Viola, along with friend
Adam Schlesinger of
Fountains of Wayne, co-produced the
title track for
Tom Hanks's 1996 movie
That Thing You Do! The selection received an
Oscar nomination for
Best Original Song. Viola sang lead on the track, and as the accepted singing voice of
Johnathon Schaech's character, Jimmy, also sang on other tracks in the film, such as "Little Wild One" and "All My Only Dreams." For the 2007
Jake Kasdan/
Judd Apatow film,
Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story, Viola wrote or co-wrote "A Life Without You (Is No Life at All)", "Darling", "(I Hate You) Big Daddy", "Dear Mr. President", "Beautiful Ride", "Sir Ringe The Marshmallow Elephant", and "Let Me Hold You Little Man". Viola served as musical director on a promotional tour for the film in December 2007, with
John C. Reilly acting out his fictional character of Dewey Cox. Viola also contributed songwriting for Russell Brand's character Aldous Snow in the 2010 film
Get Him to the Greek, including "African Child", "The Clap", "I Am Jesus", "Searching For a Father in America", "Little Bird", "Furry Walls". In 2012, he played the character of Franky in two promotional songs for the video game
Club Penguin, "Anchors Aweigh" and "Ghosts Just Wanna Dance". == As songwriter, musician or producer ==