Zooey did an interview with the A.V. Club recently, and they have added the interview to their site. She talks about She & Him and a her upcoming movies.
A.V. Club: Your music feels simultaneously nostalgic and modern. Do you ever feel torn between the two?
Zooey Deschanel: Yeah, I think so. I usually like stuff that was made before I was born. At the same time, I’m happy to live in 2010 and have access to many years of records.
AVC: A lot of your songs deal with unrequited love and relationships gone badThe . Now that you’re off the shelf, so to speak, what are you going to write about?
ZD: I still write about unrequited love. It’s interesting. It was never so personal. I mean, the emotions are personal. I’m moved by the emotions, but they were never all about me. I think when you use too much in your own—if you’re a creative person at all, if you overuse yourself as a pawn in your own adventures to write your masterpiece, I think you end up bending yourself. It’s all very sincere emotionally. It’s just not necessarily my life experience.
AVC: What keeps you coming back to that subject?
ZD: I don’t know. You just like some things or other things, I guess. Interesting stories.
AVC: Have you thought about collaborating with your husband, Ben Gibbard, on a project?
ZD: I like to keep it separate. I think it’s better to have your personal life and your work life separate. That way they don’t corrupt each other, so to speak.
AVC: So no Death Cab For She & Him?
ZD: I don’t think so. I like to be a supportive wife, and I think he likes to be a supportive husband, without having it become like “Let’s make a business out of it.” I think it’s better to just keep it separate.
AVC: Do you set aside time to write while on film sets?
ZD: I rarely do movies. I’ve done like one movie a year for the past couple years. I used to do a lot more, but I’ve just been a lot more choosy lately, so that I do have more time. I’ve been touring a lot, recording a lot, and writing a lot. I just do the movies I really, really want to do, and don’t overwork myself in that area. That way, I can concentrate on one thing at a time. I used to write all the time when I was working, and go home and stay up really late. I’ve just been spending more time doing music lately.
AVC: How’s that process different for you than acting?
ZD: I have a lot of control in writing music and being there for the recording process. I have a real role in all of it. If I’m just acting in something, there’s a lot of—you know, you’re following people’s direction. You’re collaborating. In a way, it’s like a job where you show up, and it’s really somebody else’s vision, someone else’s thing, and you’re there. You might have a lot of passion for it, but it’s not yours unless you’re part of developing it. But an actor for hire is really like—it’s one of many important jobs on a film set, but there are so many people you’re working with. You have to please a lot of people. There’s a burden that comes with that.
AVC: With the growing popularity of She & Him, are you thinking of that as your primary career?
ZD: I really love doing it. Writing music is really my favorite thing, and I’m privileged enough to get paid to do it. I’m not saying I’m quitting acting and stuff, but I really have been happier leaving more time to do music and really having the time and resources to concentrate on it, rather than it being something I fit in between movie projects. It’s sort of something I do mostly, and then I do movies when I want.
AVC: Is there a Volume Three in the works, or are you looking to go in a new direction for the next album?
ZD: We haven’t started recording or anything. I’m just writing right now, and we’re still touring for Volume Two. We’ll see.
AVC: Producing is such an all-encompassing and sometimes vague title. What’s M. Ward’s role specifically, and what’s your creative process working together?
ZD: I’ll write a song and make a demo of it and put in backing vocals, like a little produced demo. Then I’ll send it to Matt, and if he likes it, we’ll go in and work on it and record it for a record. Once we have enough songs that I’ve written that he likes, we’ll go and record it. It’s a pretty classic relay race. I enjoy making the demo because I like to play different instruments. I enjoy trying to make something Matt will like. I enjoy every part of the process. Matt’s very collaborative, and he always has great ideas. He’s a great producer, and keeps evolving. It’s really fun to watch how he has evolved as a producer. He’s an extremely creative person.
AVC: Your IMDB page credits you in development on an “Untitled Groupie Project.” Do you play a groupie?
ZD: I don’t. It’s really early in development. It’s sort of based on that book [Pamela Des Barres’ I’m With The Band: Confessions Of A Groupie], but it’s pretty different. It’s really, really loosely based. She’s not Pamela, so she’s not even the same person.
AVC: In David Gordon Green’s new stoner fantasy, Your Highness, you play a virginal bride who shares a name with a porn star. Was this a coincidence?
ZD: I had no idea. Does she? I don’t know anything about the porn industry, but it’s the dirtiest medieval comedy you will ever see. I will guarantee you that. Oh my God, it’s ridiculously dirty. I mean, it’s like the most dirty humor that you could possibly come up with.
AVC: How was inhabiting such a heightened reality different from the naturalistic roles you usually play?
ZD: It was totally fun.
AVC: Your other upcoming film is My Idiot Brother, where you play Rashida Jones’ girlfriend.
ZD: Yeah, I’m still shooting it now. Paul Rudd, Emily Mortimer, Elizabeth Banks, and I are all siblings. He’s in jail for a minor drug offense, and comes in and messes with all his sisters’ lives.
AVC: How was the lesbian dynamic working with Rashida Jones different from, say, working with guys?
ZD: Rashida Jones is awesome! I’ve been totally surprised at what a huge deal everyone’s made out of it, about that. It’s not any different. It’s just like playing people with the same problems straight people have. [Laughs.]
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