Zooey Deschanel of Abandon

Zooey Deschanel is an attractive young brunette with a style more reminiscent of an early Hollywood ingénue than the average crop of teen stars. She began to quickly rack up credits starting in 1998, making her TV debut in an episode of Veronica's Closet. The following year, she was featured in her first film, Mumford by Lawrence Kasdan, a comedy about a man posing as a psychologist in a small town in which she played a troubled young woman obsessed with models, and impressed critics with her spot-on portrayal.

In 2000, she was featured in the ensemble of the long-awaited Cameron Crowe film Almost Famous, a semi-autobiographical look at a teenage rock journalist who goes on tour with an up and coming band. Deschanel played the older and musically influential sister of the character based on Crowe [played by newcomer Patrick Fugit]. Decked out in timely miniskirts with teased hair, Deschanel was at ease in the period piece, lighting up the screen in her scenes and proving an asset to the film. The actress was poised to breakout into the big time in 2000, lensing featured roles in the mental institution-set drama Manic, the comedic crime caper Big Trouble and the romantic comedy Beauty Loop. Named after the beloved J D Salinger character, Deschanel is the daughter of Academy Award-nominated cinematographer Caleb Deschanel.

She has most recently made a big splash as the sarcastic supermarket worker in The Good Girl, but her new film is the Katie Holmes thriller, Abandon.

Dan Epstein: You have really perfected the secondary role of the girl that's really sarcastic. Is that you?

Zooey Deschanel: No character I have played is the real me. Obviously, there are aspects that are me. But the girl in Abandon is a party girl, and that's not me.

DE: What do you like most about playing the quirky characters?

ZD: Well, I'm doing the roles to work my way up. I like doing comedy. I love this character. I don't think of it as quirky roles. I don't define them in those terms, but everyone else does. I think, in general, I've succeeded in doing things differently. I haven't done many leads, but I'm just starting out.

DE: Stephen Gaghan was talking about how students at these top colleges all end up wanting to be business consultants at the same firm.

ZD: It's because business consultants make a lot of money. My character wants it only because that's what everyone wants. Clearly, Katie Holmes is right for the job.

DE: At one point in the movie, everyone is smoking pot in the dorms.

ZD: What do you mean? We're smoking tobacco. [Laughs]

DE: Well, you're smoking pot and Benjamin Bratt, a cop, walks by and no one seems fazed by that. My friends and I would have freaked out.

ZD: Right, but how much had you had? We're not freaking out, because we're smoking tobacco out of a water pipe.

DE: It's better for the lungs.

ZD: Right.

DE: Did you go to college?

ZD: I went to Northwestern for seven months, then I got a movie. I did my first movie my senior year of high school, then I auditioned for Almost Famous during spring break of college, got it, then left. I don't regret not finishing school. I read a lot. I like not knowing what day it is all the time.

DE: Did you ever think about becoming a cinematographer like your dad?

ZD: No, I was always a performer ever since I was very young. I've wanted to be an actor since I was two. I had a long discussion about jumping into videotape. My mom told me it was impossible, so acting is the closest thing.

DE: Do your home movies look really good?

ZD: Yes, they do. In fact, my dad was just transferring them to digital video. I have a very well documented childhood.

DE: What's your opinion on nudity in movies?

ZD: Well, my goodness. I don't really want to do it. I'm not totally comfortable with full frontal nudity. I don't think it's necessary a lot of time. People used to be a lot more creative about that stuff. Now that anything goes, people seem to use it gratuitously. My feeling is that, if it seems necessary, it should be done, but I don't think, right now, I would be comfortable with it.

DE: You do a cabaret act. What's that like?

ZD: It's great. I sing with a friend of mine. The band varies. We go from having a piano to violins to guitar. It changes from show to show. We do it in Los Angeles. It's been going really great.

DE: Are there, like, five more versions of Almost Famous coming out?

ZD: The Christmas special [laughs].

DE: I heard Halloween is your favorite holiday. What is your favorite costume?

ZD: I always wanted to play Snow White. So I went to a premiere in my Snow White costume, and it shows up in People magazine. I like that costume. I was Anna Karenina one year, and the only person that got that was my film teacher. Most of the time, the costumes I like people just don't seem to get. Even when I dressed as a nurse, people asked me if I was a waitress. I was Dorothy from Wizard of Oz last year, and everyone thought I was Alice from Alice in Wonderland.

DE: Thanks.