Q + A interview: Zachary Levi, the Most interesting Christian in Hollywood

The title character on NBC’s Chuck is a normal, decent guy thrust into the back-stabbing spy world. He’s a computer tech who accidentally downloads a program, called the Intersect, into his brain, granting him instant access to a database of bad guys and, starting this season, an array of useful skills like kung-fu and mariachi guitar playing. (It makes more sense if you just watch it.) As we have mentioned before, the show is a good time, with episodes tossing in savvy pop culture homages, surprisingly decent ass-kicking, loads of pretty ladies, and Josh Schwartz-style repartee. Like the character, the show’s star Zachary Levi is finding himself dealing with all the world is throwing his way, be it snarky XBox Live opponents, a fickle fanbase, and people giving his religion a bad name. Before the show’s post-Olympics return tonight, GQ.com writer Steve Heisler called Levi to discuss all three.

GQ: The “quotes” section of your website has this one: “There’s nothing like going to the emergency room at 2am and telling the doctor you’re there because of a video game.” Care to explain?
Zachary Levi: The first night I hooked up my Wii, me and a couple of buddies were playing Wii Sports, and I was killing it. I might as well have been Andre Agassi–great forehand, great backhand. I go for this overhead smash, and I put my hand through the light fixture above me in my living room. I’m a tall guy, my arms are Stretch Armstrong long. You know, there’s this warning screen that says to make sure you have enough room around you to play, but they don’t bother saying to make sure there’s nothing above you. I won that battle, and I won 14 stitches because of it. I wanted to tell the doctor it was a bar fight, but no.

GQ: What did the doctor say to you when you came in?
Levi: He didn’t say anything, he just looked disapprovingly at me, silently judging.

GQ: Are you a notoriously intense gamer?
Levi: Yeah, I guess. I’ve been a gamer since I was a kid. But before the Wii—what did you have before that, Track & Field? There was nothing that was up and active… I won’t taunt [my opponent], but I will play general, like “Left, left!” But I keep it classy, San Diego. I don’t try and make remarks about people. I’ll leave that for all the 13 year old kids who have no parents.

GQ: Zing, orphans.
Levi: Well, not orphans, but kids whose parents clearly don’t know what they’re doing online. They are some of the meanest little fuckers I’ve ever played video games with—and racist, sexist, they say the most horrible shit. I’m in shock. I wish I had a button on the XBox that would release a punching… punch… wow, if I could use my boy word… like a boxing glove would pop out of their TV and punch them in the face. Just to prove a point. But like a cartoon one, nothing that would do personal damage.

GQ: Ever dropped one of these: “I’m Zac Levi from Chuck”?
Levi: Oh, absolutely not. That’s the last thing I need, is someone knowing they beat me and taunting me about it. I’m supposed to be the Intersect, I should be able to beat anybody at anything.

GQ: Before the Olympics, there was a huge fan outcry because Chuck and new girl Hannah were together, and Sarah, the other spy you’re on-again-off-again with, is now with über-spy Shaw. What do you make of the hubbub?
Levi: I didn’t know what was happening, and people were on my Twitter asking me if I had any response. I just thought it was incredible. This is a television show. [Laughs] This is make believe. More than that—c’mon. Like we haven’t done this same kind of thing on the show before. To assume based on one episode that it’s what’s going to happen for the rest of the season is a little narrow-minded.

GQ: It was surprising because there was such support for the show during season two, to get it renewed, and now there’s a call to boycott the show.
Levi: It kind of blew my mind. I love people’s passion about the show, but it seems like the most bass-ackwards logic—we fought so hard to save the show, now there’s a boycott cause we aren’t giving you what you want? What was really funny is that if people took two seconds to read IMDB, they’d see how many episodes Kristin [Kreuk] is doing, and they’d know they’ll be just fine in that regard.

GQ: This season, Chuck has a lot more spy skills and finds himself at the center of way more missions. How does that change the way you approach the character?
Levi: I try to make conscious decisions about the way that Chuck is affected by certain situations. He can be less fazed by things because he’s seen it. He’s had to diffuse bombs and had guns pointed at his head many times… Listen, killing people is dark. [But] we’ve been doing it long enough where I read through the scripts and there aren’t a lot of curveballs. And I’m certainly not mocking the show, but it’s not Chaucer. It’s pretty self-explanatory.

GQ: You were recently on the cover of Relevant Magazine accompanied by a huge profile detailing your faith and Christianity. First of all, I gotta say, when I first saw “Zachary Levi,” I assumed you were Jewish.
Levi: Oh, everybody does. I’m an honorary member of the tribe. You know, Levi is actually my middle name, and Pugh is my last name.

GQ: Why is Pugh so bad?
Levi: Well, you know, Pugh. Like Pepé Le Pew.

GQ: Hollywood is such an areligious place, but you devoted a lot of your time talking about your religion.
Levi: You know, Hollywood is a very interesting town—always has been, always will be. There are a lot of people who consider themselves “spiritual” but that can mean a lot of things to a lot of people. I don’t really talk about it that often, because there’s too much talk in the world. Especially with Christians, there’s more proselytizing than there is actual living proof of it. That’s kind of sad. I don’t not talk about it for fear of repercussions, but people have been burned by Christians or religion in general—I know I have, so I know the kind of taste people have in their mouths with that word. On both sides of the fence, people who preach open-mindedness and tolerance are the most close-minded, intolerant people I’ve ever met. I’m like, “Do you even see the hypocrisy?” If I can feel like I can have a respectful, spirited debate about religion, then rock and roll, but Christians especially love throwing who they are on other people. Why? They think they’re doing God’s work, but God never asked them to do that…

People don’t talk about religion a lot in Hollywood because it’s not an incredibly safe place to do it. There are a lot of people who want to go toe-to-toe with a Christian just for being a Christian. If I ever have to do that, I can hold my ground. I don’t approach religion with, like, putting the blinders on and, “Blah blah blah I believe! I believe!”…

All I know is, I’m here right now. There have been millions of people, lives lost, wars fought… I went and saw 300, and then the Discovery Channel had this thing about the story behind it. I was glued to the TV because a) it was fascinating, and b) this shit happened so long ago. [More excited] And it was monumental! These 300 Spartans and thousands of… the other guys, I can’t remember! It was huge! Imagine if that happened now! And it’s all forgotten. What does everyone care about now? Brad and Angelina and all their kids. It’s sad… Then I go, “I’m a speck. I’m on a television show, who fucking cares?” How many stars are on the Hollywood walk of fame, and you don’t know who they are?…

A lot of people, especially Christians, want to put you in this box of being a Christian actor, and I don’t believe in it. You do yourself and everyone else a big disservice when you start thinking about it as “Christian art.” That’s why most Christian art is bad. They don’t put a premium on the “art.” They’re banking on it being Christian art, which I think is abusing faith.

GQ: This is a lot more interesting than talking about your turn in Alvin & The Chipmunks: The Squeakquel.
Levi: Uh, yeah. I’m sure that it is.

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