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 OUR FUNNY VALENTINE
25-Year Old Zooey Deschanel Occasionally Adds A Little Cabaret And Faxing To Her Life. Just Don't Accuse Her Of Being Into "Old Hollywood."
INSTINCT: Happy Valentine’s Day, Zooey! Do you send
cards to your friends?
ZOOEY DESCHANEL: I did in elementary school. When
I think of Valentine’s Day, I think how every year you’d have to
bring a valentine for everybody. And there would always be some
scandal where one person would put “I love you” secretly in the
corner of their valentine. Then the whole day was devoted to “soand-
so told so-and-so they loved them in the valentine!”
Well, you’ve also got a couple of movies out this month. Tell us
about your character in Winter Passing.
I play a theater actress in New York who’s kind of like a drug addict.
She basically gets offered a lot of money for some correspondence
between her parents. Her parents are both famous authors, but
the mother has committed suicide and left her the letters. She has
to go home to her father’s house to fi nd these letters so that she
can sell them for money. She’s kind of a shady character.
Will Ferrell is also in the movie. Are you two good buddies
after doing this and Elf with him, or do you never want to see
him again?
No, I think he’s awesome! He’s a wonderful person. I think he’s so
talented and can do whatever he wants. I think he can do drama.
I think he can do comedy. He’s a great actor.
Failure To Launch is another fi lm you’re in that comes out
this month…
I just play this really eccentric girl. You’ll see. Go see the movie.
You’ll think it’s funny.
Will do. How’s your cabaret act, Pretty Babies, going?
The other singer [Samantha Shelton] and I are both actresses,
so we perform when we’re both not working. We’ve been doing
it for about three years or so. It’s so fun! We started out purely
dressing up like the 1920s. Now I like to mix it up, fashion-wise,
a little bit.
Now, this isn’t like a Pussycat Dolls type of thing, is it?
Oh, God! What type of girl do you think I am? [Laughs] A
slut? That’s burlesque. This is cabaret. There’s a huge difference.
Burlesque is nudie stuff. Cabaret is singing and dancing.
Sometimes they call burlesque cabaret, which is a lie. It’s like
one of those old-fashioned acts, like when Judy Garland would
sing in a club.
Speaking of which, you once said on Letterman that you used
to clip out pictures of Liza Minnelli and David Guest and fax
them to friends.
I’m so sad that they broke up. I just thought it would be funny
to get a fax with them on it, because people don’t fax enough.
People don’t use fax as comedy often enough.
Is there a chick you’d switch for?
Carole Lombard. She’s passed on. Carole Lombard and
[husband] Clark Gable. How dreamy was Clark Gable?
He didn’t have any of his original teeth, though.
Okay, never mind.
Why Carole Lombard?
She’s like my favorite! I just think she’s so awesome. She was
just the perfect combination of everything. She was beautiful,
she was funny and she was smart. She’s kind of who I would
like to be.
Are you into old Hollywood?
I like old movies. I’m not as into it as people make me out to be,
like that’s my “thing.” But I love old movies. [Pauses] Yes! Yes!
Okay, I’ll admit it!
See, this is good. You’re owning up to it.
No, I have owned up to it almost too much. I’m trying to
backpedal now. There are like three or four movies that come
on, and I just start crying if I even see a minute: The Sound Of
Music, The Wizard Of Oz and Singin’ In The Rain. Oh, and My
Fair Lady! I rented them so many times as a kid that if I even see
the beginning of them, it just makes me cry with nostalgia.
Coming back to Valentine’s Day, what’s a perfect date movie?
It depends upon how you want the date to go [Laughs]. You
don’t want one that’s too long, because if it’s too long you don’t
have enough time to hang out.
Yeah, movies are always a bad idea on a fi rst date.
Well, how do you get to know somebody if you’re sitting
watching a movie? A good date movie would be Sabrina. The
Apartment’s another one. I love Billy Wilder.
Read the full interview with Zooey at instinctmag.com. Failure
To Launch is released February 10th, and Winter Passing is out
February 17th.
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