For the last five years, Zachary Levi has gotten to go to work every day and play a superhero of sorts. Chuck Bartowski started out a seemingly normal guy who was smarter than most but kind of direction-less when it came towards life outside of video games. He could do anything-- he could save the world-- but he hadn’t been challenged to do so yet. And then all of a sudden he received a surprise email from an old college friend-- an email that would change his life, introduce him to the love of his life, and show him his true capabilities. In many ways, his character might have been a perfect parallel to Levi’s own life. Having co-starred on a sitcom prior to landing the leading role on Chuck, Levi had not truly tapped into his own full potential in Hollywood-- or on the world. But what the show was about to unfold for him was just how great his reach could be. Let’s all just be thankful he has chosen to use his power for good! Here Levi opens up about his time on Chuck, reflecting on everything from meeting his partner-in-virtual-crime Joshua Gomez, to where he wants to go from here.
Shooting the pilot was pretty much just playtime for Levi and Gomez. “That pilot was just a really magical time. It’s crazy to think that it’s been five years since we did that. You know, it’s like any memory like that: it seems like it was yesterday, and it seems like it was a lifetime ago… Having just barely met each other, but I brought my Xbox and "Gears of War," which had just come out-- the original-- and I had hooked it up to a flat screen in our store, and we were just sitting there in between takes…The director would yell for us to come back, but we were having a blast!”
Learning he landed the role of a spy, Levi hoped it meant lots of situations for him to go undercover. “One of the things that I really hoped I would have gotten to do [more] on this show that when we really started I thought I would get to do was ever since I was a kid, you know, I do voices-- I do dialects and characters and stuff. And I thought ‘Oh my gosh, this is great! I get to play this spy who’s going undercover and in character and stuff so I’ll get to do that.’ And I didn’t, really. Very seldom did I get to do anything that was a departure from my character…Season four and this last season, I was looking for every opportunity I could to do a voice where they couldn’t cut it out.”
Levi learned a lot from watching the other actors around him, especially his on-screen dad, even if their shared screen-time was short-lived. “[Scott Bakula] is such a, just an excellent human being. Great actor, great man. You know, I love that the people who have played my parents in the show have been that-- you know, Linda is like a mom on set; Scott was like a dad on set. He and I have, I felt, in a lot of the conversations we had over our time together, we have a lot in common; he imparted a lot of wisdom to me. His journey on Quantum Leap was similar to mine here in that it was all day, everyday, go, go, go, crazy hours-- but it was a family, and he was so supportive of me from day one.”
Though Levi actually does have sisters of his own, he counts Sarah Lancaster among them now. “Sarah’s been my sister for five years, and I wouldn’t, couldn’t have possibly cast anyone else in that role…She’s so lovely and talented and gorgeous, obviously. It’s weird being attracted to your sister, first and foremost; that’s strange! Secondly, we have been very brother and sister and supportive-- like watching her live life and find the man of her dreams and get married and have a baby on-screen and off, it’s incredible.”
Without Chuck in the first place, there might not be The Nerd Machine, but without any more Chuck, there will only be bigger and better things for The Nerd Machine. “I fully intend to keep fostering the Nerd Machine and keep trying to do the coolest things I can do as far as bringing entertainment and technology together, bringing the creative world of Hollywood and fans together. I think the next five years, we’re going to see really incredible steps, as far as what social networking-- the impact will have. And not just reading Tweets and people hashtagging and trending things. I’m talking, like, offering fans and offering the public the opportunity to have the power. I believe you need to give them the power back. I think if you trust them with it, and everyone has an understanding that if you believe in whatever this is and you buy it-- don’t steal it; don’t rip it; don’t burn it; but buy it!-- and as long as you’re not gouging your audience, then you can build a healthy relationship with them, and it can be consumer-driven.”
And yes, that means a second-annual Nerd HQ, probably with a Chuck reunion panel! “I want to kick off the whole Comic Con week with a little concert and get like three bands or something and do all that for charity… At the end of the day, you strip all of this away, and it’s community theater. We’re put on entertainment pedestals because we’re pumped into people’s homes week after week, and that’s cool, and that’s awesome, but take all of [that] away, and we’re all just eating Red Vines at Craft Service and making minimum wage. But you love what you do-- you love being an entertainer-- and you hope that people see what you do and dig what you do because you love it.”
Chuck airs its series finale on NBC on Friday, January 27th, starting at 8pm. Check out some spoilers from that episode right here.
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