‘Nebraska’ Trailer Debuts Starring Will Forte [Video]

This year at the New York Film Festival we have plenty of mainstream stars on the slate. One of them is SNL alum Will Forte, who can be seen in director Alexander Payne’s Nebraska. Just going by the trailer, Nebraska looks like an incredibly offbeat drama, which is certainly in Payne’s wheelhouse.

In addition to Paramount Pictures’ Nebraska, Payne is the man behind The Descendants, Sideways, About Schmidt, and of course Election. All of those films have had different degrees of quirkiness. In a few of his films, Payne features its leads involved a crisis.

For Nebraska, it stars Bruce Dern, who is a boozy failure of a father, and finds himself somewhat reconnecting with his son, played by Will Forte.

The trailer features Payne’s signature off-beat style, and a close frame in capturing his subjects. Aesthetically speaking, the huge difference of Nebraska is that it’s in black and white, which definitely adds a new layer of character to the film.

The official synopsis for Nebraska is as follows:

“After receiving a sweepstakes letter in the mail, a cantankerous father (Bruce Dern) thinks he’s struck it rich, and wrangles his son (Will Forte) into taking a road trip to claim the fortune. Shot in black and white across four states, Nebraska tells the stories of family life in the heartland of America.”

During an interview, Will Forte opened up about how Nebraska came to be, saying that he loved the script for the film and that he was a huge fan of Alexander Payne.

Forte described the experience of getting cast in Payne’s Nebraska:

“I put myself on tape and sent it in, and I didn’t hear anything for maybe four months. And I just thought that they found somebody else. Then I had heard he liked the tape and wanted me to come in and audition in person. So I went in and met with him and read through the scenes, and I found out a month later. And it was just a dream come true.”

If you can’t catch Alexander Payne’s Nebraska at the New York Film Festival, you can catch it when it hits theaters on November 22.

Check out the moody trailer below: