Zooey Deschanel Talks About Eulogy

Kate, the most normal member of her family, has to come home from college because of the death of her grandfather. She's quickly surrounded by her dysfunctional family who gather to mourn their loss. As they spend a little time with one another, family secrets surface, fights erupt, and her grandmother decides it's Kate's duty to deliver the eulogy.

Did you provide real photos for the family albums in the opening credits?
Yeah, in the beginning there are a lot of little ‘me’s. I don’t know if you could tell, but yeah. It’s me, a lot. Not all of them are me, but the ones of me were all real. And then there were a couple of pictures that they had Photoshopped two people together. But all of the ones of me were single, so it was just old photos of me.
How tough is it to develop that irreverent tone when you’re dealing with subject matter that at least outwardly seems serious?
I mean, a lot of it was in the script already. I think everything’s obviously a combination of the way that the actors interact and what’s there to begin with. There’s some improvising going on, but I can’t remember just what was in the script and what was not. I didn’t usually go off the script, I mean, sometimes Hank [Azaria] or Ray [Romano] would add a few little things. Especially, I think, like the scene where they’re all in the basement. I know there were a few things that were different than the script. Actually, most of the stuff I think was in the script to begin with.
This wasn’t your first love scene in a movie, was it?
No. No, I’ve done a lot of love scenes. I can name at least five. Mumford, All the Real Girls, Manic… Why am I doing this? I’ve done a lot of love scenes.
Is it awkward or does it get easier?
Yeah, it’s awkward. No, it doesn’t really get easier. It’s like, “Hi. Nice to meet you.”
What kind of rehearsal time did you have for Eulogy?
We had like three weeks of rehearsal before we started shooting, and that’s always nice. That makes it so much easier – the, “Hi. Nice to meet you. Let’s get into bed.” (Laughing) Yeah, it was good.
What kind of camaraderie developed between you and the rest of the cast?
[Do you mean] who was the goofball? You mean, who wasn’t the goofball? It wasn’t like a big rehearsal. We’d meet in smaller groups. It wasn’t like everybody in a big room rehearsing. It was like, you know, I’d meet with the people I had scenes with. Yeah, it was fun.
Did you work on developing a relationship with Hank Azaria, who plays your dad in the movie?
We rehearsed a lot, and we got along pretty well, but we didn’t like go to a father-daughter dance or anything together.
Are there different responsibilities acting in an ensemble than when you’re playing a lead?
Yeah, for sure. It’s a lot harder to do an ensemble because you have to - your energy is going in so many different places - and you have to cover everybody. You have to sort of split your attention. So, in a way, you appreciate the smaller scenes with fewer people in them. Like if you have a scene with a lot of people, it’s really, it’s a lot more work than a scene with two people, just logistically.
What were some of the scenes in “Eulogy” that took longer to coordinate?
A lot of the ones where everyone’s in the kitchen and people are coming in and out, and like just the big dining room table scene. All of the ones where the full cast was there were. You know, the scene outside by the lake, a lot of them. But I think mostly the hardest parts are when people are coming in and out of different doors and you’re trying to establish different characters at the same time. I think probably the scene where everybody arrives at the house was a lot of work.
Do you have any outrageous characters in your own family?
No. I mean, not like this.
Would you categorize it as dysfunctional?
No. Not my family, but I would categorize the Eulogy family. My family is not dysfunctional, but of course I can see everyone has problems. Every family has problems, so you can sort of… If you blow them up, you can kind of see how it relates to something like the family in Eulogy.
A lot of the films you’ve made deal with dysfunctional families. Is that a subject that appeals to you?
It’s character by character. But Mumford and Almost Famous were like my first two movies, so I was just like excited to be in a movie. I mean, I’ve just been lucky. Yeah, I’m definitely attracted to that because I’m attracted to character-driven pieces, you know, which is why I haven’t done a lot of big budget movies. I like sort of small movies about, you know, people and their relationships.
What about this project in particular appealed to you?
It was a really funny script, and the cast was amazing. I really liked Michael Clancy, so I just thought it would be fun.
How many takes did they do of the casket blowing up?
I was there. I think you only, with that sort of thing, explosives, you only have one or two takes because it takes forever to set it up again. I remember Debra Winger brought her 3-year old son and he got scared when the boat blew up. He was so cute.
What did you like about the character of ‘Kate’?
I was interested to play someone who was sort of normal because I hadn’t done that before. I thought it would be fun to play the non-dysfunctional one because I’ve played a lot of dysfunctional people, so I thought it would be just fun to try that, to challenge myself a little bit.
How did you like it?
I like it. It was fun. I mean, I like playing crazy characters too, so yeah, it was interesting. I’m always trying to do stuff I haven’t done before or challenge myself so I’m not resting on my laurels all of the time because if I just found my little niche and never left it, I’d be pretty boring, I think.
What was it like working with Debra Winger?
It was great. I love Debra Winger. Yeah, well, she has two kids and she raises them and she’s a really good mom and she’s such a smart lady. She produces films herself and her husband’s an actor and director and I think she just works when she wants to work and she’s totally brilliant.
Are you still singing?
Yes. I just had a show last week, a cabaret show, and I have another one on [October] 27th. And I’m doing a musical right now, actually, up in Vancouver with Carol Burnett and Tracey Ullman.
How is it working with them? Is it tough to balance the music with acting?
Great. It’s so fun. I mean, I do both. I’ll do a movie, and movies are like you go away for a couple of months and it’s like over a period of time and you have some time off. So whenever I have time off, I schedule shows.