacGruber
 Kristen Wiig as Vicki St. Elmo
 Ryan Phillippe as Dixon Piper
 Sam Elliott as Perry, MacGruber's father
 Laurence Fishburne as General Barrett Fasoose
 Billy Zane as Brigadier Commander Enos Queeth

Recurring
 Joseph Lee Anderson as Major Harold Kernst
 Timothy V. Murphy as Constantine Bach
 Marielle Heller as MacGruber's mom

Episodes

Production

MacGruber was a recurring sketch on Saturday Night Live from 2007 to 2010, co-created by comedian Will Forte and writers Jorma Taccone and John Solomon. Forte starred as the title character, an absurdist parody of the MacGyver television franchise. The sketches proved popular enough for a 2010 film adaptation of the character. Though the film was a box-office bomb in its original theatrical release, a growing cult following in the ensuing years, and continued enthusiasm from the creative team, led to development of a sequel. Focus shifted to a television project when another film was not seen to be financially viable.

Following the cancelation of the sitcom The Last Man on Earth, which Forte created and starred in and Solomon wrote and directed, their focus returned to a MacGruber revival, which was pitched with Taccone to television networks in early 2019. In November 2019, Forte mentioned the possibility of Kristen Wiig and Ryan Phillippe returning to reprise their roles from the film.

The MacGruber series was officially announced on January 16, 2020 when NBCUniversal, the distributor of both Saturday Night Live and the 2010 film, revealed the inaugural development slate for their then-upcoming streaming service Peacock. By April 2020, the scripts for all eight episodes were near completion. In August 2020, production was delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. On August 10, 2020, the series was officially given a series order, with Wiig and Phillippe in negotiations to star.

Taccone invited director Christopher Nolan, who had publicly discussed his enjoyment of the 2010 film, to the initial table read for the series. Nolan was unable to attend, but sent an email regarding his anticipation for the project, including that "the world is waiting, the world is watching," which Taccone said was "an amazing way to start the read-through." In June 2021, production began in Albuquerque, New Mexico, and it was confirmed that Wiig and Phillippe would reprise their roles, with Sam Elliott, Laurence Fishburne, and Mickey Rourke being added to the cast. By August 2021, Rourke left the series and was replaced by Billy Zane. Joseph Lee Anderson would join the cast in a recurring role, with Timothy V. Murphy reprising his role from the film. Filming concluded on August 23, 2021.

All eight episodes of the first season were released on Peacock on December 16, 2021.

Reception
 On Metacritic, the series has a score of 62 out of 100 based on 10 critic reviews indicating "generally favorable reviews".

References

External links
 

 

2021 American television series debuts
English-language television shows
American action comedy television series
American action television series
2020s American comedy television series
2020s American parody television series
American sequel television series
MacGyver (1985 TV series)
Peacock (streaming service) original programming
Saturday Night Live
Television series based on adaptations
Television series by Broadway Video
Television series by Universal Television
Television shows filmed in New Mexico
Television series impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic