Goofy, gangly and quickly heading for Hollywood greatness, actor Jay Baruchel made his mark with such hit comedies as Tropic Thunder and She's Out of My League. He’s now landed his biggest role to date in the shape of The Sorcerer's Apprentice. Playing the title character, opposite a typically hysterical Nicolas Cage, Baruchel gets to woo the ladies, take on the bad guys and save the day in one of the summer's most rewarding feel-good family epics. Calum Waddell caught up with the performer during his whirlwind visit to Edinburgh to talk about his rise to big screen stardom.

Just to begin with, can you tell us how much you have in common with your character Dave in The Sorcerer's Apprentice?

Uhm... somewhat and nothing (laughs). Somewhat in that I am totally obsessed with my nerdy pastimes and pursuits but, unlike him, I am useless when it comes to maths and science.

I like to think I don't have the same trouble with chicks that he does. But there is a bit of Basil Fawlty in both of us – I am a guy that likes to complain and always finds something to complain about, just like him. So there is at least a litre of my blood in there.

How familiar were you with the origins of The Sorcerer's Apprentice? Did you read the Goethe poem?

I'll be honest – I was more familiar with the sequence in Fantasia than the Goethe poem. I knew some Goethe stuff but, like every kid, I grew up with Fantasia and when I was a little kid my bedspread was Mickey with the sorcerer's hat on. I am sure I even peed on it once in a while…

I knew that was the nucleus of our movie and what really hijacked my imagination was that they had a way to weave it together with Arthurian myth. My favourite movie when I was a kid was The Sword and the Stone and I also love Boorman's Excalibur. I studied Arthurian legend at school and it is something I was always into, so that appealed to me. They had me at hello, man!

Selfishly, it was the chance to do what I love – getting my ass kicked and falling down and being awkward. It married that with what I always wanted to do: be a superhero and shoot energy from my hands.

Is Nicolas Cage a flexible actor to play against?

Man, that is the perfect adjective to describe Mr. Nicolas Cage. He is a flexible guy. And this might sound silly to some people but he and I subscribe to the same school of acting. He calls it "jazz acting" and basically it means that neither of us are afraid of exploring something by ourselves and making up our own shit.

Now, much to the chagrin of the people who have hired me, I will always ad lib. That is what I have always done and it is infinitely easier to get away with it when Nicolas Cage is next to you (laughs). He told me that he has made enemies and been at odds with the people he has worked with because of that. For some directors that is not acceptable but that is where he is most happy and I'm the same.

It was pretty evident the moment that we first hung out that we were on the same frequency. You will also never see us on red carpets for movies that we are not in. That's a big one for me. It made us kindred spirits!

Working for a mega-conglomerate like Disney must be quite an experience. How did you enjoy yourself?

It was fun. But the only kind of strange thing for me was that the bulk of the movies I have been in are R-rated – and designed that way from the start. I have a potty mouth, that belies my working class heritage, and I think swearing is hilarious. But on the set I'd keep hearing "Cut! Jay, you cannot say 'balls.'" I'd be like, "Well can I say ‘damn’?" "No, you can't say ‘damn’ either." That was tough.

But other than that it was just great to get in touch with the part of you which is still a kid. Everything they do, including their amusement parks, is tailor made to stimulate your imagination. They appeal to some part of your unconscious. For lack of a better and less clichéd term, it is just magical.

When you like something when you are a kid you like it better than anything you will like again. I remember the first time I saw Sword in the Stone or The NeverEnding Story or Ghostbusters. You think back and it transcends any sort of intellectual thing – you can't put it into words. And Disney is a big part of that. So being in something that can make even one kid feel that way... That is a job well done.

In The Sorcerer's Apprentice you cop off with the gorgeous Teresa Palmer and in your last movie, She's Out of my League, you managed to get it on with Alice Eve. Be honest: Do your films give nerdy guys unrealistic hope?

I should fucking hope not (laughs). I hope it's not false hope because it's worked for me so far.

Although you are a Hollywood actor...

Yeah, okay but... (laughs). Actually, long before I got to the States, my mum had raised me, warranted or not, with a strong sense of self-confidence. I felt like Napoleon – I always felt that I was the best and that I was a catch. So the best thing that could happen to a girl was that she could end up with me. Now I didn't have my growth spurt for a while so for most of high school I was about five foot and under 90 pounds but I was still hitting on the best looking girls in school.

So, yeah man, I like to think it's not false hope and if there's a trueness there it is that you are what you think you are. But you're right – being an actor doesn't hurt. At all!

The Sorcerer's Apprentice is released in UK cinemas on 13 August 2010.