Ben Schwartz Geeked Out Over Working With 'Back to the Future' Director Robert Zemeckis on 'The Walk'

Ben Schwartz went full-on Chris Farley for director Robert Zemeckis. The actor, best known for his television roles on Parks and Recreation (as club-king Jean Ralphio) and House of Lies (as arrogant consultant Clyde Obertholdt), scored not only his biggest dramatic film role yet when he was cast as Albert in The Walk, but it was being helmed by one of his all-time favorite filmmakers.

“Robert Zemeckis is kind of my hero,” Schwartz told Yahoo Movies in the video interview above. “My favorite movies of all time are — Back to the Future is No. 1, and then Who Framed Roger Rabbit? is up there, and Forrest Gump. So all these movies kind of shaped what I love about storytelling and human beings, and just making movies.”

Related: Ben Schwartz Swears He Has Some ‘Star Wars: The Force Awakens’ Spoilers

Schwartz, 34, says he was so geeked to meet and work with Zemeckis that he ended up unintentionally channeling Chris Farley on the late comic’s iconic Saturday Night Live interview segment where he played a starstruck host who nervously gushed over the likes of Paul McCartney and Martin Scorsese.

“I wanted to ask him [about] Back to the Future, but I waited days,” he said. “I was there like a month filming, I waited a long time. And then slyly pretended like, 'So… remember Back to the Future?’”

The Walk, which stars Joseph Gordon-Levitt as World Trade Center daredevil Philippe Petit, opens Oct. 9. Watch the trailer: