Zooey Deschanel takes TV writer Brad Oswald on a whirlwind tour
HOLLYWOOD -- It's one of those perfect, blue-skied, warm and breezy midwinter-in-southern-California afternoons; the kind of day that makes a Canadian Prairie dweller thankful to be on a business trip to L.A. but eager to be outdoors doing something other than work.
This January day, however -- like all the days during the two weeks of the U.S. networks' semi-annual press tour -- is a workday, of the distinctly indoor variety. There will be no basking in the SoCal sunshine.
But that's OK, because the confined quarters required by this day's schedule are sufficiently cool to make one feel OK about being dragged in from the warm -- the expansive, loft-apartment-interior set of the hit Fox sitcom New Girl.
Constructed on a soundstage on 20th Century Fox's studio lot, the set has a decidedly post-industrial feel to it, with an expansive living room filled with sort-of-grownup toys and gadgets and, in separate areas, bedrooms that are appropriately decorated to suit the off-kilter personalities of the show's quartet of central roommate characters -- Jess (Zooey Deschanel), Nick (Jake Johnson), Schmidt (Max Greenfield) and Winston (Lamorne Morris).
After taking a cluster of visiting TV critics on a whirlwind tour of the set, Deschanel -- clad in a lavender-hued floral frock and matching pumps that reflect both her personal style and the sartorial inclinations of her on-screen character -- settles in with her castmates and series creator Liz Meriwether to answer a few questions about the rookie sitcom's immediate breakout success, the laid-back work environment created by this rambling, open set design, and the almost-scary mind meld that seems to exist between New Girl's creator/writer and star.
"It's all about the writing," Deschanel answers when asked why she decided, at a time when her feature-film career (Almost Famous, The Happening, (500) Days of Summer) seemed to be heating up nicely, to shackle herself to a TV series that might require a commitment of five or more years.
"I had been developing a show for a while, for HBO, that didn't end up coming to fruition. And then I read this script, and I just fell in love with the character and the writing.
"It was very obvious to me that it was something I couldn't turn down. It was too good. ... If you are an actor who is acting because you love to do it, which I am, nothing's better than being on a TV show where you have all these great writers writing for you. I mean, there are all these great writers writing for me every week, thinking about what I do best, and then writing that. There's nothing more exciting for an actor than that."
In New Girl, Deschanel plays the titular Jess, an impulsively tuneful fish-out-of-water type who has recently split from her cheating boyfriend and taken up residence, thanks to a vaguely worded online ad, with a trio of guys who were looking for a new (hopefully male) roommate. It's an arrangement that, by any real-world measure, seems doomed to failure, but thanks to an undeniably charming connection between the characters, a pilot-episode moment of male-roomie chivalry and some very sharp sitcom writing, New Girl's new girl has become arguably the season's most beloved prime-time newcomer.
Series creator Meriwether, who has a knack for finishing Deschanel's sentences when the two are interviewed together, says the inspiration for New Girl grew out of her own struggling-Hollywood-writer misadventures.
"I was writing from my personal experience of kind of bouncing from Craigslist sublet to Craigslist sublet for, like, four years in L.A.," explains Meriwether, who also wrote the screenplay for the big-screen comedy No Strings Attached, which starred Ashton Kutcher and Natalie Portman. "I think there is kind of a nomadic ... the word that comes to mind is 'vibe,' but I hate myself for saying it ... to it.
"I mean, especially with the economy as it is, I feel like people are always moving; it's harder to put down roots. I was definitely writing from my experience as a twentysomething living off of Craiglist, so there must be something in the air."
Indeed, New Girl was an out-of-the-gate hit for Fox last fall, garnering that network's highest new-series-launch ratings in more than a decade and earning the series an almost-immediate second-season renewal (after just two episodes aired). New Girl also received best-TV-comedy Golden Globe nominations for the show and its star, Deschanel.
The series has already become a go-to destination for actors seeking guest roles, with Justin Long having made a multi-episode appearance earlier this season as a love interest for Jess, and Ryan Kwanten (True Blood) and Dermot Mulroney slated to appear later this spring.
Deschanel says one of the reasons for the in-migration of talent might be New Girl's collaborative, actor-friendly environment.
"One of the cool things I love is that we are really allowed to do our thing," she explains. "We're allowed to be actors and contribute. You know, it's not always that way, and I think a lot of actors feel stifled. But we're allowed to play and have fun. It's a wonderful atmosphere to work in.
"I've had experiences where you're not allowed to change the words around at all, and you have to say everything exactly as written on the page. That's not fun for me, because part of being an actor, I think, is being able to maybe contribute to the character. If there's room to explore, I think you can find a happy medium -- we almost always get it as it's written, but then there's room to throw in some improvs or some alts (alternative takes).
"It's just fun to get to do it that way."
Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition January 28, 2012 G1
This January day, however -- like all the days during the two weeks of the U.S. networks' semi-annual press tour -- is a workday, of the distinctly indoor variety. There will be no basking in the SoCal sunshine.
But that's OK, because the confined quarters required by this day's schedule are sufficiently cool to make one feel OK about being dragged in from the warm -- the expansive, loft-apartment-interior set of the hit Fox sitcom New Girl.
Constructed on a soundstage on 20th Century Fox's studio lot, the set has a decidedly post-industrial feel to it, with an expansive living room filled with sort-of-grownup toys and gadgets and, in separate areas, bedrooms that are appropriately decorated to suit the off-kilter personalities of the show's quartet of central roommate characters -- Jess (Zooey Deschanel), Nick (Jake Johnson), Schmidt (Max Greenfield) and Winston (Lamorne Morris).
After taking a cluster of visiting TV critics on a whirlwind tour of the set, Deschanel -- clad in a lavender-hued floral frock and matching pumps that reflect both her personal style and the sartorial inclinations of her on-screen character -- settles in with her castmates and series creator Liz Meriwether to answer a few questions about the rookie sitcom's immediate breakout success, the laid-back work environment created by this rambling, open set design, and the almost-scary mind meld that seems to exist between New Girl's creator/writer and star.
"It's all about the writing," Deschanel answers when asked why she decided, at a time when her feature-film career (Almost Famous, The Happening, (500) Days of Summer) seemed to be heating up nicely, to shackle herself to a TV series that might require a commitment of five or more years.
"I had been developing a show for a while, for HBO, that didn't end up coming to fruition. And then I read this script, and I just fell in love with the character and the writing.
"It was very obvious to me that it was something I couldn't turn down. It was too good. ... If you are an actor who is acting because you love to do it, which I am, nothing's better than being on a TV show where you have all these great writers writing for you. I mean, there are all these great writers writing for me every week, thinking about what I do best, and then writing that. There's nothing more exciting for an actor than that."
In New Girl, Deschanel plays the titular Jess, an impulsively tuneful fish-out-of-water type who has recently split from her cheating boyfriend and taken up residence, thanks to a vaguely worded online ad, with a trio of guys who were looking for a new (hopefully male) roommate. It's an arrangement that, by any real-world measure, seems doomed to failure, but thanks to an undeniably charming connection between the characters, a pilot-episode moment of male-roomie chivalry and some very sharp sitcom writing, New Girl's new girl has become arguably the season's most beloved prime-time newcomer.
Series creator Meriwether, who has a knack for finishing Deschanel's sentences when the two are interviewed together, says the inspiration for New Girl grew out of her own struggling-Hollywood-writer misadventures.
"I was writing from my personal experience of kind of bouncing from Craigslist sublet to Craigslist sublet for, like, four years in L.A.," explains Meriwether, who also wrote the screenplay for the big-screen comedy No Strings Attached, which starred Ashton Kutcher and Natalie Portman. "I think there is kind of a nomadic ... the word that comes to mind is 'vibe,' but I hate myself for saying it ... to it.
"I mean, especially with the economy as it is, I feel like people are always moving; it's harder to put down roots. I was definitely writing from my experience as a twentysomething living off of Craiglist, so there must be something in the air."
Indeed, New Girl was an out-of-the-gate hit for Fox last fall, garnering that network's highest new-series-launch ratings in more than a decade and earning the series an almost-immediate second-season renewal (after just two episodes aired). New Girl also received best-TV-comedy Golden Globe nominations for the show and its star, Deschanel.
The series has already become a go-to destination for actors seeking guest roles, with Justin Long having made a multi-episode appearance earlier this season as a love interest for Jess, and Ryan Kwanten (True Blood) and Dermot Mulroney slated to appear later this spring.
Deschanel says one of the reasons for the in-migration of talent might be New Girl's collaborative, actor-friendly environment.
"One of the cool things I love is that we are really allowed to do our thing," she explains. "We're allowed to be actors and contribute. You know, it's not always that way, and I think a lot of actors feel stifled. But we're allowed to play and have fun. It's a wonderful atmosphere to work in.
"I've had experiences where you're not allowed to change the words around at all, and you have to say everything exactly as written on the page. That's not fun for me, because part of being an actor, I think, is being able to maybe contribute to the character. If there's room to explore, I think you can find a happy medium -- we almost always get it as it's written, but then there's room to throw in some improvs or some alts (alternative takes).
"It's just fun to get to do it that way."
Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition January 28, 2012 G1
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