James Buckley thinks the 'Inbetweeners 2' cast is like an unfancied ''football team''.

The 26-year-old actor - who plays sex fantasist Jay Cartwright in the movie - believes fans want them succeed because they're not the typical movie stars.

Speaking to The Sun newspaper, he said: ''People root for us, like a football team. They want us to do well because we're very much the underdog.

''We don't look like film stars, and we don't act like them. In a way, we are very similar to 'The Inbetweeners' in that we are out of our depth.''

Despite this, Buckley admits he and his co-stars Simon Bird, Joe Thomas and Blake Harrison are not adverse to mixing with other stars as they've struck up a close friendship with the One Direction boys over the years.

He explained: ''They love 'The Inbetweeners', which is great. When I read that Harry Styles introduced [his ex-girlfriend] Taylor Swift to 'The Inbetweeners' dance when they got together, I texted him and said, 'Good lad.' ''

The 'Best Song Ever' hitmakers - also consisting of Niall Horan, Zayn Malik, Liam Payne and Louis Tomlinson - have even incorporated the 'Macarena' sequence - which appeared in the first 'Inbetweeners' film in 2011 - into their stage performance.

Buckley added: ''They do the dance but they make it quite good.''

Meanwhile, 'The Inbetweeners 2' is set to hit screens on August 6.