Forte is everywhere — except on the radar
Lafayette native sinking teeth into quirky projects
Correspondent Lafayette native and former “Saturday Night Live” funnyman Will Forte goes mano-a-mano with persnickety supernatural forces in the Ireland-set “Extra Ordinary,” a lark of a comedy best paired with a frosty pint or two. It’s the latest success story for the actor and comedian, who is a scream as a has-been rocker and Satan devotee named Christian Winter who gets bedeviled by ghostly shenanigans and wacky plot developments. As has been the trend in his recent roles, Forte takes a back seat as, in this case, lead actress Maeve Higgins howlingly takes the wheel as a driving instructor who has a way with the devil. Forte enjoys being the supportive player, and it seems he has a knack for it: Critics have praised his supporting efforts in “Booksmart,” “Good Boys,” “The Laundromat” and now “Extra Ordinary.” But there’s one juicy Bay Area role he acknowledges that he utterly failed to ace — freshman class president at Acalanes High School in Lafayette. “I don’t think I did anything,” the 49-year-old said during an interview in San Francisco. He can recall waking up at 6:30 a.m. (an ungodly hour for any teen) to make those ghastly weekly meetings to discuss high school whatnot. He also figured out where homecoming floats would be built. He even mustered up class spirit by selling decorations during the holidays. “I think I was forced to do that,” says the former football player. Reflecting on that time now, he realizes he would perform his duties differently now. But cut this nice guy some slack. He was, after all, a freshman. “I made so many promises in my speech,” he remembers. “When you’re a freshman, you’re just trying to survive.” Forte does know about survival, at least in the network TV universe. His most recent TV series, Fox’s smart “The Last Man on Earth,” built up a strong fan base but didn’t get a chance to see its audacious premise — Forte as a last man wandering Earth — reach a conclusive finale. Fox axed it in 2018 after four seasons and left viewers dangling. “We knew how we would deal with the cliffhanger from Season 4, but we never knew how we were going to end the series,” he admits. “We had a couple of ideas. But it took all of our energy to get through the season.” Forte was the creator, writer and star of the show, collaborating with Phil and Christopher Miller (“The Lego Movie”). Given there was no resolution, could there be a windup season a la Fox’s “Lucifer,” which found a welcome roost at Netflix? “I would love to get back together with all these awesome people who were like family. But that’s out of my hands.” Although Forte has enjoyed “down time” not being on a regular series, he has a number of projects percolating in the background. He gets animated as Shaggy in the upcoming “Scoob!” theatrical release May 15, and he can currently be seen in the comedy show “Flipped” on Quibi. Another under-the-radar project sent him to New Zealand, a gorgeous destination he enjoyed thoroughly. Forte will star in respected indie filmmaker Jim Mickle’s pilot of “Sweet Tooth,” an adaptation of award-winning graphic novelist Jeff Lemire’s innovative series about a deerman hybrid. Lemire was on set and Forte had high praise for him and Mickle. “(Lemire) was the most delightful person,” Forte said, adding that he was fully enamored with working with Mickle, director of the neo-noir “Cold in July” and “Stake Land.” Currently, Forte’s searching for a home for his “MacGruber” series, based on his popular “SNL” cop character featured in a critically bashed 2010 movie that turned into a cult classic. But really he’s content traveling and spending time with his immediate family, visiting his mom in Danville, his sister in San Francisco and his father in Tahoe. He’s also excited about kicking back at his dream home in Monterey County. Forte recently purchased a stunning open-air $6.25 million oceanside home in Carmel, a spot he visited with his family while growing up. “That was always a place I considered magical — that whole area,” he said. “I knew at some point that that was a goal — to get a place out there. And it just kind of happened. It was meant to be.” Even if he admits he’s not that great of a golfer. His heart does remain in the East Bay, having grown up in Moraga and Lafayette. “You travel around enough, you get a sense of how lucky we are to get to live in this area. There are a lot of great places in the world. But what a wonderful place to have grown up. Luckily my family is still up here so I have a lot of chances to get back up here and visit.”