If you found yourself in The Nerd Machine booth this past weekend at New York Comic Con, you may have noticed a multitude of celebrity guests dropping by for impromptu photo and signing sessions with fans. These guests, as announced via the twitter hashtag #Smiles4Smiles, included stars such as Seth Green, David Duchovny and “Community’s” Yvette Nicole Brown. Actor Zachary Levi, who is currently in New York appearing in Broadway’s First Date, was behind bringing these guests together at NYCC to raise money for Operation Smile.
Can you talk about what Smiles4Smiles is? Zachary Levi: “So basically, I’m an ambassador for Operation Smile and our main events called NerdHQ that we do at San Diego Comic Con, we make most of our money doing the panels that we do called “Conversations for a Cause“. But there’s a lot of time in between where celebrities might not be able to do a panel for us but they have time to do some photos for us or or do some signings for us. And by for us, I mean for the fans obviously. And I just kind of believe that, I don’t know, for me, you know I’ve been really blessed and…I make my money doing the acting gigs that I do and I love that I’m able to do signings and do photos and stuff and make it affordable– twenty bucks a pop–and you tell people that that all goes to charity, everyone feels a lot better about the whole process of it. So then I was just trying to figure out a catchy way to call it. So it’s Smiles, you’re smiling for a camera for Smiles, Operation Smile. And Signing4Smiles. So that’s what Smiles4Smiles is.”
Levi will next be seen in Thor: The Dark World and I couldn’t help putting a spoiler-free question to the new–taking over the role from Thor‘s Josh Dallas–Fandral the Dashing.
What’s the coolest thing about being an Asgardian?
Being a blond, I guess. (Laughs)
It was more fun being a blond?
It was! It was fun. It was different.
EA Teams up with Football Stars for Battlefield 3: Operation Gridiron
Drew Brees, Clay Matthews, Larry Fitzgerald, and Jared Allen Team Up to Experience the Ultimate Special Operations Training Inspired by Battlefield 3 Videogame
REDWOOD CITY, Calif.–(BUSINESS WIRE)– From the football field to the battlefield, the Battlefield 3™experience comes alive this fall! Electronic Arts Inc. (NASDAQ:ERTS) today announced that it has teamed up with some of football’s biggest stars for an exclusive reality show titled GTTV Presents Battlefield 3: Operation Gridiron. Airing on Spike TV this fall, the show takes quarterback Drew Brees, linebacker Clay Matthews, wide receiver Larry Fitzgerald, and defensive end Jared Allen into real-life combat scenarios inspired by the award—winning videogame, Battlefield 3. Filmed at a top secret location, these all-star athletes are provided the ultimate in combat training by some of the world’s most elite Special Operations Warriors. Following their advanced training, they must work together as a team to accomplish a live simulated operation, pulled straight from the gritty war scenarios players will face in the game. Starting today, weekly Tuesday webisodes will be posted at 9:00am PDT on the Battlefield Facebook page. The finale will air on Spike TV on October 24 at 12:00am EST/PDT and at 11:00pm CST. Gamers can “LIKE” Battlefield 3 on www.facebook.com/battlefield to view the Battlefield 3: Operation Gridiron webseries.
“Taking to the battlefield in these real life war settings was really exciting and eye-opening,” said All-Pro quarterback Drew Brees. “Every day men and women face challenges similar to what we tackled in this show but with potential dire consequences. Filming this show once again reinforced my respect for the soldiers who fight every day for our freedom.”
Battlefield 3, developed by DICE in Stockholm Sweden, is one of the most anticipated games of 2011, having already earned more than 50 awards including ‘Best Action Game’ and ‘Best Online Multiplayer Game.’ Critics praise the game for its intense gameplay experience, powered by the Frostbite™ 2 state-of-the-art game engine that delivers superior performance in character animation, visual rendering, audio and physical destruction. To accompany the game, Orion Publishing will release a novel called Battlefield 3: The Russian written by the highly decorated ex-SAS operator and best-selling author of Bravo Two Zero, Andy McNab, with co-author Peter Grimsdale. McNab is working with the creative team at DICE to ensure the authenticity and grittiness of today’s warfare is experienced in the single player, co-op and multiplayer campaigns.
Battlefield 3 will be available October 25, 2011 in North America for the PlayStation®3 computer entertainment system, the Xbox 360® videogame entertainment system and the PC. For the latest news on Battlefield please visit www.facebook.com/battlefield or follow us on Twitter a www.twitter.com/battlefield.
About Electronic Arts
Electronic Arts (NASDAQ:ERTS) is a global leader in digital interactive entertainment. The Company’s game franchises are offered as both packaged goods products and online services delivered through Internet-connected consoles, personal computers, mobile phones and tablets. EA has more than 100 million registered players and operates in 75 countries.
In fiscal 2011, EA posted GAAP net revenue of $3.6 billion. Headquartered in Redwood City, California, EA is recognized for critically acclaimed, high-quality blockbuster franchises such as The Sims™, Madden NFL, FIFA Soccer, Need for Speed™, Battlefield, and Mass Effect™. More information about EA is available at http://info.ea.com.
The Sims and Need for Speed are trademarks of Electronic Arts Inc. Battlefield 3 and Frostbite are trademarks of EA Digital Illusions CE AB. Mass Effect is a trademark of EA International (Studio and Publishing) LTD. Xbox and Xbox 360 are trademarks of the Microsoft group of companies and are used under license from Microsoft. “PlayStation” is a registered trademark of Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. John Madden, NFL and FIFA are the property of their respective owners. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.
