NBC Red Carpet Interview with the cast of Chuck

Part 1



Part 2

Interviews on the Set of "Suburbs"

Guest stars Jenny McCarthy and Andy Richter along with Chuck's Zach Levi and Yvonne Strahovski reveal a few secrets about the upcoming episode: Chuck versus the Suburbs.

Jace Hall Interviews with Zach Levi

2008 EMMYs : Supporting Actor - Drama Nominees

Let's be honest here - it's starting to look like last season's The Wire is gonna pull a Sopranos at this year's Emmys. Case in point, the entire supporting cast deserves a nod, but for our money, it was Michael K. Williams' Omar and Andre Royo's Bubbles that carried the show through it's five-year run, and most deserve to at least be nominated. Meanwhile, Taylor Kitsch (Friday Night Lights) and Adam Baldwin (Chuck) will supply some solid competition, and Lost's Terry O'Quinn might be looking at back-to-back wins in this category.

MICHAEL K. WILLIAMS - THE WIRE - As "stick-up man" Omar Little, Williams was one of our favorite anti-villains of the show.

TAYLOR KITSCH - FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS - The troubled football star who everyone roots for.

ANDRE ROYO - THE WIRE - Royo's Bubbles was heartbreaking throughout the show up until his bitter end.

TERRY O'QUINN - LOST - Locke is the castaway we just love to hate, and could nab his second Emmy for the role.

ADAM BALDWIN - CHUCK - the no-nonsense undercover agent who spends his days in the Nerd Herd has become one of the main reasons why fans flock to Chuck.

Original page : ugo.com

2008 EMMYs : Supporting Actress - Drama Nominees

Call us crazy - or it could be our inner-feminists talking here - but for our money, it's the women that carry the testosterone-fest that is Friday Night Lights, and crazed football mom Connie Britton and bad-girl-with-a-heart-of-gold Adrianne Palicki lead the pack here. Meanwhile, Yvonne Strahovski (Chuck), Tricia Helfer (Battlestar Galactica) and Deirdre Lovejoy (The Wire) round out what's looking to be a very competitive ensemble of nominees.

YVONNE STRAHOVSKI - CHUCK - when you can kick much ass and look good doing it, you deserve an Emmy in our books!

CONNIE BRITTON - FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS - The absolutely beautiful Britton does an amazing job as the overbearing Texan football mom.

TRICIA HELFER - BATTLESTAR GALACTICA - We an only assume that Number Six has the nerd vote.

ADRIANNE PALICKI - FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS - Again, we're guessing this one is gonna be neck and neck between Palicki and her co-star, Britton.

DEIRDRE LOVEJOY - THE WIRE - Sure, she got around the Baltimore Police Department like a box of Krispy Kremes, but there's no denying Lovejoy's take-no-guff Rhonda Pearlman character.

Original page : ugo.com

Our Favorite Leading Ladies - Yvonne Strahovski

Yvonne Strahovski

Actress Bio: Yvonne Strahovski is Australian, which I bet you didn't know. Her given last name is Strzechowski, which is a traditional Australian name meaning "left fielder". Yvonne was in Hollywood for all of three days before she landed the role on Chuck.



Character Details: Yvonne plays federal agent Sarah Walker, who is an extremely hot blonde, which in acting terms is pretty "in the box" for Yvonne. Sarah spends much of the series trying to help Chuck understand the computer technology inside his brain as well as the fact that, realistically, he has no shot in hell.




You Go, Girl: And then, out of nowhere, came Yvonne Stahovski. Firstly, we had no idea from watching the show that she was Australian; her Americanese is excellent. Secondly, she does an admirable job of kicking ass while remaining emotionally attractive, which is a tough gig. To be honest, if we had a hot female secret agent shooting dudes next to us, we wouldn't be turned on, we'd be on our third pair of underwear by noon. The fact that Yvonne maintains her appeal - and puts up with Chuck's passive aggressive moonfaces - gives her top props in our book.

Original page : ugo.com

All About 'Chuck'

All About 'Chuck'

Chuck's Zachary Levi has smooth skin, Hugh Laurie makes a confession and more from Monday's daytime TV shows

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Party Patrol: Spelling & Chuck

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Interview with Zachary Levi (by Christopher Stipp)

Christopher Stipp: I’ve talked with [co-director, co-writer] Joel Moore. He told me he came upon director Adam Green while doing HATCHET. How long have you known Joel?

Zach Levi: Joel and I have known each other going on 6 years. We just hit it right off as we’re just kindred spirits, cut from the same cloth when it comes to comedy and acting – being in Hollywood, wanting to be filmmakers from many aspects, having production companies, we became fast friends – just really hit it off.

Over the years we would just watch each other, supporting each other in our own singular careers when jobs would pop up here and there. It was always with the idea of making our own stuff but never really knowing how or what that would look like. And [co-writer] Jeremy came into the picture about three and a half years ago and was also very similar – a great writer - and we all just started toying with the idea of a script here or there – whatever. And Jeremy and Joel were the first ones to sit down and decide to start something. Joel had already written a short film – it wasn’t really SPIRAL but it had some similarities to what SPIRAL ended up being.

I was working at a show (Less Than Perfect) at that time. When we were writing it we were all still working on individual things. When they finished writing that, Jeremy and I wrote a couple pilots and took one around and were reasonably successful but it didn’t get picked up by networks. But we did well with our first outing. Then Joel, a little while after that, had an epiphany, if you will (I think he was in the middle of taking a shit, I’m not sure), and realizes we can make this movie ourselves. We can independently produce it. And of course he thought it was going to be a hundred thousand dollars to make this film.

A hundred thousand dollars and a box of Red Vines. And actually that turned out to be true – we did have Red Vines on set.

But a hundred thousand was nowhere near what was needed to make it happen. But we did end up making it on a shoestring budget in comparison to the budgets of a lot of other films. And Joel called me and pitched the idea and asked if I would be interested in investing X amount of dollars and then he would invest the full amount as seed money, starter money to get things off the ground, start hiring the appropriate crew to get direction on this thing to then go talk to other investors that “Hey, we are putting our own cash into this thing”, we’re not just asking for your money and then going to run away with it, and then for me to play the role of Berkeley which we already talked about. We had basically an 18 day window between Thanksgiving and Christmas which was the only time we could do it between the schedule he was working on and the schedule I was working on. We had to find the crew and it all worked out for all to be in Portland where Joel and Jeremy wrote it, to have it shot there. Because it was shot between the two holidays, and because not much else up there that was big budget, we were able to get the best crew that Portland had to offer because they weren’t working and they were really good guys and an incredible crew as well. It was the most ridiculous thing to find a gaffer, a key grip. You don’t think of Portland and film and go “Oh yeah, they got a lot of talent” but a lot of commercials shoot up there. We were able to get the cream of the crop, they worked for peanuts but it was a real labor of love. I would compare this to community theatre in a lot of ways. Where everybody just pitches in and rolls up their sleeves and if something needs to be moved, you get up and move it. If we need a second meal, then you run out and go get it. As an executive producer, not that I’ve ever been an executive producer before, but I have worked enough with executive producers to kind of have an idea of what was expected of me in some regard, and aside from putting money in and being a part of making important decisions, I just wanted to be a cheerleader.

SpiralBut I kind of got a head of myself. So Joel has this epiphany, while squatting, and comes to me and I say “Yeah, let’s do it” and we go do a grassroots kind of thing, sounds pretty political, but we went to our friends and our friend’s family and said we are going to make this movie for this much money. If we can’t make it for this much money, we are still going to make it so if you want to be a part of the process… And it was great to see people come out of the woodwork. Joel and I have the greatest friends in Los Angeles. I would challenge anyone in the world to compare. We have the greatest circle of friends. It’s really incredible. They have come from all parts of the world and their families are aware of who their friends are. It’s like “Yeah, my buddy Zach he’s on this show Chuck” and that time it was Less than Perfect. So they were all aware of where Joel and I were in our careers and were very supportive of whatever this film was going to be. It was all about heart, about vision.

Just a lot of people without a lot of money just being very supportive of us.

We come through with a good distribution deal and I think we have a good chance at not just getting people their money back but hopefully a little better return as well, and that’s what we really want to do to just say “Thank you for believing in us, supporting us, and supporting our dreams.” Maybe we’ll have to go to them again but, hopefully, we can just say thank you for starting us out on this path and let studios take care of the rest of the investment.

CS: Walking away from a huge ordeal like this, did you have any of your ideas about filmmaking ideas get challenged by thinking that’s not the way I thought it would be? What kind of life lessons did you take away from it?

ZL: I always thought of myself as a bit of a sponge, an observant person and so everything that I worked on I’m always observing behind the scenes during production, so there weren’t a lot of “So wow, that’s how….” Certainly I’ve learned a lot about the financial aspect and being privy to some of the conversations was enlightening. I feel a lot of what I experienced wasn’t the first time for me, yes the first time I was an executive producer, but it wasn’t the first time I was aware of the process of making a film. With that being said, there was plenty that just being the point person on it, it’s just crazy, before being the executive producer on SPIRAL I’ve always said it really is mind boggling how many people it takes to put a film together. And then having done SPIRAL and being in that production kind of role, it really drives that home and just solidifies that. I think for us and certain independent film makers, there’s a lot of wheeling and dealing and beg, borrow and steal – you just really have to be dedicated – 100% passionate and dedicated to what you are trying to put together. More so for Jeremy and Joel, far more than myself.

I was working a lot of the time when things were getting put together, tied up with other things or whatever, Jeremy was the workhorse of our company and Joel equally in different ways, for better or worse I’ve been busy with my personal path especially with Chuck.

I can’t say that I’ve learned as much as Joel or Jeremy have but it really is mind boggling understanding the scope of what a film requires from inception to the final shot into post production…just so many steps and so many voices and fortunately Jeremy became the taskmaster and kept things on task as best he could or otherwise he could have been lost in this kind of independent film shuffle where some of these, they just freeze at a particular step of the way. Sometimes they don’t get past the idea or, if they do, they don’t get past writing it. Do they end up getting the money to shoot it? If they do shoot it, do they shoot all of it? Do they shoot pick up shots? We were so blessed that we were able to accomplish every step of this process and we are looking at a limited theatrical release.

We could be at a cool little indie theatre in Los Angeles where I’ve seen some of the most incredible films at or we could be on DVD. Or we could be anywhere you can think of. On-line or you can walk into a Wal-Mart and pick up SPIRAL. What the hell did we do? We didn’t know what the shit we were doing and we made it happen. I tip my hat – I curtsy to Joel and Jeremy more than anyone. More than anyone it was Joel’s baby and then after Joel it was definitely Jeremy’s. It wasn’t my baby but I felt like more of an uncle that got to hold the baby from time to time and promise it great gifts as it got older but it wasn’t my child to have to take care of from time to time. It was definitely Joel’s. It’s the risk and reward. Joel has and had the most to gain from this film as far as being its co-writer, co-director, star, executive producer. I’m so proud of him. It’s not an easy thing to do by any stretch of the imagination and for him to see it all the way through and master its release into the world is not an easy thing.

CS:You just mentioned about some films not finding their way to the daylight, literally. People will be able to buy this in a few weeks or see it in a theatre. What do you think, and obviously by you being a part of it, why was it a movie that had potential more than a lot of other movies out there?

ZL: Well, it all starts with an idea and it starts with a great script – 99% of the time it has to be on the page. Joel and Jeremy really took their time and crafted a great script and when you couple that with the passion – the collective passion – the collective talent of people that make up the company you find the light. Fortunately for us it was a dream team. Really surreal. No one was throwing around ego. We were honest from day one – it’s as independent as it gets and “We wish we could pay you every bit of your rate but we can’t - but you can be with us for the journey and the dream or not and we won’t hold it against you if not” and everyone really bought it and little did they know were are making millions. No…They all were like, “Yeah, let’s do it. Why not? We’re not working.”

As well, the feeling of accomplishment. And I feelAmber Tamblyn we absolutely accomplished that. I feel like when we were shooting it, my manager, who also represents Amber Tamblyn, and that was part of the beauty of it, said she would make a few calls and get Amber – so when I talked to Joel and Jeremy and I asked them who their dream names were for the role. When Amber Tamblyn’s name came up and they didn’t have any idea I had a connection I said, “Oddly enough…small world blah blah blah” – she was on their dream list the first actress we went to first one on their list and it just fell into place. I could tell from just the process of putting the thing together we had something special on our hands. The night we were shooting it, my agent comes up to visit. And we got our trailer out there, our generator is out there, and for all intents and purposes it looks like a bona fide film. And I remember her stopping in the middle of the street, which I wouldn’t recommend, just looking at it and said, “You really did this.” And I said, “Yes, we really did.”

I’d rather take a pay cut like we all did and put the money on the film. So we really all gave it our all. When we were shooting it so many things were coming together – it was just kind of magical. We had Sundays off or maybe it was Mondays off, I can’t really remember, but anyway were shooting up in the hills in Portland and there were some steep roads and we were shooting on our off day and we all come down from this house we were shooting out of and we woke up to a Winter Wonderland. It was snowing, it was beautiful, the roads were all slicked over and icy and of course we all wake up and we have the day off – but then half way through the day we were like “Fuck. what the hell happens if this doesn’t clear up?” because we don’t have any insurance days, we have to shoot it every day we were scheduled to shoot and we can’t make it up those hills if they are iced over – we are totally powerless and sure enough we wake up to a magical snow day and half-way through it started melting off and we were able to get back up the hills and continue on shooting.

All that kind of stuff – staying at this little hotel that was remodeled, didn’t have a lot to offer other than some cozy little rooms and a nice little restaurant bar down in the lobby. It was a gas. It was a freezing cold Portland/Melrose Place. That’s what it felt like for 20 days. A bunch of us road tripped up to start the film and road tripped back on Christmas Eve. I remember driving back with one of our co-producers and actor in the film, David Muller, who was also our set photographer, super talented, awesome dude.

And then in post, we hit our bumps in the road like everyone does and it all came out and the film came out, I feel, exactly like it was supposed to. It is a character driven, suspense-thriller, that as genre is concerned can only be likened to but certainly not equal to, by any means, like a Hitchcock film. And that’s what we wanted. It has that flow and style and likeness where you are watching a story and not just subject to a bunch of junk. It’s not a horror flick by any means, not meant to make you jump out of your seat – you are supposed to be drawn in by these characters and the relationships and feel like you are a part of whatever this is and keeps the audience active, I feel.

I’m really proud there is a lot of ambiguity but not in this masturbatory way like some filmmakers do, like “Nobody understands the deepest vision of my film and you never will.” Fuck you, don’t jerk me off like that.

I go and watch some films and I feel like they are so obscure and so avant-garde and they really don’t mean anything specific except to the filmmaker is probably sitting at home laughing about how everybody’s confused. To me I feel that’s not good entertainment. At the end of the day that’s all we are doing. To entertain is the purpose. Whether it’s to laugh or cry or creep you out a little bit or keep you on the edge of your seat – whatever the case may be. So if you are not really connecting to your audience and allowing them to have some clear answers, even if they are tough to get to, then why are you making your film? To show the world what a genius you are? Get off of it.

So I was proud of the fact that we made a film that wasn’t so much an exhibition that didn’t just tell the audience that this is who the people are, this is what the relationship was. It was vague enough to let the audience piece it together as they went along and still come up with correct answers. Sometimes they can get there from completely different paths and sometimes come up with answers that aren’t necessarily right – but who knows. I’m fine with it.

The point is it’s just a story. You’re telling a story. It’s not a weird obscure story. It’s a story that takes place in reality but it breathes and moves in an organic way without feeling contrived. Every step of the way that’s one thing we all fought for. Especially Jeremy, he never ever wanted to say anything that was too on the nose. He didn’t want any dialogue from the characters mouth explain anything. He wanted the sum of the dialogue and sum of the scenes and relationships to explain. And by doing that you keep the audience interested and connected to and an active participant in the film.

You don’t leave people in the dark but you also don’t just explain everything to them. It makes the movie to me a bit boring. And then also by doing that you giving the audience less reason to see your movie. We certainly tried and achieved in many ways – we threw in enough twists and turns – especially at the end where you are on the screen and you hear peoples screams and murmurs and I look at Mason in the final scene where he’s breaking down and I break down and the bomb drops.

CS: In the movie you seem to barely tolerate Mason. It seems like a different type of character for you to play. You carry on personal relationships with other people just fine, although you are genuinely abrasive, but you tolerate Mason, a guy who seems to embody everything you would eschew in yourself. I’m curious as to why they spun it that way? You play with women’s emotions, you don’t really care about them, but with Mason you sort of have a soft spot for him.

ZL: Yeah. When we were exploring the relationship between Berkeley and Mason we came to the conclusion - we decided to give the audience a little insight into but not too much - obviously these guys have had a relationship for quite some time and in that final breakout scene there are a few key lines that gives the audience that information at least in some way.

Zach LeviAnd the way that we discussed it, in a nutshell, Mason and Berkeley were, circa age 5, something like that, certainly before 10 – at some time Mason and Berkeley were the same kid. When I look at people in my life that I was best friends with growing up, we were the same kids, but growing up our paths went in two different ways and perhaps that very similar thing happened to me and my family and him and his family. So we became each other’s support in that we both dealt with it in two very different ways. I slip everything under the carpet, I blocked it all out, I created the strongest part of myself and moved on with my life and never to look back at my past, whereas Mason never knew how to deal with it so he’s in the constant state of not knowing how to let go and that causes his line of reality and imagination to blur. So through the years this is something that I think Mason and Berkeley are really the same guy in many, many ways. We both are very lonely. I deal with it by sleeping my way into comfort or feel better about myself or whatever the case may be. That’s where I get my strength. That’s where I keep going. I’m just that kind of a guy. But really, I’m just as lonely as Mason is and I feel Berkeley, because he’s become this kind of dick, his saving grace is that he looks to himself that he takes care of his buddy – never turns his back to his buddy – might treat him like shit but is there for him to help pick up the pieces and that’s his way to feel better about himself and because they experienced this life and I feel that Mason has probably come to Berkeley over the last twenty years or so doing the same thing – having imaginary people or imaginary girls.

And Berkeley at first would say you’re crazy, crazy, crazy realizing that if he just indulges him a little it would keep him happy – at least for a time so he just allowed the process to be what it was and obviously let it go on longer than it should have. And who knows, how many, if Amber was the first or if there were other girls. There are so many ways to deal with it…it does kind of leave it up to the audience’s interpretation or idea of how they felt it went. I love that we never show it. We don’t ever talk about it and then we leave that up to the audience.

CS:Were there people who told you that’s not a good way to go? Did people higher up on the food chain of things say, “You know what…you can do it that way but I wouldn’t.” Were you ever persuaded to change the ending?

ZL: For us, that was never an issue.

I feel like we did it well enough that the people who watched it agreed that it was a great suspense tool. It was a great tool in the sketchbook. It was like in RONIN (with De Niro, great movie, great acting, great car chasing), it was ultimately about this fucking case that everyone is trying to get to and at the end of the movie he and Jean Reno are sitting in the café and they open up the case and all you see is the back of the case – that’s the first time I’ve seen a movie like that where the movie builds up and builds up but you never see what’s actually in it. I fucking loved it.
Zach Levi

Because to satiate everyone with everything in a movie is just – it takes the mystery out of it. Like in NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN, or any movie, that doesn’t give this nice wrapped up, gift-wrapped ending where everything is resolved – this person is here now and that person is there now, is more like a resolution. Life doesn’t always have a resolution. We all don’t have happy endings or even ones that are all tied up for you.

There are a lot of loose ends in life. And people die or disappear or never heard from or move – all kinds of stuff like that. And to go and make a movie like that and have people say “Hey, what about this or what about that” or “I disagree with the whole thing.” Not that it’s the same thing but to have the sketchbook and some people might call it a tease but I wouldn’t call it that. To me, a tease is just allowing the audience to participate in the film. So all of our investors and all of our domestic and foreign distributors said that it was great. As far as I know no one said anything like “Hey, we need to homogenize this.”

Everyone was behind the overall character of the film itself.

Original page : chuckpalahniuk.net

Interview with Zachary Levi (by Troy Rogers)

How does this sound? An average guy working for the Nerd Heard (like the real Geek Squad) inadvertently becomes the government's most import tool in the espionage game. Sounds like a cool concept to us. Well, it's NBC's latest entry into the comedy /action ring called Chuck, which premieres September 24 immediately before Heroes. After checking out Chuck's online web portal (www.chuckssecret.com), we called the show's star, Zachary Levi (Chuck), to get the lowdown on the series, what it's like working with McG, and his love of video games.

ZACHARY LEVI: Hey, man. Thanks for phoning in on a Sunday. I appreciate it.

UGO: No worries. [laughs] That's why I get paid the big bucks, you know.

ZACHARY: [laughs] Well, there you go.

UGO: So Chuck is pretty much every guy's fantasy, a retail worker turned super spy. What's it like playing him?

ZACHARY: Oh man, it's a dream job. I write as well and I've written characters similar to Chuck, but for a guy like me it's a perfect job. I'm more like Chuck than I am not, so instead of working I can just be my nerdy self. It's a lot of fun. The gunfights and the car chases, explosions, comedy, and drama - I mean it's got everything. It's an actor's dream.

UGO: You're also going to be the lead in to Heroes. That's not a bad spot to be in.

ZACHARY: Yeah, we're going to be leading into Heroes on Monday, and I'm really excited about it.

UGO: So Chuck sees a bunch of government secrets on a laptop and now the C.I.A. has to use him as an encyclopedia of sorts. Is there a main arc like a terrorist plot or will there be different case files from week to week?

ZACHARY: Yeah, basically, it's all of the nation's secrets. Be it the F.B.I., C.I.A., N.S.A., whatever, they're all kind of plugged into this one super computer that gets hacked and all of the information is contained in this specific image, like the flash of a picture. But it's interlaced with all of the information, so visually, as Chuck sees these things come up on his computer screen, it programs his brain to be exactly what the intersect is. Chuck, if nothing else, is a really smart guy. On the show he's an advanced calculus or something similar at Stanford. He was a brainy guy and was never the jock. In a nutshell, that's how it all happens. It's going to be predominately procedural, but who knows how much that will change. About every sixth episode or so we'll get some mythology and we'll get some back story on the characters, but every week there's kind of a "mission of the week", a new bad guy or a new bomb threat.

UGO: I loved your story about the Nintendo Wii. I heard you hurt your hand while playing. Since that real life event fits perfectly into your on-screen character, have you suggested any personal stories to the writers?

ZACHARY: Cheers! That's one of my favorite stories, too. Not necessarily, little things here and there, but it's not really like, "Here, let me tell you. This one time..." I will see things come up with Chuck and I'll make little suggestions, just little character things. I'm trying to draw upon my own experience without diving into it. The Wii thing would work perfectly, but now I've pretty much told everybody and so many people know. If we put it in the script, they'd be like, "Ah, that really happened to him."

UGO: What was McG like to work with on the pilot? Do you think he'll be back for more episodes?

ZACHARY: Working with McG was a dream. I love that guy so much. He's so talented and I love his energy. We'd be going late into the night and he'd just stay up and stay positive. He would keep people going. It was a lot of fun. We miss him, because the pilot took about a month to shoot. We were like making this mini-movie and he comes to check in on us, visit the set, and he's really good about that. As for directing more episodes, I don't know. He's a big film dude and he's got big fish to fry, but I do think if we go a full season and have a cool season finale, which hopefully we will, he could hopefully come back and do that. You know, like tie up the year. I know that he loves the show and wants it to live, so I know he's fully supportive. If it means the network going, "Hey, it would make a great finale if we could put your name on it and you go take these kids for another couple of weeks and make the finale." I'm sure he'd be all over it if his schedule permitted.

UGO: It's weird, a good portion of the cast has appeared on Without a Trace. Is that show some kind of farm team of talent for you guys, or is it just a coincidence?

ZACHARY: [laughs] That's so funny. I know so little about the casting other than Patrick Rush, our casting director, who is great. I mean, clearly, look who he found to star. I kid, of course, but look at everyone in the cast - Adam Baldwin, Josh Gomez, Sarah Lancaster, Yvonne Strzechowski, Vik Sahay, Scott [Krinsky] and Julia [Ling]. But I had no idea about the correlation to Without a Trace, other than...

[a sudden but loud noise in the background]

ZACHARY: Oh wow! There are a couple of big Apache helicopters flying by.

UGO: Where are you?

ZACHARY: I'm in downtown Iraq right now. I'm doing a USO tour. [laughs] No, I'm in L.A.

UGO: Speaking of tours, I hear they loved you guys at Comic-Con. How was that experience?

ZACHARY: Oh, my gosh. I can't even express in words. It was so incredible. I'd always wanted to go to Comic-Con, because it's my kind of thing in a lot of ways. I love comic books and I'm a huge video gamer, but I just never got around to it. I think this is the coolest way to go for your first time, as an invited guest. They play your pilot, and we got a two thousand person standing ovation. It was incredible and they were so supportive. It's cool, all of the advertising, posters, and everything. They had my face on the key cards at the hotel down in San Diego. I got a call from my publicist a few days before I went down and she said, "Oh my god, our hotel room key has you on it." But yeah, Comic-Con was a really big thing. It really sealed the deal for a huge demographic of ours. I mean, our core demo in so many ways are guys and girls like Chuck, because they love that stuff. We have espionage and cars with... I can't give away too much.

UGO: Tell me about the fight you had with Josh Gomez and the ninja?

ZACHARY: That was so much fun. It was a great little action night where we had the real candlestick and stuff, and then we had harder rubber versions of that and I had to put a cup on. It was ridiculous. Then we had a breakaway glass vase. It was so much fun. Doing physical comedy is so much fun and we tried to incorporate as much as we could without getting slapsticky. Gomez was so much fun. When he cracked me in the head with the vase, it was just a blast and we get to incorporate that throughout the show.

UGO: In a recent online interview, I saw you and Joshua talking about Madden NFL and I was wondering what other video games you're into.

ZACHARY: I'm strongly rooted in BioShock right now. It's so good. It takes a minute to warm up to. It's a pretty vast world and they took a lot of time making this game. It's a first person shooter, but there's a lot more story to it than other first person shooters. Granted, I'm playing it on hard, but those big daddies, those guys in the big suits... the first one you come across you don't even know how you're going to kill it. Eventually you find yourself with three of them walking around. You get these mutation things and the story is very deep and cool. You can freeze things, light them on fire, electrocute them, and there's also telekinesis. There's one where you can hypnotize the big daddies to become your friends and if anyone shoots at you they just take everybody out. It's a really good game and Josh Gomez does voice work on it, so it's even cooler. I don't get to play as much as I used to, so when we're on the Buy More set I bring my X-Box and sit between takes and play a little bit.

UGO: What can you tell me about the Weiner and Shades of Ray projects?

ZACHARY: Wiener is this buddy comedy. Three best friends taking a road trip in a wiener wagon. Shades of Ray is a drama. It's kind of a romantic comedy drama. It's this great indie film that I made and it's about this young half white, half Pakistani kid who's kind of finding his way in love and life between these two different cultures.

UGO: What's the deal with The Bill?

ZACHARY: It's so funny how things work like that. I did a pilot for Fox a couple of years ago called The Worst Week of My Life and that was a British show they were bringing to the States. Someone saw a report that I was doing an American adaptation of a British show and they assumed it was The Bill and they posted it on IMDB or something. I never did The Bill and was never going to do The Bill, but if The Bill ever called and I had the time, sure I'd go do The Bill.

Original page : ugo.com

Interview with Julia Ling

She owns Morgan’s heart, she prefers Linux and Star Wars, and she just might be Chuck’s future ally in the secret agent wars - Julia Ling talks to ChuckTV.net about playing Anna Hu and holding her own on Chuck.

ChuckTV.net: Ms. Ling, thank you for taking the time to talk with us. We here at ChuckTV.net are really enjoying watching Anna become an integral part of Team Bartowski.

Julia Ling: Thank YOU !

CTV: What is it that drew you to the role of Anna? How much of you is in the character?

JL: I wish I could be as techy as Anna!(laughs)

I struggled in engineering. Sometimes through frustrating hours just to find a tiny stupid programming mistake. Anna totally makes computer-fixing a piece of cake. What’s really cool about her, though, is not her computer-building expertise, but the strongly grounded confidence she’s got in herself. Although she may feel socially incapable of expressing her deep emotions, she will never succumb to societal norms. Anna isn’t the type of person who will try to dress a certain way or pretend to say certain things just to “fit in”. She’s got a take-me-or-leave-me attitude, a part of her which was inspired from Ayn Rand’s “Fountainhead” and “Atlas Shrugged”, novels I particularly bonded with in high school and college.

Anna may seem intimidating or indifferent with her nonchalance and heavy makeup, but she’s really just another computer geek who loves RPG and feels right at home with the boys. She works at the Buy More not because she needs the money, but because she loves her friends. Come to think of it, them Chucksters at the Buy More are family to me too.

And the moment of truth… I’m SUCH a geek. Reasons why Anna and I could be good friends: Anime, Final Fantasy, Kingdom Hearts, Counsterstrike, Munchkins, Dungeons and Dragons, Call of Duty, etc.

One thing Anna and I have in common is that we’d both say “Linux Ownz!” I’m more into chemistry than Anna is though. Last year for Christmas, I thoroughly enjoyed buying someone a coffee mug with a caffeine molecule on it. Thought I was particularly clever until the mug’s handle broke. I was also attracted to the useless but adorable R2D2 and mini Yoda robots, and Mara Jade’s pink light saber.



CTV: Is there anything you don’t like about Anna, or just don’t identify with?

JL: I had a hard time figuring out why Anna was so jealous of Ellie. How silly. I cannot think of a time that I ever felt jealous like her. I guess I’m lucky that always been able to trust my guy completely, even if he was alone with someone else or halfway around the world.

Now here’s a thought I actually rather enjoy: Supposing there really is something fishy going on between Morgan and Ellie. Anna might just find a way to hook up with Ellie instead, then run off with her while leaving Morgan to wonder what had just happened. Okay, I’m really not THAT evil, but I gotta admit, that would have been cooler than jealous-Anna!




CTV: That would be an awesome twist! I’ll bet the guys would love it.

JL: Anna is crazy! (laughs) She believes in maintaining the balances between forces of good and evil. She may go out of her way to practice this conviction. Crazy girl.

CTV: What would you like to see happen with Anna in the future? Based on your own impressive set of accomplishments (languages, martial arts, leadership), I think Anna should become a secret agent herself!

JL: Sometimes, I wonder whether Anna truly is so oblivious to all that’s going on. She strikes me as the type of person who will pick up on clues around the Buy More. Anna is smooth and dangerous when her job calls for it, but yet so sweet and almost naive in her relationship with Morgan.

She can definitely be a great ally of Chuck’s when it comes to hacking into systems. She’s also keen and quick to respond. And she’ll stay calm and keep her composure in emergencies, which allows me to believe that she’s got what it takes to be a secret agent herself, and would be a very good one too.

CTV: What is Anna’s specialty in the Nerd Herd? How do you feel about playing the only female Nerd Herder?


JL: Anna is proficient in all OS, but is an absolute Linux snob. She’s efficient in many languages of computer programming, algorithms, debugging, hacking, etc. She understands in detail the anatomy of each hardware piece that goes into a computer tower.

As for playing the only female Nerd Herder, I don’t really think about it. I feel comfortable with all the boys, both as Anna and as Julia. The thought just never crossed my mind.

CTV: It’s been fun to watch the Anna/Morgan relationship develop. Do you think Morgan realizes Anna is actually in control?

JL: Anna, in control? I like the way you put it. Yeah baby! (laughs) They’re a really cute couple to watch. Morgan doesn’t seem to believe Anna is in control. She’s generally very cool with Morgan, for the most part, letting him do whatever he wants.

CTV: Rumor has it someone on the show is getting engaged soon. Will we be seeing Morgan in a tuxedo featuring shorts anytime soon?

JL: With shiny, polished tennis shoes and a decorated bike reading “Just Married”?

CTV: That is not an answer! Okay, moving on… You guys seem to have a lot of fun on camera – what is the chemistry like off screen? The Nerd Herders seem like the group that would play practical jokes on everyone else.

JL: Oh the chemistry is absolutely GREAT. The Nerd Herders probably would play AWESOME practical jokes! But we haven’t done anything yet. Still trying to be good. I get the feeling some shall soon cave in to their mischievous impulses.

CTV: We’ll have to check back with you later on, then. Between Lost, Heroes, Cashmere Mafia and other new shows, Asian actors seem to be getting noticed far more than before, and are finally being given chances to take center stage. Have you seen this make a difference in the roles you are playing?

JL: Absolutely. One of the biggest difficulties in this business was trying to convince the world that we’ve got something to sell other than our stereotypical values. And I suspect it’s the same for other “ethnic” groups as well. But all of that’s rapidly changed. Over the last couple years, the variety of roles for Asian Americans has really expanded. Asian women are no longer just the smart nerd or the kung fu dominatrix. The Asian American filmmakers in the generation before me have really showed a flexible range with their innovative ways in story-telling. They’ve created all kinds of interesting, fun, powerful and unforgettable characters.



CTV: You had a recurring role on last season’s Studio 60, which ended too soon, in my opinion. As a viewer, the show looked a little chaotic as a behind-the-scenes account of putting on a sketch show; was it chaotic in real life as well?


JL: There was definitely a lot going on, hundreds of extras, tons of things. But my overall experience of the show was that it was a lot more exciting and fun than chaotic. You saw the greatest in leadership. You saw the best in filmmaking. Producers and directors made great on-the-spot decisions. Everyone knew exactly what they were doing. They were well-organized, hardworking, punctual, responsible, funny… Always positive. The scripts were brilliantly written and easy to follow. Directors and actors came prepared but with an open-mind. Crew guys were strong – I couldn’t help it… I’m a woman – and they were very quick and efficient. We were in great hands.

CTV: Your role on Studio 60 required you to speak Mandarin and play the viola; how much of that did you have to learn for the part vs. what you already knew?

JL: Mandarin is one of the languages I speak, so it wasn’t difficult to learn Kim Tao’s lines for Studio 60. I did script out everything in Chinese for continuity purposes. And for accuracy, I reviewed my written translations with a few Chinese experts. There were scenes where Kim was to read from a newspaper column to her father. The jargon for a newspaper column is definitely different from the everyday conversation I was used to, so I purchased a Chinese magazine and compared the syntax, and got further help from language experts.

As for playing the viola, I was lucky I wasn’t asked to do it on the show. I talked to a viola player and asked her to show me how it was done. I did some research on being a musician and learned how to hold an instrument, how to hold the case once the instrument is inside, how to walk, talk, etc.

CTV: Well, we think you’re just amazing! Thanks so much for talking with us; we look forward to seeing more of you soon!

Like this interview? Learn more about Julia at her website. And check out our exclusive chat with Sarah Lancaster, too!

Original page : ChuckTV.net

Interview with Sarah Lancaster

ChuckTV.net recently had the opportunity to talk with Sarah Lancaster, aka Ellie Bartowski, about being the big sister, dating Captain Awesome, and helping Agent Walker find her inner girly-girl. Read on for the dish from the delightful Sarah Lancaster, exclusively here on ChuckTV.net.

CTV: I’m so excited that we get to talk to you. You’re our first interview.

SL: I’m very excited to do it. I was actually looking at the website a few days ago, I hadn’t seen it before. It’s really cool.

CTV: Thank you. Congratulations on the full season pick up!

SL: Oh gosh, we’re so excited! We’re thrilled! We were on set this week and they came down and made the announcement. It’s kind of bittersweet in a way, because we still have to shut down production with everything that’s going on with the Writer’s Guild, but we’re really, really thrilled to hopefully go back to work as soon as they resolve stuff.

CTV: So how do you get from Kansas to network television?

SL: Click your heels. (laughs)

CTV: Oh no! You did not just do that!


SL: I know, I fell into the trap! (laughs) No, my father’s job transferred him to Orange County when I was in grade school.

CTV: So you grew up around the business?

SL: Well, kind of. In Kansas it seemed so far away, but once we got to Orange County all of a sudden it becomes a possibility, you know? So I asked my parents if I could get headshots and find an agent and all that jazz and my mom started driving me up to L.A. for auditions and now here I am.

CTV: Did you know from an early age that you wanted to act?

SL: Well, I was a shy kid, I never did theater or anything like that, I was just painfully shy. But I loved watching movies and I loved watching TV. My brother wasn’t born until I was 9, so my early childhood was spent alone. I was a pretty solitary kid, so TV and movies were a big part of passing the time for me. I hadn’t really thought about [acting] until I got to California, then it just seemed like that might be a possibility. My parents were shocked because I was so painfully shy, they just couldn’t imagine how I would be able to walk into a room and audition for someone.

CTV: It’s different, though, when you’re up there saying someone else’s words.

SL: Yeah, definitely. Commercials didn’t take at all. I’m probably, like, the worst commercial auditioner ever! (laughs) I never booked a commercial. But give me a script with someone else’s words, and it’s fine, because it’s not me. No one’s judging what I have to say.

CTV: One of the things I like most about the show is the relationship between Chuck and Ellie. It’s rare to see siblings on TV who genuinely care about each other. You and Zac have a really great rapport in your scenes.

SL: It’s so great working with Zac. When I read for the role, Zac was in the room to read with me and we connected right away. He made me laugh and relax and we just got along really well. It’s weird but it actually feels like we’re brother & sister. I don’t get to see my baby brother very often, so it’s cool to have a fake brother on set. (laughs) But, yeah, Ellie and Chuck have had to kind of rely on each other for a long time, with their parents both gone. They are each other’s support.

CTV: It was interesting to hear, back in the “Mother’s Day” episode, more about the whereabouts of their parents. There is some speculation online that Momma Bartowski didn’t “leave”, she had to go “on a mission.”

SL: That would be really cool! I don’t know what that whole backstory is yet, I hope we get to explore it more this season. It would be awesome if spying turned out to be kind of the family business.

CTV: Do you think Chuck will ever move out?

SL: I hope not! I like having him there, and I think it’s important as far as the tension Chuck has between his two lives. If he moves out, it would be so much easier to keep everything a secret and remove a lot of that turmoil Chuck has about trying to balance the two.

CTV: The Ellie/Captain Awesome relationship…well, no, I should call him Devon. Ellie never calls him Captain Awesome, does she? She calls him Devon.

SL: Yeah, she does! (laughs) It’s “Devon”. Ellie and Devon, yes, the relationship is just moving right along and he’s just as perfect as he can be.

CTV: How hard is it to act opposite Ryan McPartlin when they keep putting him in, like, nothing? No clothes?

SL: I know! (laughs) You know, I’m almost immune to it now, which is kind of shocking because Ryan is really good-looking. Well, you’ve seen the show. But now it’s kind of like, oh yeah, that’s Ryan’s wardrobe. He’s always in shorts or naked or with leaves covering his bits. It’s kind of just another day at the office, you know. He’s a good sport about it, he really is.

CTV: It’s kind of odd they’re putting the guy in those outfits.


SL: Yeah, I know, for a while I was kind of smug, you know, lounging around in my scrubs all the time and not worrying about what I had to wear. I made some comment about that and one of the writers said, “Oh, I guess you haven’t read the Halloween episode yet.” Then I was like, “ACK!” So, that was my payback for being comfortable.

CTV: Speaking of scrubs, we got to see Dr. Ellie in action a couple of episodes ago, in “Chuck vs. the Truth”, which was awesome. Will we see more of that?

SL: I hope so, I thought that was fun, letting her show what she’s made of like that.

CTV: I have to ask you about working with Adam Baldwin.

SL: Oh gosh, he’s so great! He brings so much to his character. I just love watching him work. He can make what’s on the page so different than what you’d expect, it’s just awesome.

CTV: So do you guys do a lot of improv?

SL: Yes, we do. In fact, McG really encourages it. I was intimidated at first, going in there with Zac and Joshua and Adam who are so funny and quick, but eventually you start to get the hang of it. It’s fun to watch the episodes when they air and see what they left in.

CTV: Yeah, I guess it’s a surprise to you guys when you watch the final project, even though you were there when it was made.

SL: Yeah, and it’s been a lot of fun sort of working on that skill. You know, I’d been doing all these dramas, I’d just finished [‘What About Brian’], so it’s been awesome to work on a lighter show, something that is totally different.

CTV: How was the transition from ‘Brian’ and its drama to ‘Chuck’ and its “dramedy”?

SL: Oh, it was great. I’d been looking for something different and this script just had everything I was looking for. It wasn’t like anything I’d read before and I was so excited about working on the show. It’s an awesome job.

CTV: Awesome?

SL: (laughs) I know! We’re all hyper-aware of that word now. Everything on set is “awesome”.



CTV: Let’s talk about the Ellie/Morgan relationship. What in the world is going on there?

SL: With Morgan? Oh, I think he has a little crush on Ellie.

CTV: More than a crush, I’d say! I was watching the Thanksgiving episode and how Anna reacted to Ellie. What was Ellie thinking about Anna? How did you “act” those scenes?

SL: Um, confused! I mean, for one thing Ellie was confused about Anna. You know, Morgan has a girlfriend? What? And then for her to act like that towards Ellie, I think Ellie was just confused by the whole thing. She has Awesome, why would Anna think she’d dump him and go after Morgan? I love working with Joshua, though. He’s so funny.

CTV: We haven’t really seen much interaction between Ellie and Sarah (the character).

SL: Yeah, that’s a shame, huh? I think Ellie should sort of take Sarah under her wing, take her out for a girls’ night or a spa day or something. I think Sarah is so involved with the CIA, you know, work is her whole life, that she never really learned how to be a girl. She doesn’t really have girlfriends that she can hang out with. I think Ellie could help her with that.

CTV: Good point. To be a girly-girl myself for a minute, you can kind of see that in their wardrobes: Ellie’s is kind of bohemian and free-flowing, while Sarah’s is all structured and no-frills.

SL: You’re right. And you know, we’re all a little bit like our characters, and Yvonne is like Sarah in that way. We were on set early on and she kept looking at my feet, then finally she started asking me about where I went to get a pedicure, and how long does a pedicure last, and what all was involved. It turned out, she’d never had a pedicure! You know, she comes from Australia and she’s this adventuress, she’s just not into the girly stuff. I hooked her up, though. She knows all about that stuff now. (laughs)

CTV: So what’s next for Ellie? If you were writing for her, what would you have her do?

SL: Oh, good question. I’d like to learn more about their parents and what happened there, but, you know, the writers are so good at coming up with stuff that we could never think of, I think I’ll leave it to them.

CTV: I guess those are all the questions I have for now. Again, thank you so much for taking the time to talk to us. It’s been just delightful to visit with you.

SL: Oh, my pleasure. I look forward to visiting the site again and seeing what’s going on over there.

Original page : ChuckTV.net

Interview with Zachary Levi

Special Thanks to Cheri Levesque @ Young Hollywood LLC for this video

Chuck : Joshua Gomez Interview

CHUCK - VIDEO : At Home With Joel Moore & Zachary Levi

Special Thanks to Cheri Levesque @ Young Hollywood LLC for this videos

CHUCK - VIDEO : Zachary Levi with Carson Daly on NBC’s New Year’s Eve 2008

CHUCK - VIDEO : Yvonne Strahovski Undos Her Hair

"Chuck" is owned by NBC. No copyright infrigement was intended.

CHUCK - VIDEO : Chuck & Sarah - The Story

A Chuck and Sarah music video in Sarah's POV.