The actress takes a walk down memory lane as she shares stories from 'New Girl,' '500 Days of Summer,' 'Elf' and more.
Zooey Deschanel wasn't expecting to find love when she and her sister, actress Emily Deschanel, appeared on Apple TV+'s Carpool Karaoke with Property Brothers' Drew and Jonathan Scott. But that's exactly what happened and their Carpool Karaoke "meet-cute," as Zooey called it, led to her and Jonathan to start dating soon after they filmed the episode in summer 2019.
The New Girl alum recently sat down with ET to reminisce about her most iconic characters and career moments for a special walk down memory lane while sharing behind-the-scenes stories, and the 43-year-old actress couldn't help but marvel over how her life changed during the episode.
"This was, like, my meet-cute with Jonathan, my boyfriend. It's so sweet to see this," Zooey said as she watched the Carpool Karaoke clip. (The episode dropped February 2020 on Apple TV+.) "How many people can say they have them meeting their partner -- the whole, like, first meeting on video? I don't think that many people can say that -- with our siblings present. Not many people!"
Zooey offered insight into how she and her sister were paired up with the Property Brothers, revealing that the sibling pairs weren't put together randomly.
"It wasn't random," she revealed. "They had come to me a bunch of times with different people. Some of them I was like, 'Oh, that's a good idea,' but I couldn't do it and then some of them I'm like, 'I don't know if that makes sense to me.' When they said the Property Brothers and the Deschanel sisters, I was like, 'That's funny. I like the idea.' I wasn't thinking I'd find romance, but I thought we'd find a fun afternoon."
"But yeah, I mean, it's defined me," Zooey said, adding later with a laugh, "It was the best publicity -- the best publicity that I've ever done, I guess."
The couple have been dating since fall 2019 and have been going strong ever since.
"It's true," the She & Him singer reacted when told love finds you when you least expect it. "It was really worth it."
Zooey also reacted to the memorable Britney Spears cover of "...Baby, One More Time" the quartet did during Carpool Karaoke, which featured the Deschanel sisters and Scott brothers doing some Britney-inspired dance moves.
"I think Drew had this dance. He was like, 'We're all doing this and gave us some choreography,'" she recalled. "I knew some of the actual Britney choreography, so it wasn't hard to learn or anything, but it was fun!"
Elsewhere during her retrospective, Zooey shared stories from Elf ("It's kind of a treat to be a part of this very special Christmas tradition for people"), New Girl and (500) Days of Summer, among other career-making roles.
When it came to New Girl, perhaps the role she's most recognized for as Jess, she reacted to clips of Taylor Swift's guest appearance in 2013 and Prince's memorable cameo in 2014, which she revealed was filmed in one night. "Taylor Swift, such a sweet person, so nice. Love her. Like, she is as down-to-earth a person as you could possibly find in the world and if I didn't know she was a pop star, I wouldn't guess 'cause she's so nice," Zooey praised. She also added that the "epic night" filming with Prince meant they "had to be very prepared."
(500) Days of Summer, which co-starred her good friend, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, was another memorable role Zooey had nothing but love for. She shared that she and Gordon-Levitt at one point discussed a follow-up movie to the 2009 romantic musical comedy. "I would love to," she said when asked about a sequel, adding they "want it to happen." "We actually talked about doing some sort of sequel, like (500) Days of Tom or something. But it's so complicated. If it's not built into the fabric of something, making a sequel is kind of hard. But yeah, I would love to work with Joe anytime."
As for what Zooey has next, she'll be appearing in season 3 of Apple TV+'s 1980s aerobics dramedy, Physical, opposite Rose Byrne, which launches Aug. 2.
"I just finished this a couple of months ago. I'm a huge fan of the show so it was so great to be on it," she previewed. "It's kind of two different characters in one, so it was so much fun to get to do [that] and I got to wear two different wigs and I had all these amazing costumes and makeup and hair. It was a pleasure."
This was one of my all-time favorite characters I have gotten to play and I just can't wait for people to see it," Zooey said, adding that her beau has "seen pictures" of her Physical transformation and is "the most supportive person." "I love Rose Byrne. I mean, she’s amazing and I really hope everyone watches it because it's really fun."
This interview was completed prior to the SAG-AFTRA strike, which began on July 13, 2023.
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