Zooey Deschanel - Articles - Zimbio

The Go-Getter

Sun, 20 Oct 2008 23:50:00 GMT

posted by FilmIntuitionJen

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It’s become nearly common sense to say that anything you see in the movies you shouldn’t try at home but when it comes to writer/director Martin Hynes’ critically acclaimed Sundance Film Festival indie hit, The Go-Getter, it’d probably be best to extend that warning to your local car wash and parking lots.

Running out of ways for would-be lovers to meet, in a wonderfully inventive alternative to having the two lock eyes and become drawn together with near magnetic force (that’s called lust, my friends) or literally bumping into one another (which looks incredibly painful), Hynes comes up with a Kerouac and Huck Finn inspired humdinger with a felony thrown in for good measure. Why not steal her car?

Of course, this isn’t truly what makes Mercer run in the opening of Hynes’ film—having read Huck Finn and discovering that more than anything else it made him realize just how “stuck” he felt, he crafts plans for a premeditated vehicular heist. Namely-- borrow a friend’s t-shirt to get into the local car-wash without causing speculation, hop into the closest ride that doesn’t look like it’d fall apart, and pick up one’s belongings later on the side of the road.

Mercer (wonderfully played by the subtle and emotive Lou Taylor Pucci) gets away with it too until a cell phone rings and after a mini freak-out, he decides he’ll answer it, since by then he has nothing to lose. Instead of it being the local fuzz, he finds himself talking with the beguiling automobile owner, voiced by independent film’s coolest young actress, Zooey Deschanel. Oddly, yet believably (possibly because she’s voiced by Deschanel who can do anything from fake romantic chemistry with Will Ferrell in Elf or make you laugh and nearly cry all in the same scene in Mumford), she decides she won’t press charges. Eager to make it up to her, Mercer rattles off a laundry list of ideas from helping out with yard work or chores but the forgiving Deschanel says that she’ll let him use her wheels on his trip as long as he calls her regularly to fill him in on what’s happening.

Although it initially felt as though the idea to “go west, young man,” was spontaneous, soon we realize—and it is an indie (read: grab your tissues) after all – that Mercer is a nineteen-year-old kid on a mission. Having lost his mother to slow, excruciating cancer eight months earlier, he decides to track down his estranged brother Arlen (Jsu Garcia) who is eighteen years his senior and whom he’d last seen at the age of five and inform him about what has happened. And along the path to Arlen, he begins realizing that he may not really know his brother as well as he thinks when he receives everything from a punch to a threat as he tries retracing the man’s steps.

Larceny, it seems runs in the family but Arlen’s crimes have been far more severe, ruining relationships and causing heartache wherever he’s set foot as Mercer meets a pot-smoking hippie played by Judy Greer, a former jailbird played by Maura Tierney and many others riding all the way from Oregon through Nevada, California, and ultimately ending up in Ensenada, Mexico.

Mercer takes advantage of the gift of close proximity when chasing the rumor that Arlen has wound up in Reno to look up an old middle-school classmate and crush named Joley, played by Jena Malone. Getting sidetracked by the flirtatious, sexually confident, and manipulative Joley who teases him into submission with ecstasy and her feminine wiles before endangering Mercer when she invites other men along, Mercer soon comes to realize that the girl he’s pining for isn’t the one for whom he’d carried a torch all those years ago but the one taking his calls back in Oregon.

When she shows up later on and is identified as a slightly older local girl he barely knew named Kate, Deschanel and Pucci elevate a film that had begun spiraling out of control with one odd adventure after the next (including meeting a creepy would-be adult filmmaker who exploits teenagers and one too many warnings about Arlen) into something genuinely touching and emotionally rich.

Additionally it offers a great contemporary soundtrack as well as music by M. Ward who has joined forces with Deschanel off camera to form the band She & Him. Including some impressive craftsmanship including an overwhelming homage to the French New Wave (especially evidenced in a scene taken right out of Godard’s Band of Outsiders), it’s the type of film sure to gain instant fans in those who latched onto Braff’s Garden State, provided they seek it out when it hits DVD shelves on 10/21.

Featuring filmmaker commentary, exclusive interviews, and other behind the scenes bonus footage, the film’s DVD release from Peace Arch Entertainment taps right into its target demographic by including not just a Digital Copy of the film for your PC, Mac, iPod, iPhone, or other portable device but also access to an exclusive free download of a musical track by Ward and Deschanel’s band She & Him.

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Beautifully shot completely in sequence as a “creative decision” so that all would need to “go on the trip”—the film wears its high style and artistry proudly from its USC-educated and George Lucas in Love award-nominated helmer Hynes in some of the earliest scenes as Mercer imagines what the girl on the other end of the phone looks like and then pictures her riding along in the backseat.

Despite his admission that he isn’t religious and “given the fairly raw language and sexuality,” Hynes doesn’t quite get why it’s being labeled as such but noted that Christian seminary students who attended “one of the Sundance screenings… were intrigued by the threads of [what they assumed were] spiritual confusion that run through [the] road trip.”

Likewise I agreed with Hynes, feeling that-- no matter how outrageous and highly unbelievable the situations were throughout the film from asking us to buy into its laid-back negotiation to car theft early on-- it’s a relatable, nonreligious road movie that taps right into its 18- to 24-year-old target demographic of trying to discover just who they are, what’s important, and whom they’d like to invite with them along the way. Although, speaking as someone whose car has been broken into before, I can’t stress enough the importance of leaving thievery in the movies where it belongs as that’s not the world’s best conversation starter when you meet someone new in the real world.

Zooey Deschanel does Nylon!

Sat, 21 Sep 2008 02:52:52 GMT

posted by accidentalsexiness

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Accidental Sexiness

FOR EVERYTHING HOT FROM MIAMI AND BEYOND

September 20, 2008

Filed under: Celebs, Entertainment, Events, Fashion, Music, magazines, pictures — accidentalsexiness @ 9:52 pm
Tags: barack obama, Entertainment, Fashion, magazine, Music, nylon magazine, october 2008, she and him, zooey deschanel

Zooey Deschannel is Nylon Magazine’s October 2008 covergirl! Nylon is calling Zooey “the ultimate it girl.” She has a successful acting career and is currently working on her music career. She is 1/2 of musical group, She & Him. The band released their debut album entitled, “Volume 1″ earlier this year.

She says, “It’s such an amazing feeling to look out [at the audience] and see all these people singing along to my melodies. Now that I’ve experienced what its like to stand up there, I just can’t imagine wanting to do anything else.”

Zooey is a strong supporter of Presidential nominee Barack Obama. She performed during the Democratic National Convention in Denver. She says, “I don’t feel very good about the last eight years, I feel like we’re in a place where we really need — there’s a lot of damage that we need to recover from, and we need a very strong and inspirational leader to bring us out of this. It’s pretty grim.”

She & Him will go on tour starting November 1st in Los Angeles.

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Comments

Cute, cool, and quirky. What’s not to love about Zooey Deschanel?

Tue, 15 Oct 2008 00:00:10 GMT

posted by koleko

Moonlighting between her acting roles (The Happening, Almost Famous, The Good Girl) and musical projects (She and Him, If All the Stars Were Pretty Babies), Zooey ain’t just a pretty face. Be prepared to see a lot more of this lovely lady when she hits our screens as Janis Joplin in The Gospel According to Janis.

Instantly recognisable thanks to her raven locks and ruby lips, Zooey looks like a modern day Snow White. With a penchant for vintage prom dresses, bubble skirts, sixties shifts and Dorothy shoes, she exudes ladylike style.

Achingly hip, Zooey is a lesson in personal style. Her hair is key to her look and she often finishes an outfit off with a bow or blossom in her mane (above).

She knows what works for her and her baby blues and takes every opportunity to emphasise them with aqua hues (below).

Detail and accessories are key as she shows with this effortless outfit worn around Sundance (below).

Vintage pieces soften Zooey’s look and help make it her own.

This girl has fashionable friends in all the right places - Erin Fetherston (below) and Marc Jacobs are just two of this style icon’s fans, and if she keeps on going at this rate she can expect many, many more.

Pictures: Zooey Deschanel Web, Yahoo Images

Zooey Teams with Von Iva

Sun, 6 Oct 2008 17:10:00 GMT

posted by cfarnham

The upcoming Jim Carrey/Zooey Deschanel comedy Yes Man will feature a cameo from the female rock trio Von Iva. According to Vogue's supplemental mag Fashion Rocks, the band backs Deschanel (who is a true indie balladeer in She & Him) in the movie. The women come together as a foursome in film as the Munchausen by Proxy, "collaborating on new tunes that look back to both Blondie and girl bands of the eighties." The movie is slated to come out some time before the end of 2008.

i thought i saw your face today {November 4, 2008}

Mon, 4 Nov 2008 08:00:00 GMT

posted by lizfrithtx

As I boarded my flight home from Vancouver a couple weeks ago (flight no. 4 out of 12—yes, I am still in awe), I managed to make eye-contact with a very handsome fella sitting in first class. As I stood patiently in the aisle watching him sip his first-class cocktail, I surmised how he wasn't really my type at all (gorgeous but definitely metrosexual & I'll boldly speculate that his perfectly sleek hair had been flat-ironed that morning), but still, I casually stared. He was rather lovely and there wasn't much else to look at as passengers slowly pushed their carry-ons into the bins. He looked away after a few moments, and I quickly glanced at the girl sitting next to him. Yep, clearly his girlfriend—she was leaning in, murmuring into his ear.

Wait a second.

I stared at her for a couple moments, trying to place her. I know her. She briefly looked in my direction, observing the passengers hovering in the aisle. I noticed the pronounced hue of her eye-color, ice-blue and beautifully arresting. I suddenly realized that I was staring at Zooey Deschanel from She & Him (others may recognize her as the raven-maned love interest in The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy). I softly gasped as I shuffled by her, wide-eyed & o-mouthed. Apologies to the few friends that received a progression of "oooooooooooo!!!!" texts before our lift-off.

After arriving in San Francisco, I noticed Zooey again as she waited for her bag at the claim station. I contemplated approaching her to relay my appreciation of her debut album—a very good collaboration with indie musician, M. Ward. And that I was looking forward to their upcoming concert at Bimbo's in SF. (I already had tickets to the sold-out show.)

But she looked so tired standing there, leaning onto her boyfriend as his arm steadied her lower back. They looked so cute together. I smiled and decided to walk past them instead... though my strides were rather short and my pace belonged in the "lolling" category. I was definitely rethinking my decision & zig-zagging all over the place. But there was no going back—if I decided to talk to them, my erratic travel pattern & stuttering nervousness would surely result in them thinking that I was crazy & most likely intoxicated.

Mr. metrosexual would most likely put his palm in my face, loudly warning, "BACK OFF YE DEMENTED, TOWERING GIRL. YOU ARE FRIGHTENING MY LADY."

Or maybe not. Perhaps squirting hair-straightening gel into my eyes would be a more predictable defense maneuver. Those metrosexuals can be wily like that.

I finally saw She & Him perform at Bimbo's last night. Very good show. I spent a bit of the concert thinking about Zooey's musical stylings—the simplicity & cuteness of her melodies & constructions. The wannabe producer of my liz-self has always thought, "No no no, too facile. Too bare. Too sweet, even in its most melancholy moments (and there are many). Go back and add this and take away that." It always starts out this way—yet by the time I've reached the 5-minute mark of their debut album, Volume 1, I'm humming along and smiling with delight, entirely enchanted with its simple loveliness.

She & Him remind me of the ending scene in How the Grinch Stole Christmas, when the Grinch's cold, shriveled heart reacts to unexpected kindness & swells up to above-normal proportions—and he is warmly welcomed into the community of happy, ever-singing whos. With every listen of Volume 1, I start out thinking, "Nooooooo" but I end up nodding, "Yes, yes. Time to go live with the whos in Whoville now. I can't fight it."

MP3: "I Thought I Saw Your Face Today" / She & Him
MP3: "Sentimental Heart" / She & Him

Zooey Deschanel - Articles - Zimbio

The Go-Getter

Zooey Deschanel does Nylon!

Accidental Sexiness

FOR EVERYTHING HOT FROM MIAMI AND BEYOND

September 20, 2008

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Cute, cool, and quirky. What’s not to love about Zooey Deschanel?

Zooey Teams with Von Iva

i thought i saw your face today {November 4, 2008}