NEW GIRL: The Adorkable Zooey Deschanel

Watching Zooey Deschanel in the pilot for Fox’s new comedy series, New Girl, it’s easy to believe that the show was created for her, and that Jess is really an extension of Zooey, herself. While “New Girl” wasn’t exactly created with Zooey in mind, she feels that maybe it could have been. “I know it wasn’t written for me initially, but it was sort of a perfect fit, you know. You go to a store and there’s a dress that just looks like it was made for you, but it wasn’t. That’s sort of like what it was like.”

Zooey Deschanel as Jess in "New Girl"

In the pilot, Jess Day is having a very difficult time getting over a bad breakup. She takes an apartment with three bachelors who could either help her or mess her up even more. We won’t know until the series moves forward, but one thing we do see is that the journey is going to be one wild ride. “I’m super happy and excited that I get to do funny stuff every week on the show,” says Zooey.

Zooey goes on to describe her character and how she relates to the boys on the show.”I think that she’s starting a whole new life. She’s been in one mode for a really long time. She’s sort of living out the stuff that should have happened in her late teens and early 20’s. So I think in a weird way, she bypasses all this stuff because she’s with the same guy for a long time. I think more specifically than generally, these guys are helping her get over this experience, but not just that. It’s not just getting over the break-up, it’s also finding her way in a new life being a single woman in her late 20’s.”

One of Jess’s quirks on the show is that she makes up little songs for herself, depending on the situation she’s in at the time. Zooey Deschanel is known for her singing and she and her band, She & Him, just finished a tour before she landed the role on “New Girl”. Unlike Zooey, Jess is not a singer by any stretch. “I felt like Jess should be—her singing comes out of pure self-expression. I just didn’t want her to be like Maria Callas or whatever, Beyoncé. I just didn’t want her to be a really great singer.

I thought she should be whatever manner she tries to sing in should match her mood at the time, and that she’s not really singing out of showing off her vocal togs as much as trying to express something she can’t express, and to express a certain awkwardness. Yes, she sings a lot. That’s one of her character quirks. So, you will definitely hear a lot more weird random singing.”

Whether she’s singing or goofy-dancing as Jess, Zooey is every bit as cute and adorkable as her character. New Girl premieres tonight at 9/8c, on Fox.