Zachary Levi draws on some of his own gadget geekiness for his role in new action comedy series Chuck, writes Joanna Hunkin
KEY POINTS:
Zachary Levi is a bit of a geek.
As I pull out my digital dictaphone, he picks it up, examining the specs and telling me about other products on the market.
Later, when the dictaphone breaks down, he jokes that it never would have happened if he'd been on the case.
Anyone would think it was he who worked in the electronics department of a hypermart, as opposed to his on-screen character Chuck - an amiable but socially inept computer geek, who manages The Nerd Herd.
Levi admits he's in his element talking video games and techno-gadgetry.
After four years playing the catty metrosexual Kipp Steadman on the sit-com Less Than Perfect - the polar opposite of Levi's own relaxed, likeable personality - Chuck was a welcome change.
The title character of TV2's newest series, which premieres on Wednesday, June 18, Chuck is happily plodding through life, living with his successful sister Ellie (Sarah Lancaster) and her annoying doctor boyfriend, Captain Awesome, when his world is turned upside down by an email from his former college flatmate-turned-rogue CIA agent.
The email contains an assortment of state secrets from the CIA and the National Security Agency, which makes Chuck, as the Feds would say, a person of extreme interest.
"The easiest way to try and sum it up for people is to say it's The Bourne Identity meets The 40-Year-Old Virgin.
It's the world of Steve Carell's 40-year-old virgin, working in an electronics store, thrown into the world of Jason Bourne and Bond, spy missions and car chases and all that," explains Levi.
"I really do feel it's the first of its kind as a television show. It's multi-genre. It's a hybrid."
While action and comedy are the foundations of the series, it also contains elements of drama, romance and adventure, says the star. "It's really like a mini-movie each week."
Of course, no television show has the time or budget to make an action epic each week, but Levi thinks that adds to the show's appeal.
"Fans know there's not the budget of big blockbuster movies, so there's almost a kind of campy factor with television that people dig."
The camp action sequences of Chuck only add to the series' comedy, which received a warm reception when it debuted at the pop culture convention Comic-con last year. "These 2000 people gave us a standing ovation.
"They went crazy for it. I felt really confident then because those are the kind of people that are online and blogging, and making or breaking shows."
The crowd, comprised largely of comic book and video game fans, also appreciated the geek-friendliness that Levi and co-star Josh Gomez brought to the series.
"He and I are both video gamers and tech geeks so when we were shooting the pilot, we'd make sure all the ad-libbing was on point with what you would talk about as a video gamer.
"We stay really true to those roots and that's been something that's got a really good response."
But the show isn't all computer wizardry and geek talk.
Created by Josh Schwartz, the man behind the hit teen series The O.C, the series focuses on inter-character relationships as much as it does car chases and explosions.
"I wouldn't call it a soap opera, by any means, but it's got that dynamic that definitely compels audiences," says Levi.
Much of that dynamic revolves around Chuck and an undercover CIA agent, Sarah Walker, played by Australian newcomer Yvonne Strahovski, with whom he is in love, though he is incapable of expressing his feelings.
Levi may have outgrown any social awkwardness that once plagued him but the actor says he still relates to that side of his character.
Describing himself as a gangly and awkward teen, Levi admits he often draws on his high school experience for the role.
"I grew up being the best friend.
"Girls would always come to me for comfort because I was in 'the friend zone'. It's deadly, the friend zone," he laughs.
Though the character of Chuck is more like Levi's real-life persona than his former sit-com character Steadman, the role still presents various challenges for the actor.
"[Less than Perfect] was a great show, but the schedule was cake. You just rehearse most of the days and shoot one night, and you're out of there. Doing Chuck, you shoot all day, every day. I'm there all the time, I don't have even one day off."
While Levi relishes the role, playing the title character in an hour-long show, he says the schedule can be gruelling, particularly when they film at night.
"But I get to be Chuck.
"I get to blow things up and be in car chases."
Best of all, he gets to hoon around in his new golf cart on the Warner Brothers studio lot.
And life, according to Levi, doesn't get any better than that.
LOWDOWN
Who: Zachary Levi, who plays Chuck -
cyber-geek-turned-Government-agent
Born: September 29, 1980, Louisiana
What: Chuck premieres on TV2, on Wednesday, June 18
