Hitchhiker Faithful To Adams

Zooey Deschanel, co-star of the upcoming SF movie The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, told SCI FI Wire that the movie will be faithful to the late Douglas Adams' beloved book. "Pretty much everything from the book is included," Deschanel said in an interview. "Most everything that was changed was Douglas Adams' idea to begin with; [the filmmakers] had his hard drive, so any changes that were made were pretty much according to his wishes." Adams, who created the Hitchhiker series based on his own original radio serial, drafted the first script for the film before he died unexpectedly in May 2001 of a heart attack.

Deschanel, who plays Trillian, said that there is one significant addition to the eccentric cast of characters, which includes Ford Prefect (Mos Def), Arthur Dent (Martin Freeman) and Zaphod Beeblebrox (Sam Rockwell). "There's a new character played by John Malkovich, who's like the leader of a sneezing cult," Deschanel said. "They worship the mighty Arkleseizure, and it's on planet Viltvodle VI. We go there, and it's great." Deschanel added that the film version will incorporate different iterations of the story as it has appeared in novels and radio and television series. "With each incarnation of that story, there were changes made. Between the radio series and the book and the TV series, there were a lot of different things [changed]."

Deschanel said that she is particularly proud of the chance she's had to work with her co-stars. "It's a great cast," she said. "[Martin Freeman of the U.K. series The Office] is a great Arthur Dent. He's a really good actor, and he’s perfect for the part. It's different than the original Arthur, Simon Jones, but still so great. Sam Rockwell is playing Zaphod, and Mos Def is amazing and so funny as Ford Prefect."

Deschanel (Elf), who has played in a number of more intimate, character-driven pieces, said that Hitchhiker was different for her because of its large budget. "They had to create all this stuff, and that takes a lot of time and money and energy," she said. "We had a lot of time to shoot it, and they had to create entire alien planets and spaceships. They had the most amazing puppets and stuff. But the interesting thing about Hitchhiker's is it's also a character piece. It's just within the context of all this fantasy." The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy is scheduled for release May 6, 2005.