‘Chuck’ Star Zachary Levi Is Still Trying to Get a Movie Made: ‘I’d Love to Do It’
More than five and a half years after it first went off the air, “Chuck” continues to amass a devoted following. And though the show received a two-hour finale at the end of its fifth season, many are still clamoring for a movie. Zachary Levi addressed his hopes for getting such a project off the ground in an Entertainment Weekly interview, saying he’d “love to do it” but is “the only person who’s affiliated with the show that’s been trying to make it happen on some level.”
Levi similarly told IndieWire’s Turn It On podcast this summer that he’s repeatedly been on the record about wanting to produce a “Chuck” film, and that he’s certain that one will eventually be produced:
“All the time [it comes up]. I’ve told everybody, since the show ended. I just don’t think information gets disseminated nearly as much as we think it does. I’ve been on record 50,000 times, I’m not even exaggerating — it’s probably 50,000, if not, it’s 49,872 times — saying I have every desire and intention to make a ‘Chuck’ movie.
“I just have to wait on the right time for it. Guys, I’ve said my peace about this. I’m totally on board. It’s just got to be a matter of the right time. That’s it. And the right time is going to depend on where technology has gotten to, we’re finally there. A lot of shows are being rebooted, so that all helps. And getting a script. I don’t even have a script. I haven’t even been available. There’s all these things. And then I gotta get money and go to Warner Bros., which still owns the rights.
“You can’t just go to some wealthy person and go, ‘Gimme $10 million we’re going to make a Chuck movie!’ There are so many friggin’ cooks in the kitchen, and lawyers, and blobbity blah. But I do believe wholeheartedly that there will be a day, a day and the timing will be right and we’ll have a script and we’ll have the money and the schedules will work out and it will be so fun. I’d love to give the fans and us more chapters of ‘Chuck.'”
He added in the podcast that he’d love to a “Chuck” movie every other year. “It was a perfect, goofy American ‘Bond.’ If James Bond can keep fighting random bad guys every few years then of course Chuck can!”
That’s what he said this summer. Now, here’s his full, comprehensive answer to EW on the question posed on the occasion of the show’s 10-year anniversary:
“I’ve had meetings with various people. There’s just so many moving parts. The answer is I’d love to still make it happen, even if it’s 10 years down the line. Because of the world, it could still be plausible. It’s just difficult. Warner Bros. has the rights to it, I don’t have a script. And in order to get the rights, I need to probably get a script, but in order to get the script, I need to pay a writer, but if I’ve got to find the money then in order to get the money, I need to make sure I have the rights. It’s like a Catch-44. [Laughs] I went to the whole cast years ago and said, ‘If I ever get a movie together, would you do it?’ And everyone was like, ‘We’re totally in.’
“A lot of people have asked if we could do another season and there’s no way we could do another season. But I think that Chuck as a premise totally works to go do movies here and there. It’s a goofy American Bond. We had our baddies of the week, we can have baddies of the movie. You add a little bit more money, a little bit more time, maybe go shoot in some actual international destinations, you make a fun 90-minute movie, and release it online. I think we can do that, but there’s a lot of moving parts and I’m the only one who’s trying to get all the moving parts together. So, we’ll see.”
Levi also addresses the strange circumstances that helped “Chuck” stay on the air, typecasting, and what appealed to him about the role in the first place. Read the full interview here.
