Category: zooey deschanel

Zooey Deschanel and Property Brother Jonathan Scott have been engaged for over a year. Did you think they’d be married by now? Maybe Jonathan is having a hard time settling on a location that’s special to him… Meanwhile, Zooey is a brand ambassador for Vera Bradley, which I guess jives with her twee core aesthetic. She’s selected her Top 12 bags from their Winter/Holiday line, accompanied by a very jewel-toned, ornamental photo shoot of Zooey posing with them. I did a double take looking at the photos, because in some of them Zooey looks like a dead ringer for Rachel Brosnahan! Anyway, Zooey spoke with Us Weekly recently to promote the brand partnership, where she talked about some of her favorite things and one chore that is very much not a favorite thing: unloading the dishwasher. I could muster up some sympathy, were I lucky enough to have a dishwasher myself, sigh.

“What’s cool about Vera Bradley is that they have all these beautiful, very high-end bags that are lovely velvet things that feel very fancy and special,” she tells Us. “And they also have really great practical everyday bags and backpacks and little pouches that you can organize stuff in, like travel things. Toiletry bags, I mean, they have so many things. So it is a really great place to shop for a lot of different holidays.”

Us: when was the last time you did laundry?

Deschanel: I do laundry all the time. I do my own stain removal. I’m obsessed with stain removal.

Us: What’s the one task that you tend to put off?

Deschanel: I hate unloading the dishwasher. Doesn’t everybody? It’s the worst. I don’t mind loading it. Loading is fine. Running it is fine. But if it’s clean and it’s in there, I’ll disappear. Jonathan usually will end up doing that.

Us: What movie do you watch during the holidays — Elf?

Deschanel: Meet Me in St. Louis is a favorite of mine. I don’t watch myself in anything. I feel like that might be narcissistic. I think Jonathan used to watch Elf every year before we met, but if someone has me on a TV, I’m probably running away.

Us: What board games do you like to play?

Deschanel: I love Monopoly and Balderdash. I love playing games, but I’m not competitive. I find it really weird when people are competitive about games.

Us: What’s your favorite song to sing in the shower?

Deschanel: I don’t sing in the shower. I sing outside the shower.

Us: What was the last show that you streamed?

Deschanel: [The HBO MAX docuseries] Chimp Crazy. I did fall asleep. That’s my problem. Chimp Crazy — check it out. It’s really weird.

Us: Who is your favorite Real Housewives star?

Deschanel: My girl Crystal [Kung Minkoff] isn’t on Beverly Hills anymore, but she’s my friend, so she was my favorite. … I mean there’s so many icons. Beverly Hills, I mean, I loved the days when Kyle [Richards] and Lisa Vanderpump were on together. I know that they’re not friends anymore, but I love watching those two together.

[From Us Weekly]

As I lamented earlier, I live sans dishwasher, so to me this is a champagne (or Cascade) problem. Cherish your dishwasher machinery, you blessed people! My grumblings aside, I find it rather peculiar that Zooey prefers loading dirty dishes into the washer as opposed to handling clean dishes. But hey, she shouldn’t feel bad about divvying up the responsibilities so that if she loads, someone else puts everything away. And I say that as someone who only has a nine-pound, four-footed roommate to split chores with. (Wow, these Kismet-to-Zooey Deschanel comparisons are really not working out in my favor.) Other bits of this interview I found quirky was Zooey’s abrupt answer to what she sings in the shower. Ok, so you sing outside the shower. But what are you singing?! And then, her “recommendation” of Chimp Crazy. “I did fall asleep. That’s my problem. Chimp Crazy — check it out.” A ringing endorsement! Or is she slyly pitching it as a hack against insomnia? I don’t mind either way, given it’s from the manipulative/exploitative director of Tiger King.

Photos via Instagram and credit: Faye’s Vision/Cover Images, IMAGO/Jeffrey Mayer/Avalon, Xavier Collin/Image Press Agency/Avalon

Zooey Deschanel and her sister Emily Deschanel are both very successful actresses. Emily was the star and producer of Bones for twelve seasons, while Zooey was an indie-darling-turned-TV-star, and she’s currently moving between TV and film, plus she’s engaged to one of the Property Brothers. Before Emily and Zooey were making their big breaks as actresses, the “Deschanel” name was already well-known in Hollywood. Their father, Caleb Deschanel, is a well-respected cinematographer and director of photography, and his CV goes back to the 1970s. Caleb Deschanel has worked with directors like Hal Ashby, Barry Levinson, William Friedkin, Richard Sheridan and on and on. He’s been nominated for six Oscars. He’s a big deal! But according to Zooey, being the daughter of a six-time Oscar-nominated cinematographer father does not equal “nepotism.”

Zooey Deschanel has denied that her six-time Oscar nominee father and actor mother made it easier for her to enter the film and TV industry. The New Girl star has been branded a “nepo baby” in recent times – a term referring to beneficiaries of “nepotism” and given to celebrities with family connections allowing them exclusive access to rare opportunities.

Deschanel’s father is Caleb Deschanel, a cinematographer who has worked on movies including The Lion King, The Patriot, My Sister’s Keeper and The Passion of Christ. He also has credits on other classics including The Godfather and Titanic. He has been nominated for best cinematography at the Academy Awards six times for his work on The Right Stuff, The Natural, Fly Away Home, The Patriot, The Passion of the Christ, and Never Look Away. Meanwhile, the Elf star’s mother is Twin Peaks actor Mary Jo Deschanel (formerly Weir), and her sister is Bones and Spider-Man 2 star Emily Deschanel. Zooey denied that her family made it easier for her to become an actor, in an interview with Lewis Howes on The School of Greatness podcast.

“It’s funny because people be like, ‘Oh, nepotism’, I’m like no. My dad’s a DP [director of photography, another term for cinematographer]. No one’s getting jobs because their dad’s a DP. It’s definitely not.”

However, she acknowledged that she received some “creative” help. “My mum is an actor and my dad is a cinematographer and a director. I can’t possibly emphasise enough how much creative help I had from my family unit. My dad is a great creative mind and such a talented person. My mum is a great actor and is so nurturing. My mum would coach me when I didn’t have an acting coach, she would help me, read lines with me. She’d be so supportive. I would have so many great discussions about film and filmmaking with my dad. They both would help me. My dad would also read lines with me and give direction. Then having a sister whose an actor. It just makes you automatically have a community, and how much our communities help us – whether its our families or our found communities.”

[From The Independent]

I just… why can’t anyone just admit it and acknowledge their privilege?? Why do we have to go through this every single time?? It brings up something else I’ve been wondering, which is: do these people not understand the concept of nepotism? It feels like these idiot nepo babies think nepotism is specifically “my mother called the director and got me this role.” While that is definitely nepotism, it’s more than that – it’s having a famous name, having an inside track within the industry, having a well-connected father who has worked alongside some of the best directors in the industry for decades. It’s stepping inside the casting office and the casting director saying “Oh, ‘Deschanel,’ is your father Caleb, and are you Emily’s sister?” At the same time she’s like “no, I’m not a nepo baby,” she’s literally describing all of the privileges she had growing up in a creative, well-connected Hollywood family!

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red.