Actor Jason Segel made a cultural faux pas while chatting with people in Finland.
Segel is best known for playing Marshall Eriksen in the CBS sitcom How I Met Your Mother. He also appeared in Freaks and Geeks, Knocked Up, and Forgetting Sarah Marshall.
The 46-year-old spent an extended period of time in Finland in late 2024 to film Over Your Dead Body, which premiered on March 14.
Highlights
- Jason Segel's friendly American habit was mistaken for suspicious behavior by a security guard in a Finnish supermarket.
- Finnish people tend to be reserved and avoid eye contact, the actor said.
- Segel was in the country filming an action comedy with Samara Weaving.
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While discussing his time in the Nordic country, Segel made an admission about how American culture differs from Finland’s.
"I always try to be friendly. I say hello and ask how people are doing. However, that didn't work in Finland, where people are quite reserved," Segel told Jimmy Kimmel on Tuesday (April 7).
The actor tried making small talk with grocery store workers, but they seemingly mistook his kindness for something else entirely.
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"I was walking to my car, and a female security guard followed me. She was big, tattooed, and resembled Dolph Lundgren's character in Rocky," Segel recalled.
According to Segel, the guard asked him for his car keys, claiming he was “clearly high" because he had "greeted people and was staring at the cereal shelf.”
The actor had spent a long time in the cereal aisle because he was confused by the product descriptions written in Finnish.
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“I muttered that I wasn't high, I was just being friendly," he explained.
Segel added that, during his time in Finland, he noticed that many people walk with their heads down and avoid eye contact.
The misunderstanding sparked a wave of reactions across social media, with one user admitting, “Correct. We don't tolerate that cr*p around here.”
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“Small talk should be banned universally,” declared someone else.
“Can I become an honorary Fin? I cannot stand small talk,” asked another user, while a fourth said, “Sounds like a great place for an introvert."
“What kind of nutter starts chatting to strangers in the supermarket?!” an additional user joked.
Another Finnish user chimed in, stating, “Yes. Rule #1 in Finland - no small talk. Rule #2 - physical distance.”
Image credits: Eva Rinaldi
The film crew stayed in the Tampere region. According to local media, Segel lived in a cottage in Siuro for two months.
The How I Met Your Mother alum reportedly went to the sauna and swam every day, even though filming took place in late autumn.
Over Your Dead Body premiered at the South by Southwest Film & TV Festival last month and is scheduled for release in the United States on April 24.
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Segel plays Dan, a man who goes on vacation to a remote cabin to supposedly reconnect with his partner Lisa (Samara Weaving), only to discover that they both have plans to execute each other.
The action comedy, which currently has a 70% score on Rotten Tomatoes based on critics’ reviews, is an adaptation of the Norwegian movie The Trip.
Elsewhere in his Jimmy Kimmel Live! interview, Segel shared details about his elaborate surprise proposal to his fiancée, Kayla Radomski.
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"My measure of this, if I had done it right, was if she burst into tears, which is a high mark," the actor explained. "I wanted her to cry real hard. I wanted it to be the best moment of her life."
Segel popped the question at Huntington Gardens in California, where they had one of their earliest dates. He lied to Radomski about the outing, asking her to join him at the botanical gardens for a fake "donor dinner."
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“While our eyes were closed, I got down on my knee, and I proposed,” he shared. A string quartet began playing Tale as Old as Time from Beauty and the Beast, Radomski's favorite movie, and she began crying.
"Kayla's this amazing mix. She presents as a Disney princess, but she's a total weirdo," Segel said of the dancer. "And so I wanted something that really captured who she was, and I think I did it."
The Santa Monica native added that meeting Radomski helped him reevaluate his priorities.
"My whole life, work has been my beloved, and now the whole lens of how I view things has switched and I'm having the best time of my life."
Segel previously dated his Freaks and Geeks co-star Linda Cardellini, actress Michelle Williams, and photographer Alexis Mixter.
"The Finnish are happy not being bothered with small talk," one netizen wrote
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