Zachary Levi Loves his Chimpmunks

A global phenomenon to generations of fans, Alvin and The Chipmunks have been delighting audiences around the world for over 50 years. The creative brainchild of singer/songwriter Ross Bagdasarian, Sr., their catchy sound has been a pop culture mainstay, for both young and old.

In 2007, Alvin and The Chipmunks became a live-action/CGI motion picture event that grossed over $350 million worldwide and turned Alvin (voiced by Justin Long), Simon (voiced by Criminal Minds star Matthew Gray Gubler) and Theodore (voiced by singer Jesse McCartney) into pop sensations. For the Squeakquel, the superstars are left in the care of the injured Dave Seville's (Jason Lee) cousin Toby (Chuck star Zachary Levi), and they have to enroll in school like every other kid.

School presents new challenges to these rock stars, like dealing with peer pressure, football and, of course, girls, meaning the Chipettes (Brittany, Jeanette and Eleanor), who are managed by Ian Hawke (David Cross), the Chipmunks greedy former manager who wants to turn them into the next big thing. There is rivalry between the Chipettes and the Chipmunks at first, but in the end, they realize that they make great friends and a great musical team.

At the film's press day, Zachary Levi talked about taking a break from his day job as reluctant spy Chuck to play the guardian of The Chipmunks for Alvin and The Chipmunks: The Squeakquel.

Q: What can you say about your character in this film?

Zachary: Toby was always envisioned as being me, I guess. I don't know. He's the burn-out, video game playing, stuck in a state of arrested development kind of guy, who had a traumatic experience in high school and never really got past that, but loves his video games.

Q: What was your inspiration for this role?

Zachary: I've had friends that were very Toby, in my life. I was even very Toby, in my life. I still am a little Toby, in my life. I was trying to draw from all of that stuff. It's a kid's movie, so clearly you can't see him doing anything, but he probably has a substance problem of some kind. I don't know. He's there, but he's not there. He's Toby. That was everything I was trying to put into that, and I think it comes across. I hope it does. I know my manager was like, "All right, well, I've now seen you play a stoner and that's good. You're done. You don't need to do that anymore."

Q: When you're talking to these absent presences (the Chipmunks), day after day and week after week, do you start to go a little nuts?

Zachary: No, I haven't had any hallucinations yet, but there's a good chance, especially after the movie comes out and people are calling and saying, "Hey, I saw the Chipmunks!" Then, it's fresh in your mind and, all of a sudden, you're sitting in your room and Theodore just wants to cuddle.

Q: Was it more of an acting challenge than you thought it was going to be?

Zachary: Oh, yeah! Well, it was pretty much what I thought it was going to be. You're acting to thin air. There's no way around that. You rehearse with stuffed animals, not that that's much better. It's still inanimate objects. There were three lovely girls off camera, reading the voices, and prop people who had them on these long antennae, moving them around. But, then there's nothing there and you're just a crazy person, talking to yourself. That's an exercise in sanity.

It definitely was a challenge, and a good one, especially since, nowadays, more and more movies are made this way, with either green screen or CG in a live-action environment, like Chipmunks is. One of my best friends, Joel David Moore, just did Avatar and he was telling me about all the mo-cap (motion capture) that they did. I don't even know what that's got to be like. First of all, you look completely ridiculous. You're wearing a unitard with little balls all over it, and you're supposed to take it very seriously. I don't know how you can take anything seriously, wearing a unitard. And, there's nothing there. I don't know what that's like. But, doing this and just having to emote with and react to nothing, it's really, really trippy.

Q: Is it scary, when you're the only person on camera?

Zachary: Yeah, that was a little odd. But, wherever God puts you, you just be thankful for that, do the best you can and hope that it doesn't completely look ridiculous, at the end of the day. But, I think it all came together good. I was really anxious to see how all the eye lines worked out. I was like, "Man, I hope I didn't screw all of that stuff up." But, of course, they were watching it and telling you, "Hey, you're looking off into space right now. Make sure you look down at Alvin." So, when I was watching it, I believed that I was looking at things that weren't really there, so hopefully the kids will.

Q: What are your memories of the Chipmunks?

Zachary: It's just amazing that the Chipmunks have been around as long as they have. They're old. My mom, when she was eight, knew the Chipmunks. When I was eight, I knew a whole new idea of the Chipmunks. I met the Chipmunks when they came out again in the ‘80s, with the Saturday morning Chipmunks show and The Chipmunk Adventure. That was a really good movie. Me and my sister watched it many, many times when we were kids. When I met the Bagdasarians, I don't think they believed me when I was like, "I know your stuff. I'm familiar with your work."

So, to be able to be a part of the Chipmunks dynasty, it really is an honor. There aren't many things like this that have lasted this long and stood the test of time, that are still relevant, no matter how you slice it. Parents, their kids and their kids know who the Chipmunks are. That's three generations of fans of Alvin, Simon and Theodore, and the Chipettes.

Q: In the movie, Toby has had a pretty traumatic high school experience. What was your high school experience?

Zachary: My high school experience was pretty good. I enjoyed high school. Middle school, on the other hand, was not great. But, the more people I talk to throughout my life, the more I realize that that's everybody. Middle school was just really tough. It's a weird in between spot. Kids are evil. In middle school, it's that first year where schools start to merge, so unless you were friends in elementary school, nobody is letting you in.

The cool kids that were cool in your elementary school end up finding the other cool kids from the other elementary schools, and they're like, "Yeah, we're cool." But, the other kids, who were cool with the cool kids in elementary school, there's no time for because hey have other people they need to be cool with. So, it was not cool. It was very uncool. I walked around half a day with a loogie on my back. Some kid had spit on me and I didn't even know it until I got to fourth period, took my jacket off, put it down and saw this dried up, huge, snotty loogie on my back. A kid did that to me, or a teacher that didn't like me, or the Vice Principal.

Q: Now that you've tasted movies, are you like, "Screw the TV business! I'm a star!"?

Zachary: No. Television is a pretty great job, to begin with, and I wouldn't have anything, if it weren't for the jobs that I've had in the past, that have built up to that. Do I want to do more films? Absolutely! Films tend to have more of a cache. If you're a respected film actor, there tends to be more of an, "Oh, he's a film actor." But, that's more of a vestige to the ‘80s, where television wasn't what it is now. In some ways, it's so much better now. Because of the special effects and everything that movies have brought forth, television has had to really up its game, like Lost. I could watch Lost forever, and it's going to be done.

I enjoy doing what I do on Chuck, but you also get locked into playing one character, for maybe 10 years. That can be cool because you know the character, but it can also be a little creatively stifling sometimes because you want to play something different. And, with films, you're playing something different, every couple of months, so that's cool. And, if you're lucky enough, you shoot films on location in amazing places, like Europe or Prague. Plenty of things have shot in Prague, and I've almost gotten to do that a couple of times. I was like, "Man, I would really love to go to Prague!" I've never been to Europe. I've been to London twice, for some press, but I've never been anywhere else, and I just keep hoping that work will bring me there.

Q: How happy are you that Chuck is coming back even earlier than originally expected?

Zachary: Oh, I'm happy, yeah! But, any of that stuff that's out of your hands, you just go, "Okay, whatever." If it was still going to be in March than I'd be happy about that too. I'm just happy to be alive and have a job.

Q: Have they give you any indication that they might pick up the back nine episodes?

Zachary: No, they certainly wouldn't take another nine. We got six more. So, we got the 13, and then they picked us up for six more episodes, so we're going to do 19, which is only three shy of a full season. So, we wouldn't get a back nine now, at this point. I don't think we would even get three more to fill out a 22. To be perfectly honest, I like 13 episodes. I like how cable does it. Thirteen episodes allows you to really make it lean and mean. You can focus on those 13 episodes and make them all great, as opposed to the traditional 22-episode network season, which, if we're all being honest, tends to have a couple episodes that are like the packing peanuts and are filler. They're the episodes where you're like, "We didn't really know what we were going to do this week, so everybody just vamp for a little while, and then we'll come back for an episode that really means something."

Q: So, how are the scripts this season?

Zachary: Great! What worked out in our favor was that we didn't think we were going to do a back six. We were only going to do 13, so the writers wrote an arc for 1-13. They were basically done writing them, and then the network said, "Hey, we'd like to do six more!," and they said, "Well, great. We can't rework the first arc, so we'll just make these six stand alone." They'll be based on the 13 that we do in the first part of the season, but it will be its own little mini-arc. It's all good. Everything is good.

Q: How do you feel about a whole new generation being a fan of yours now, who might not have been familiar with you from Chuck?

Zachary: Chuck actually has a lot of families and young kids that watch it, but nonetheless, you're right. It is a whole new world. There's a lot of young kids. But, that being said, because of their age, I don't know if they'll then become fans. I don't know if they'll be back at home going, "I loved Alvin, and that Zachary Levi!" Maybe five years from now, they'll go, "I remember watching that movie and, oh my gosh, that's the same guy. He was funny." More, you hope that parents that bring their kids walk away from it going, "I like that guy. I liked what he brought to the movie," and maybe they watch Chuck after that, or maybe they don't. At the very end of the day, you just want everybody to enjoy whatever you're doing then.

Q: What sort of voice are you doing in Rapunzel?

Zachary: My character is a bandit, named is Flynn Ryder. It's funny because when I auditioned for the part, he was supposed to be British and I auditioned with a British accent. And, I got the job and was like, "Sweet! I get to do something outside of the box." And then, they decided, "No, we're not going to make him British. We're just going to do your voice. Just do what you do." And, I was like, "But, I don't wanna do that."

Q: Is it a different kind of Rapunzel than the traditional?

Zachary: Yeah, kind of. It's funny, I've seen some blogs and things with people freaking out because they're like, "They're going to make her action Barbie Rapunzel," and that's really not the case. As far as I'm concerned, John Lasseter is one of the most genius guys on the planet. He has done no wrong at Pixar, and it's because he really knows how to make amazing movies. There has not been one Pixar movie that hasn't done well. They've all been hits, it's just the degree of hit. There's no like, "Oh, it did okay." They're all amazing movies, every single one of them, because adults and kids watch them and there's no gaps. It's not like the parents are tuned in and then they've gotta tune out and then tune back in.

I'll watch a Pixar movie, over and over and over again. I'll be with friends of mine, who have kids, that want to watch Finding Nemo, and I'm like, "Yeah, okay, let's watch Nemo again," for the seven billionth time, because they're amazing movies. They have heart, relationships, story and characters, and they're not gimmick-driven. They're all really amazing films. And, Rapunzel will be no different.

Telling a fairy tale is not an easy thing to do. In the ‘50s and ‘60s, when animation was still a new thing, people would jsut be amazed by the animation, so you could tell it in a more classic, slower way. But, we live in the YouTube generation, so if you don't keep it interesting and moving, than you're going to lose the audience anyway. And, Pixar knows how to do that. I have every confidence that it will be an amazing film, and I'm just super-excited to be a part of it.

ALVIN AND THE CHIPMUNKS: THE SQUEAKUEL opens on December 23rd