Schwartz Spills 3D Secrets

IGN has a terrific interview with Chuck showrunner Josh Schwartz wherein he spills some details on the upcoming 3D episode and gives us more scoop about Scott Bakula and Chevy Chase joining the show for multiple episodes:

Chuck Meets the Captain of the Enterprise
Josh Schwartz talks to us about the star making the leap to Chuck.
by Eric Goldman

Josh Schwartz was at the Television Critics Association press tour last night, and revealed some big new news about his NBC series Chuck – Chuck’s dad is showing up soon, and playing him is none other than Scott Bakula, the star of Quantum Leap and Star Trek: Enterprise.

Schwartz said that he and Chuck‘s co-creator Chris Fedak were “very excited. Fedak and I grew up huge fans of Quantum Leap. It made me go out and buy the Man of La Mancha. Remember when he leapt into the Man of La Mancha at that summer stock place? I bought the Man of La Mancha soundtrack later [because of that].”

Schwartz said Bakula would be in three episodes this season, but he certainly could end up appearing in more, adding, “This is Chuck’s dad. We may always keep him! The great thing about Scott that he did on Quantum Leap and that we’re going to ask him to do here is to be able to do comedy, drama, action, and some real pathos, so he’s a guy who can really do it all, and who you believe as Chuck and Ellie’s dad.”

On Schwartz’s The O.C., Peter Gallagher’s character Sandy, father to Adam Brody’s Seth, revealed his singing skills during a party scene, and on Schwartz’s Gossip Girl, Matthew Settle is a rock musician father to Penn Badgley’s Dan. This led a reporter to ask Schwartz if Bakula’s character would sing on Chuck, and he laughed, replying, “I’m not opposed to dads on my show singing, but I think in this case it would be out of character. Maybe in the shower.”

Discussing the character a bit more, Schwartz noted, “He left them when they were teenagers. They were sort of forced to raise themselves. He’s a bit eccentric. He’s a bit paranoid. They think it’s unfounded. Chuck promised Ellie he’d find him for her wedding, and he may not necessarily want to be found. And he really, really hates the character that Chevy Chase is going to play.”

Chase was also just announced yesterday as coming aboard Chuck as a new character, Ted Roark, the founder behind the successful Roark Instruments, and someone Chuck looks up to. Schwartz said Chuck’s father resents Roark because, “It’s a guy who he always wanted to be one day – a software billionaire in the Bill Gates, Steve Jobs mold. The real visionary. He’s a guy that Chuck’s dad is convinced has stolen a lot of his best ideas from. So they’re bitter rivals.”

Chuck has made great use of guest stars, including some notable 1980s stars, including John Larroquette and now Chase and Bakula. Said Schwartz, “These are guys that can come on and worked out great. You know I’m still pushing for my Van Damme vs. Seagal vs. Chuck episode!” When I told Schwartz I was really hoping the Van Damme guest appearance would happen — he mentioned it last summer at Comic-Con too — he replied, “I do too! It’s a reason to pray for a Season 3!”

Asked how Chase was cast in his role, Schwartz explained, “Chevy Chase is a guy that we all worship on the show. I don’t think a day goes by, especially at the beginning of Chuck, where we didn’t talk about Fletch and Spies Like Us. The bugs that we find on the show are called the GLG 20’s – that’s all from Spies Like Us. That’s a huge movie for us. So we heard that his kids really dug the show and he was interested in doing it and so we had this part where we said this would be amazing. And it worked out. Everyone’s very excited.” Schwartz added, “They were going to remake Fletch and Zach [Levi] was at the front of the list. People thought he was perfect for it. So Chevy Chase is in our DNA – in the show’s DNA. And he gets to play a villain, which I think will be fun. ” When myself and the other journalists speaking to Schwartz noted that the press release about Chase’s role didn’t say he was a villain, Schwartz smiled and exclaimed, “Oh! I meant morally ambiguous!”

Chuck will return on February 2nd with a special 3D episode, and Schwartz said, “The technology is pretty amazing, and the stuff we were able to shoot – all the mind flashes are going to be in 3D and the opening credits, as well as the action set pieces.” Referring to Yvonne Strahovski’s ever-sexy character, Schwartz said, “Sarah scantily clad in 3D – maybe [that] might happen. I don’t know, that sounds like a natural. Also, [there’s] weird stuff, like Big Mike eating a donut in 3D is completely different than Big Mike eating a donut in merely two dimensions.”

I asked Schwartz if Strahovski rolls her eyes when she reads a scene in a script calling for her to wear a skimpy outfit, and he replied, “Yvonne is a great sport about it. I think she knows that we do it all with a wink. She’s always excited to show off her physicality, whether it’s in a fight scene or a nerd herd outfit.”

Schwartz revealed that the ending of the season “is going to change the show in a really fun way. It’ll still be the show [you know] next year, but it will also be something very, very different. It’s going to kind of blow the doors off. The whole second half of the season we’re just going for it. We’re taking nothing for granted. We’re not leaving anything in the writers’ room. It’s going to be nuts.”