"I used to do the fireworks at Premier Speedway every Easter, I came down every holidays with my parents, I did shows for scout groups, I came to a Kenny special screening here, I did Charlie & Boots here and came back for the premiere the reality is I should just buy a house here," Jacobson laughed, detailing an association that goes back to the age of 10.

"And now with Oddball it seems every six or seven years I come back and film here. I'm like Halley's Comet."

Jacobson was attached to star in the film about south-west chicken farmer Allan "Swampy" Marsh long before it was decided it would be shot around Warrnambool, saying there was something about the story that had him hanging on in the hopes it would finally get made.

"Films are like children they take a long time to raise," he said.

"It was just a very good story. It felt like a good family film.

"What I love about (Oddball) is I can take everyone in my family to see it I can take my parents, friends and children (and they) could all enjoy it for different reasons."

And then there's Swampy .

"He turns up on set dressed like I am now," Jacobson laughed.

"I find him very amusing. He's a real Australian character.

"Some people say he's a controversial character I keep hearing about the egging incidents but this is a story about a man who helped to put dogs on the island to save the penguins and that program is still in place."

When he finishes shooting, Jacobson will bounce straight to the next job, something that has been a constant since his breakthrough in the outstanding mockumentary Kenny back in 2006.

"The truth is I've hardly had a week off in seven years," he said, before launching into a dizzying list of what's on his plate.

"From (Oddball) I'm straight into (the stage production of) Mother & Son, I'm executive producer and co-host on Manspace which starts on Go! this week, I'm doing a doco on the life of Paul Hogan, which I'm hosting and co-producing, there's (the second season of ABC series) The Time Of Our Lives, and a couple of other movies I can't talk about yet.

"I'm very fortunate. It could all stop tomorrow. I appreciate the work I've got at the moment there are good actors sitting at home right now without roles.

"My life changed dramatically (after Kenny). Doors that used to shut in my face were held open."

One of those doors led to Hollywood. In 2012 he made his Hollywood debut in The Bourne Legacy alongside Jeremy Renner and Rachel Weisz .

"I always want to do more of that ," Jacobson said.

"I've been close before. Guillermo del Toro told me I was going to be in The Hobbit, but then he (quit as director). I was a chance to be in The Three Stooges. I had the Farrelly Brothers' casting agent calling me at home telling me I pretty much had the job. On IMDb I was listed as being in it, alongside Sean Penn and Benicio del Toro, and my wife was asking me 'is there something you're not telling me?' but I didn't have the job."

Not that Jacobson minds too much. On top of the extensive list of upcoming projects he has lined up, Jacobson said his brother Clayton, who directed Kenny, has "got quite a lot of scripts" that could reunite the siblings on the big screen.

And having ticked off a family film with Oddball, Jacobson is keen to mark off a few other things on his bucket list.

"I've had a chance to do comedy, I got to be serious on TV, people are accepting that I can do drama now I'd like to be a bad guy," he grinned.

mneal@fairfaxmedia.com.a