Will Forte is a certified US comedy star and tackles big drama in Nebraska, but he's having a lot of trouble with Aussie slang.
When talk turns to his role in Nebraska, in a rare dramatic turn as Bruce Dern's onscreen son, the former Saturday Night Live cast member can't resist.
"Well first, fair dinkum," he tells AAP.
It's the first of several times Forte unsuccessfully tries to inject the Aussie phrase into the beginning or the end of a sentence.
"I don't know how to use it in the context of the conversation," he says.
It's agreed he can get a signal when it would work and Forte goes on to reveal the five-month or so process that led to his casting in Nebraska - Alexander Payne's black and white film that's in the running for six Academy Awards.
Known for having people in stitches through Saturday Night Live, 30 Rock and MacGruber, Forte never took any dramatic acting classes.
That's why it was such a shock when Payne, an Oscar-winner for The Descendants and Sideways, took a chance on him.
Four and a half months after sending in his audition tape, Forte got a call. Payne had liked his work and wanted to see him read the scenes in person.
"That was right there, the most exciting thing," he says.
"If that was as far as it went, it would have been one the biggest things in my career to know Alexander Payne had liked my tape."
But it didn't just end there. More than a month later, Forte picked up the phone to hear he had not only got the job, but veteran actor Dern would be playing his father.
In Nebraska, Dern's ageing Woody believes he's a million-dollar winner and goes on a road trip with his son (Forte) to collect his money.
Forte says luckily, right before Nebraska he was cast in a small Irish movie, Run & Jump.
"I was in Ireland in the middle of the countryside (and) it felt like a really safe area to try this out... (it) gave me a little bit of confidence going into Nebraska," he says.
"But it was still a pretty terrifying experience."
Forte spent most of his time with Dern, who he got to know well simply because of the nature of the story.
"We were stuck in a car together for 10 hours a day," he says of the Academy Award-nominated 77-year-old.
Although Dern and his onscreen wife (June Squibb) are seasoned actors, Payne also cast a large number of native Nebraskans in the film.
"All these people who are retired farmers just come out and fit seamlessly with these people who have been acting for decades and decades," he says.
"It's just so fun to watch."
For Forte, Nebraska was a career highlight not just because it was a chance at playing a dramatic role.
"This was one of those rare experiences where you start off with this beautiful script and high hopes and every step of the way, it fulfilled those hopes and then some," he says.
"I just remember getting to watch Bruce do this amazing performance and feeling like I was watching something incredibly special ... To then realise I got to be a part of that was just as cool as it gets."
Fair dinkum.
* Nebraska is released in Australian cinemas on February 20.
