Toronto Sun

Evening falls, and the zombies' king heads home.

Harvey Levin drives through L.A. traffic -- a long day dictating the movement of celebrity gossip and news on TMZ.com in his rearview mirror.

For many, Levin is the personable guy who, eco-friendly drink cup in hand, scribbles story outlines on a board on TMZ TV, which has spun from the website. Then there are all those times he's on CNN's Larry King Live.

But how big is Levin in a place where each letter in 'Hollywood' is 15 metres high? Last year, before speaking to a group of powerful entertainment lawyers -- who represent the likes of Clint Eastwood and Steven Spielberg -- Levin was introduced as "the guy who rules Hollywood."

But this is not your parents' Hollywood, which is still fondly remembered once a year during Academy Awards coverage. Instead, on the TMZ site you'll find images of a favourite male celebrity peeing into bushes, or newsy fare such as the story of Mel Gibson's anti-Semitic rant, which TMZ broke in 2006.

Despite the sideways glares, mainstream news services prowl TMZ's site for coverage. Gossip has never been so freshly ground out.

Levin's crew posted the Gibson story at around 8:42 p.m. on a Friday night.

"You couldn't do that on a TV show or in a newspaper or magazine," he says.

It underscores his belief TMZ works because it's a news operation producing in real time. (TMZ stands for Thirty Mile Zone -- the greater Los Angeles area, where Hollywood lives and works and breathes.)

The sounds of car horns and street music splash in through his car window, which 58-year-old Levin must have cracked open. On the line, he's engaging, open and keeps apologizing, since our phone interview has been pushed back. Levin -- who, as executive producer, orchestrates coverage viewed by more than 10 million unique visitors every month -- has been locked in constant meetings. There's a lot to talk over at TMZ. Including whether they're now employing mindless ghouls.

Last month, Cheers alumnus Woody Harrelson scuffled with a TMZ photographer at New York City's La Guardia Airport. The altercation was gripping, but hardly unheard of. The star's defence, however, was something new.

He explained: "I wrapped a movie called Zombieland, in which I was constantly under assault by zombies, then flew to New York, still very much in character ... With my daughter at the airport I was startled by a paparazzo, who I quite understandably mistook for a zombie."

It struck many pundits as a humourous response to the state of celebrity journalism. Because there's no doubt TMZ has everyone in Hollywood watching out. Many stars are even a little jumpy.

With a sarcastic style and gonzo moments of exposed celebrity, TMZ is like the love-child of Entertainment Tonight and COPS. Often attacked -- "I know this is like spitting in the wind, but I have to say it: Harvey Levin, please stop it," writes Washington Post blogger, Liz Kelly -- Levin has closing arguments of his own.

"We have real boundaries," he tells our court of public opinion.

Acknowledged among many celebrity reporters is that TMZ doesn't go to the dirty lengths some photography agencies do, and TMZ's shooters sign contracts not to break the law -- including car chases. They're also not supposed to incite or invade privacy, which laws are trickier to define.

There are even cases when TMZ won't run a story. The picture of Olympian Michael Phelps taking drags from a marijuana pipe, which appeared in a British tabloid earlier this year, was first offered to TMZ.

"We have what we call a 'Yuck factor,' " Levin explains, saying it felt as if Phelps was set up. "We're not bedroom police."

While some celebrities have taken on TMZ for the places they do go, Levin doesn't buy the indignation.

"There are one thousand restaurants in L.A., and we probably hang out in six of them," he says. "There are plenty of places celebrities go and know we're not there."

Finally, he says, fans are also being allowed to see a truer Hollywood.

"(And) we're not afraid to have a point of view," Levin says.

They also don't hire zombies, but rather, 'conversationalists.'

"I hire people who have a gift of gab," he says.

Levin says he hopes TMZ will be taken more seriously for breaking harder news, as he recently began to target Washington in coverage.

But now, having gotten up at 3 a.m., he ends the call with a promise that, like most days, he'll be in bed by 9 p.m. Hardly the hours of a star, he notes.

And if not a master of zombies, he certainly has become the ringleader of a scarier and wilder Hollywood.

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