Alvin, Simon, Theodore ... and Jason Lee

I wonder what sort of career and future Jason Lee saw for himself when he would step on his skateboard and zoom around. His start wasn't like most. As a professional skater, he made his way onto videos like Spike Jonze's Video Days and his own A Visual Sound. Heck, he even had his own shoe. But did he slide his Airwalks onto the board and skate around thinking that he'd go from Kevin Smith movies, to becoming a Scientologist, to eventually signing on for an Alvin and the Chipmunks movie?

In October, Kevin Kelly shared some of the history of the Chipmunks, which includes a creepy and hard-to-wipe-from-the-brain slow-down of the Chipmunks so that you can hear Ross Bagdasarian's real voice. Then, we got word from Matt Bradshaw that the film was gearing up. It definitely is. Variety reports that Jason Lee has signed on to obviously star as David Seville, their human father/caretaker, in the CG/live-action film. I don't know. I just can't hear the man shouting "Alvin!!!" with the same gusto, and the thought of him in this movie makes me twitch. Later this month, production will start on the film and they're actually fast-tracking it for a December 14 release, so I would imagine that the effects/Chipmunks will be pretty standard.