Extra Ordinary: Will Forte says satan-worshipping rock star 'closest to the real me' he's ever played

Sunday afternoon at SXSW saw the world premiere of Extra Ordinary, an Irish-set ghost-hunting romcom with a bit of demon possession and Satanic worship thrown into the mix. 

At the center of Extra Ordinary is Rose (Maeve Higgins), a former exorcist-turned-driving instructor who's forced back into her old line of work when she meets a widower (Barry Ward) who's being aggressively haunted by the ghost of his late wife. To make matters worse, his daughter falls victim to a spell cast by a washed-up rock star (Will Forte), who makes a pact with the devil to reclaim his fame. 

After screening the film, the writer/director team of Mike Ahern and Enda Loughman were joined on stage by Higgins, Forte, and the rest of the film's cast to discuss their wildly inventive, outright hilarious genre mashup. 

When talking about his involvement in the film, Forte joked that the role was "probably the closest to the real me of any character" he's played. However, the actor's initial plans almost prevented him from being involved. 

"We had just finished the last season of The Last Man on Earth. It was such a crazy amount of work, I was gonna go to Ireland on vacation," Forte told the crowd, which included SYFY WIRE.

"Then, I heard there were these guys making a movie in Ireland and so I thought 'Oh, well f*ck no.' I just wanted to go on vacation I just want to relax, the last thing I want to do is work."

Nonetheless, Forte started to change his mind after reading the script. Once he learned Ahern and Loughman would also be directing the film, he immediately signed on. While his character is the perfect opportunity for Forte to ham up his performance through his exaggerated cadence and mannerisms, he said there was "close to zero" improv on the set. 

"You only have to improv when it’s a piece of sh*t script," Forte said, adding that "these guys knew what they're doing." 

Still, the role didn't come without some sacrifice. While his character sports a Beatles-esque MopTop, it is revealed (quite hysterically) to be a wig at a crucial point in the film.

"At the very beginning, we were trying to figure out the hair and mustache," Forte recalled. "Then, a couple weeks into it, they said 'remember when you said you’ll do anything hair-wise? What if we did that little male pattern baldness thing?'"

After agreeing to shave the top of his head, Forte conceded that his character's baldness is only in the film "for like a quarter of a second." While the gag earned a huge response from the SXSW crowd, Forte jokingly griped that he had "to walk around like for... ever.”

At this time, there's no official release date for Extra Ordinary, but we'll be keeping our eyes out. Until then, you can check out all of SYFY WIRE's SXSW coverage here.