ZOOEY DESCHANEL on THE HITCHHIKER'S GUIDE TO THE GALAXY
Contributed by Michael J. Lee, Executive Editor for Radio Free Entertainment
October 5, 2004
While promoting Eulogy, Zooey took a few moments to give us a brief preview of some things to expect from The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.
The Interview
MEDIA: What was it like filming the epic, comical space adventure that is The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy?
ZOOEY: It was so much fun to make that movie. We had these seven foot tall alien Vogon puppets, and they built four different alien planets, the Heart of Gold set. The most amazing sets. And all the actors were great. And I'm like making up my own system to control the ship and everything. It was really fun. That was like a going-back-to-your-childhood sort of thing. To walk on set and have it be a spaceship, you're running around and you have to pretend to be hit by missiles...I mean, it's just the most fun. It's so great.
What does your costume look like?
I'm not so sure if I'm supposed to be talking about it because they were very protective. If we were ever out in public, we had to cover up. But I have a couple different costumes. The main one is this sort of aqua one piece suit. It was really cool.
Is the movie a faithful adaptation of the book?
Yeah. Pretty much everything from the book is included. Most everything that was changed was Douglas Adams' idea to begin with. It was in his hard drive. They had his hard drive, so any changes that were made were pretty much according to his wishes. But there's a new character played by John Malkovich that's like a leader of a cult. [laughs] Any changes were good. But with each incarnation of that story, there were changes made, between the radio series and the book and the TV series. There were like a lot of different things.
Are you signed on for any Hitchhiker's sequels?
Well, I think they're going to see how the first one does to see if they want to actually do the rest. But yeah, we all have sequel parts of the contract.
What's your take on Martin Freeman playing the lead character, Arthur Dent?
Great Arthur Dent. He's a really good actor and he's perfect for the part. He really works. It's different than the original Arthur, Simon Jones. Very different, but still so great. And Sam Rockwell is playing Zaphod, and that's great. And Mos Def is amazing and so funny as Ford Prefect. It's a great cast.
Is this your biggest project in terms of budget?
Yeah, I think that's probably the biggest budget. It's a big movie.
From a production standpoint, what were some of the biggest differences between a blockbuster like Hitchhiker's and a smaller project like your last movie, Eulogy?
Well, some movies require more funds. They had to create entire alien planets and spaceships, and that takes a lot of time and money and energy. So you need that extra money. They had the most amazing puppets and stuff. We didn't need any puppets for Eulogy. [laughs] It's sort of a character piece. But the amazing thing about Hitchhiker's is that it's also kind of a character piece. It's just within the context of all this fantasy.
Briefly, how would you describe your character, Trillian?
Trillian's like a little genius. It was fun to play that. [laughs]
