ZOOEY Deschanel talks about why she said “yes” to Yes Man, being able to draw on her musical background for some key scenes and why standing on the stage of the Hollywood Bowl fulfilled a personal dream…

Q. Were you tempted to try the bungee jump that Jim Carrey did for real?
Zooey Deschanel: No sir. No I was not. I’m not quite as brave as that. I’m brave in different ways.

Q. Was it a thrill to be able to show off your musical talents in the scenes where you get to sing?
Zooey Deschanel: It was a relief, I guess, more than anything to have something that I know I could do. I have a musical background, so it was encouraging for me because pretty much everything else was new to me – especially the body-blading and the scooter. So, yeah, it was a relief because writing music is totally fine for me, and singing is totally fine too. Playing the Keytar… never done it before but totally fine because I play the piano. That was easy, but the other things? The rollerblading, that was crazy because they were like: “Yeah, you go up and you just have to stand in the suit because we’ve got stunt doubles!” So, we get up there and, I don’t know if you’ve ever stood on a vertical hill wearing rollerblades? It’s really hard to stop on rollerblades, and I’m not so good on them [laughs].

Q. How was working with Jim Carrey?
Zooey Deschanel: I would say that every day Jim would come up with something new to add more danger to the movie. Like one time we were shooting a scene in an apartment and there’s a counter. It was our last take, and it was like a free take, but Jim was like: “Zooey, when I say that line could you just move your glass off the counter?” I was like: “What is he up to?” Because there had been lots of stuff where the stunts were like: “Jim, tell us before you do a pratfall because we need to set up pads.”

So, he was whispering this to me and I was wondering what he was cooking up, and he says the line, I move the glass and Jim hurls himself over the counter, landing on the floor and just gets up like it’s nothing… he just brushes himself off. I would be dead… I would literally be dead, or at least in a full body cast.

Q. How was it standing on stage at the Hollywood Bowl?
Zooey Deschanel: That was my favourite night of shooting in the whole thing, because it was so fun. I just wanted my picture taken on every part of the Hollywood Bowl stage, so that I had some for my parents. It was very exciting, and I’ve seen so many amazing shows there. It’s just a classic venue, and being from Los Angeles, I’ve seen everything from the Philharmonic to Brian Wilson, so that was very, very exciting.

Q. Is there anything you regret saying no to?
Zooey Deschanel: You know, I have to say that with all this ‘yes’ stuff we’re talking about, it’s really fun to say no sometimes. I just don’t want to discount how fun it is to say no and exercise your right to say no, and – as a girl – it’s important to know how to say no… and that no means no!

Read our review of Yes Man

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