'Chuck' Star Zachary Levi to Host Spike TV's Video Game Awards (Exclusive)

Jason Merritt/Getty ImagesZachary Levi Chuck star Zachary Levi is getting into the game in a big way. The video game enthusiast and fan favorite has been tapped to host Spike TV's Video Game Awards, The Hollywood Reporter has learned exclusively. Levi, who in addition to his duties on NBC's Chuck also serves as a voice actor for games Fallout: New Vegas and Halo: Reach, will host the awards that will air live from Los Angeles on Spike TV, MTV2 and Spike.com on Saturday, Dec. 10 at 5 p.m. STORY: 'Chuck' Star Zachary Levi to Direct an Episode of Season 5 "Zac Levi is an avid gamer who is truly a part of gaming culture and understands the fans," said Casey Patterson, executive producer and executive vp event production, talent and studio relations for Viacom Entertainment Group. "He has great ideas about this year's show. Zac is all about honoring the year in gaming and ushering in the future by showcasing massive world premieres at this year's event. We're excited to be working with Zac. " The awards show, which is being executive produced by Mark Burnett, will feature the Black Keys performing their video game hit "Lonely Boy," with Grammy nominee deadmau5 transforming the show with a visual representation of sound into a real-life video game experience. Presenters include Family Guy's Seth Green, who voices the Joker in the "Mass Effect" game series, LL Cool J, American Reunion stars Jason Biggs and Seann William Scott and former San Francisco 49ers and NFL Hall of Famers Joe Montana and Jerry Rice. STORY: Comic-Con 2011: 'Chuck's' Zachary Levi The show will also honor the three founders of Blizzard Entertainment -- Michael Morhaime, Allen Adham and Frank Pearce -- with the Gamer God Award for their efforts in creating games including World of Warcraft, Starcraft and Diablo. Valve's "Portal 2" leads the pack for the 2011 VGAs with 12 nominations, with Rocksteady Studios' Batman: Arkham City close behind with 10 noms. Burnett, Casey Patterson and Carol Donovan will exec produce. Currently in its final season,Chuckairs Fridays at 8 p.m. A special two-hour series finale is set for Jan. 27. Email: Lesley.Goldberg@thr.com; Twitter: @Snoodit RELATED: 'Chuck's' Yvonne Strahovski Talks the Final Season: 'We're Milking It' Zachary Levi Spike Chuck

Cody Updates On Sweet Valley High

It's American Graffiti for the '80s It was way back before the underrated Jennifer's Body that Diablo Cody announced her plans for a newly revivified Sweet Valley High movie. Since then there's been little in the way of information, but out on the Young Adult publicity trail, Cody has confirmed that the new adventures of Francine Pascal's twin heroines are still in the works."That is moving forward," she confirmed to The Playlist. "I can't freely talk about it, but it's closer to reality than ever."Sweet Valley High is, of course, a phenomenally successful series of children's books (pushing two hundred volumes currently) about Jessica and Elizabeth Wakefield. Jessica is the cheerleader and Elizabeth is the bookworm; they're both blondes with blue-green eyes and perfect size ten figures, as readers were reminded in every freakin' volume. They go to school and have dramas. In Sweet Valley. At Sweet Valley High. There was a TV series in the 1990s that the BBC used to show on Saturday mornings during Going Live (or was it Live and Kicking?).We might have expected a barbed and satirical reimagining from Juno-writer Cody and her producing partner Jason Reitman. Or if not that, there was the possibility that she'd pick up the twins as they near their thirties, as the rebooted novels attempted this year.Not so. "I want it to be wonderfully nostalgic," says Cody."I want it to be to the '80s what American Graffitiwas to the early '60s. I want it to be looking back on a really cool time and enjoying yourself and I want it to be glamorous and colourful and bubblegum and a feast for the senses. That's my plan." So the flashbacks in Never BeenKissed meets a girly version of Armie Hammer in The Social Network. Or something.Young Adult is out in the UK on February 10, and Cody's directorial debut Lamb Of God is currently in pre-production.

Natalie Wood Dying: Who is the owner of Boat Understood for the days Police Would Reopen Situation

It'll be thirty years next weekend since Natalie Wood died while boating off Catalina Island on Thanksgiving weekend in the La coast, just one person wasn't amazed at police reopening the analysis to the actress' dying.our editor recommendsRobert Wagner Blamed Self For Natalie Wood's Dying in MemoirNatalie Wood Mystery: File Shipped to Sheriff Revealed Telling Clues (PDF Document)Natalie Wood's Sister Makes First TV Appearance on 'Piers Morgan Tonight' (Video)Natalie Wood, Christopher Walken's 'Brainstorm': How a Actress' Dying Derailed Her Final Film (Video)Christopher Walken Offered Natalie Wood Dying Theory in Past InterviewChristopher Walken Utilizes Lawyer to cope with Natalie Wood Analysis (Exclusive) Who is the owner of the wonder, the boat Wood was track of husband Robert Wagner and Brainstorm co-star Christopher Walken, states he was aware for the days that police were thinking about the problem, the La Occasions reviews. PHOTOS: Best Pictures of Natalie Wood "I have noted for a few days that there's apt to be a police analysis," states Ron Nelson inside an interview with Honolulu's KHON-TV. "However didn't understand it would explode appreciate it did overnight." Nelson bought the wonder -- a 60-ft yacht now useful for charter luxury cruise ships -- in 1986, five years after Wood died at 43. He mentioned that police had contacted him a few days ago, but did not reveal any nuances of the conversation. PHOTOS: 12 of Hollywood's Most Mysterious Deaths Police introduced on Friday morning inside a press conference that scientists might be going to Hawaii to have the ability to examine the boat within their analysis, reaffirming news at night prior to the situation might be reopened. On Thursday evening, Wagner mentioned through his repetition he supported police force's decision. "Although nobody inside the Wagner family people happen to be relayed through the LA County Sheriff's department relevant for this matter, they fully provide the efforts in the L.A. County Sheriff's Department and trust they'll evaluate whether any new information relevant for the dying of Natalie Wood Wagner is applicable so it evolves from the credible source or sources aside from people simply trying to earn money in the 30-year anniversary of her tragic dying," his repetition mentioned. VIDEO: 5 of Natalie Wood's Most Memorable Roles The Hollywood Reporter broke what is the news Friday that Walken, who's not considered a suspect, has hired a lawyer to deal with Wood analysis. Government bodies also noted that Wagner is not an individual of curiosity. In those days, Wood's dying was ruled any kind of accident, though there is speculation that there has been more particulars for the story. Author Marti Rulli joined with Dennis Davern, who in those days was the captain in the Beauty, greater than 20 years ago to analyze and research that fateful November evening, posting it Goodbye Natalie, Goodbye Beauty couple of years ago. Davern made the media models on Friday, making the bold report that Wagner had something connected to Wood's dying. Within the 2008 memoir Items of My Heart, Wagner blamed themselves for Wood's passing. "Yes, I blamed myself. Natalie may have felt much the same way been there happened in my opinion. Why wasn't I there? Why wasn't I watching? I'd did anything in the world to produce her existence better or safeguard her. Anything," he written. "I'd have given my existence for hers, because that's the means by that we was.Inch CBS News' Wood special, initially set to air next weekend for your 30th anniversary of her dying, elevated the investigative account to some couple of days ago. Wood's sister Lana also arrived on the scene on CNN's Piers Morgan Tonight. Related Subjects Natalie Wood

Joshua Leonard on His Directing Debut The Lie, And the Fine Art of Dark Humor

Actor. Writer. Photographer. Musician. And now Joshua Leonard makes his feature directing debut this week with The Lie, a darkly comic, sneakily moving vision of 30-something parenthood. Based on a short story by T. Coraghessan Boyle follows Lonnie (Leonard) along the downslope of his dead-end editing job and through the emotional desert of his marriage to fading flower-girl Clover (Jess Weixler). Dedicated idealists and new parents as well, Lonnie and Clover struggle against the expectations of advancing age. But between selling out to the corporate workplace and clinging to rock-and-roll daydreams, both succumb to an inertia shattered one day by Lonnie’s ill-advised impulse to lie his way out of work. Handsomely shot and exquisitely acted, The Lie (which premiered at this year’s Sundance Film Festival, where a longer version of this interview was previously published) marks the latest milestone for the 36-year-old perhaps best known for inhabiting indie sensations from The Blair Witch Project to Humpday. Leonard spoke with Movieline about taking the next creative step. Congratulations on The Lie. What led to this as your feature directorial debut? Oh, God. Its tender, middle-of-the-road heart? [Laughs] I’m totally joking. It all started with T.C.’s story. I am a guy who doesn’t have ideas too very often, so when I do, I stick to them like a dog with a bone. I read that story and just immediately knew that not only did I want to see a movie made out of that story, but I wanted to be the one to help facilitate it. It just really… I don’t know. It was just one of those things that spoke to me specifically, one of those things that spoke to me generationally. It was a story that addressed really big issues without being too touchy-feely or didactic or giving you a third-life-crisis analysis/bludgeoning. It was very funny, it was very heartfelt. And I felt like I knew the people in it. It all started from there. How long ago did you read it? I guess in making-a-movie terms, not that long ago. Maybe less than two years ago? What did you see eating this guy that compelled you to not only direct but play the role? I often wonder whether I’m just masking my own vanity with this answer, but in general I don’t think it’s a great idea to direct yourself. If somebody else had come to me with the proposal of them acting and directing this piece, I would have told them it was asinine and steered them away as quickly as I could. But look: I did know we were going to have to make it on a pretty tight schedule and on a pretty modest budget. And I think if you read the piece, it’s pretty clear that you have to hit a pretty specific tone or it doesn’t work. If it veers too far to the comedic, you kind of lose complete empathy for the character. And if it veers too far to the dramatic, people feel like they’re being preached to, and it loses its entertainment value. So there was really a balance that we had to strike, and to some extent, it was almost the utilitarian decision I could have made, casting myself in it. I felt like being in that position, I knew in my head and my heart where I wanted to hit, and maybe had less confidence in steering another actor to that that place than just stepping in and doing it myself. What exactly do you think is happening with Lonnie? You just mentioned the third-life crisis; there are some work and marriage issues… I think he’s going through what most people go through when they hit a certain age, which is that moment of reckoning where you realize where you intended to go and where you wound up are two completely different places. And you’re kind of standing at this precipice, and you’ve got a choice to make: You can either rail against that and try to untrench yourself from the decisions you’ve made — that put you in a position you don’t like — or you can accept it. I think Lonnie is really at that crossroads where he’s not willing to accept it, but he also has absolutely no clue how to change it. Without giving anything away, I’ll be interested in people’s reactions to Lonnie and Clover’s climactic decision — they’re kind of inspirational, but kind of… crazy? How did you view it? Maybe a little bit of both? At the end of the day I did not consider the ending of my movie to be the point where these two characters have made the most responsible life choices. I think that there’s something… [Pauses] I knew I didn’t want to have a hopeless ending, so I think the feeling that we were really attempting to kind of imbue into the end of this film is that sometimes our lives aren’t as galvanized into a single track as we assume they are. So at the end of the movie, these guys make a different decision. That doesn’t mean that the different decision is going to be right or any better, or that they won’t wind up back in the same spot. But through a chain of both mishaps and self-analysis where they acknowledge that what they’ve been doing is not working. Their idea of going back to this past dream of who they wanted to be? I don’t know if that actually works. Most of the time it doesn’t. But: You’ve got two characters who felt kind of tethered to the life they’ve chosen, and at least at the end of the story they’ve acknowledged there’s another option. And they do so through a very intriguing confrontation. How did you approach that moment as an actor and a director alongside Jess Weixler? I guess very simply, to me, in terms of structuring the story when we were originally writing it out. And then as we were careening toward it in the arc of the film, the intention was always: Here’s a movie about a group of people who, for better or for worse, live with a certain level of dishonesty in their lives — most of the time. To varying degrees, I hope that people can relate to that. I can certainly relate to that. Whether you’re a liar and you go around telling these overt lies, or you’ve made a decision that omitting certain truths makes your life easier… That one I think more often than not we’re guilty of. So you’ve got a story acknowledging these various levels of dishonesty that these people live with on a day-to-day basis. And the movie is set up to present a situation whereby the stakes are so high that there is no choice but to tell the truth. If you wanted to look at it structurally like that, it’s a movie where people lie for two acts and tell truth for one. It’s kind of hard to believe now, but your relationship with Sundance goes back over a decade now, right? To The Blair Witch Project? Actually, my very first time at Sundance I was there as an editorial photographer for Black Book in ‘98 — the year before Blair With Project. What are some of your highlights from attending over the years, and what did it mean to debut The Lie there? Sundance for me started out, when I was there in the late ’90s, as a club that I really wanted to join. [Laughs] I was surrounded by all these people who really inspired me to make films. You know — the Hal Hartleys, the Nick Gomezes, the Allison Anderses. I didn’t grow up on a diet of ’70s cinema; I grew up on multiplex cinema. And so really, my first exposure to independent film was through the American independent directors of the early ’90s. I guess it’s like a kid who want to be a musician and has a lot of attitude and a lot of angst — but no skills — hears punk rock and feels like, “OK, there’s a place for me in that, because it’s more about what I think and I feel.” It’s not as gilded. And that’s what I thought of independent cinema at that time. But I was also a kid in my early ’20s, and very much just showed up as a fan as much as anything. And then Blair Witch happened, and that really allowed me to get a small toe in the door and continue to work and mentor with people and continue to learn. And it’s really been this really wonderful touch-base over the years. I’ve been back with three or four acting projects. I had my directorial debut — which was a short film [The Youth in Us] — go there in 2005. We were back with Humpday in 2009, and back there with my narrative feature debut in 2011. I guess where that’s really changed is that much like you can go back to your elementary school and really have that sense memory feeling of what it was like to be a kid there, there are hills and venues and theater staircases at Sundance that I very palpably remember. I remember what it was like to be 12 years younger and show up not knowing anyone or really anything, just that I wanted to find a place in this community. To some extent I still have mentors there. I still feel like I have a long way to go. But at the same time I still have a ton of peers there. I have a lot of solidarity and relationships with other filmmakers who had films at Sundance this year. I feel like I am very much finally part of that community, and that’s a pretty great feeling. This is an edited version of an interview that was previously published during the 2011 Sundance Film Festival. Read Movieline’s review of The Lie here. Follow S.T. VanAirsdale on Twitter. Follow Movieline on Twitter. [Top photo: Getty Images]

Org bestows P Niro Prize

Artist Stanley Whitney remains selected to find the inaugural Robert P Niro Sr. Prize. The $25,000 award is offered with the Tribeca Film Institute as well as the estate of Robert P Niro Sr. The kudo is built to recognize an excellent mid-career American painter and recognition the legacy of P Niro Sr., an artist and father of actor Robert P Niro, the co-founding father of Tribeca. "Stanley's work and how he practices his craft both show what this prize is all about -- adoring you are not great desire for and long-term persistence for art," mentioned Robert P Niro. "I am so proud to cover tribute to my father through this inaugural prize within the title." The jury incorporated Studio Museum curator Thelma Golden MoMA leader emerita Agnes Gund Yale College School of Art deal Robert Storr as well as the Nation art critic Craig Schwabsy. Whitney has received shows at Aldrich Museum of latest Art, the Studio, as well as the Magazzino d'Arte in Rome. Contact Mike Thielman at mike.thielman@variety.com

Edebe makes 'Friends' with Yowza, ZDF, TV3

BARCELONA -- Edebe Audiovisual Certification is joining with German pubcaster ZDF, Toronto-based Yowza Animation and Catalan condition television TV3 to produce toon series "Four . 5 Pals." Edebe Audiovisual Certification might be the television and cinema production and distrib arm of Grupo Edebe, a respected posting group in the united states and Latin America. Directed by Avoi Fontanals and concentrating on 7 to 11 year olds, "Pals" can be a half-hour series in regards to the detective adventures of Charly, Stefi, Radish, Fred in addition to their scruffy street dog, Dandy. It's allotted at 4.5 million ($6.millions of). ZDF and Edebe handle worldwide sales. "Pals" is founded on the sunday paper series by German Joachim Friedrich that has offered greater than 20 million copies in 40 nations. Edebe has associated with Italian producer-distribber Gruppo Alcuni to produce the toon feature "Pet Pals and Marco Polo's Code," that's helmed by Sergio Manfio and contains been released in Italia. "Pals" nabbed the Kineo Diamanti al Cinema prize as of this year's Venice festival. Another Edebe project might be the 52-episode cartoon series "Wilbur Willmore." In development, it's co-produced by TV3 and industrial design house Eddadesign, which produced "Sweesters, Virtual Room" with Cromosoma. Catalan animation has typically gone abroad to locate co-finance for series, during good occasions. Worldwide co-production "increases now in the recession," mentioned Edebe sales director Ivan Agenjo. "Pals" will shortly enter into production. It's skedded for delivery by 2013. Contact the number newsroom at news@variety.com

David Yates Evolves Dr. Who, As Warner Bros Tempts Him With Imitation Game

My former friend Adam Dawtrey were built with a good scoop about Harry Potter director David Yates helming an element version from the lengthy running BBC sci-fi series Dr. Who. That’s likely to take many years to obtain a script, and that he’ll require a job meanwhile. Warner Bros, which employed Yates on four Potter films such as the finale, is attempting tough to tempt him to direct Imitation Game, the script the studio compensated seven figures to purchase recently. The Graham Moore-scripted drama is all about Alan Turing, the genius and World war 2 hero who poisoned themself having a cyanide laced apple after being criminally punished to be a homosexual. Studio continues to be waiting days to listen to if Yates will bite. Stay updated.