Zooey Deschanel Movies

Omen and Mona Lisa Smile star Julia Stiles makes her directorial debut with this short film shot in collaboration with Elle Magazine and detailing a chance encounter between a beautiful young rebel and a lonely older man on a New York street corner. Produced by Plum Pictures and starring Zooey Deschanel and Bill Irwin, Stiles' film was inspired by an Elle article that originally appeared in the magazine's October 2006 Personal Style issue entitled "The Dress (shirt, boots, jacket, jewels…) that Changed my Life." In the article, twenty-five well-known celebrities from a variety of backgrounds discussed how the clothing choices they made helped to shape their identity. Featuring costume and style consulting by Elle Style Director Isabel Dupré, hair and make-up by Elle Beauty Director Emily Dougherty, and cinematography by Mona Lisa Smile Director of Photography Anastas Michos, Raving, as well as additional behind-the-scenes footage of the production, would both be featured on the official Elle Magazine website. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

Zooey Deschanel, Aaron Stanford, Izabella Miko, and Christopher Lloyd star in director Michael Lehmann's comedy concerning a New Orleans cereal bar manager whose slacker lifestyle is turned upside down when a rival cereal shop threatens both his livelihood and his love life. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

Zooey Deschanel guest stars as Roz's wild, impulsive, and highly opinionated cousin Jen. The girl's aggressive personality drives Frasier (Kelsey Grammer) up a wall and leaves Roz (Peri Gilpin) exhausted trying to keep up with her cousin's round-the-clock partying. About the only person who truly hits it off with Jen is KACL station manager Kenny Daly (Tom McGowan), who feels he needs her sort of excitement in his life -- maybe permanently. Elsewhere, Martin (John Mahoney) tries to snooker Daphne (Jane Leeves) into continuing to tend his needs. ~ Rovi

Pineapple Express co-stars Danny McBride and James Franco reunite for director David Gordon Green's fantasy comedy Your Highness, which sends up such beloved '80s gems as Krull and The Sword and the Sorcerer. Thadeous (McBride) has always stood in the shadow of his older brother, Fabious (Franco), a fearless knight who never met a Minotaur he couldn't slay or a warlord he couldn't defeat. Meanwhile, as Fabious embarked on incredible adventures and returned home to lavish celebrations, Thadeous puffed on wizard's weed, and spent his nights in the company of loose maidens. But Thadeous' life of luxury comes to an abrupt end when powerful wizard Leezar (Justin Theroux) shows up and abducts Fabious' beautiful fiancée, Belladonna (Zooey Deschanel). Now threatened with being cut off from the family fortune by his father, the king (Charles Dance), Thadeous reluctantly agrees to join Fabious on a treacherous quest to rescue the fair maiden, and defeat Leezar once and for all. Their voyage to rescue Belladonna will be marked by incredible adventure and unprecedented danger, but together with the help of a fearless warrior named Isabel (Natalie Portman) the two brothers will battle mythical beasts and villainous knights. Meanwhile, as Isabel carries out a clandestine agenda that could place them all in greater danger than they ever imagined, Thadeous struggles to summon his inner warrior and help his noble brother prevent Leezar from using his powers to usher in a terrifying new age of darkness. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

There Will Be Blood's Paul Dano stars as Brian, an unhappy mattress salesman whose infatuation with Happy (Zooey Deschanel), one of his attractive customers, temporarily pushes aside his obsession with adopting a Chinese baby in this unconventional romantic comedy from director Matt Aselton. John Goodman, Ed Asner, and Jane Alexander co-star in the Killer Films production. ~ Jeremy Wheeler, Rovi

Brad Pitt stars as legendary Wild West outlaw Jesse James in Chopper director Andrew Dominik's cinematic rendering of the events that would eventually bring about the death of the man rumored be the "fastest gun in the West." An eager recruit into James' notorious gang, Robert Ford eventually grows jealous of the famed outlaw. When Robert and his brother Charlie sense an opportunity to kill James, their murderous action elevates their target to near mythical status. Casey Affleck stars as Robert Ford and Sam Shepard co-stars as Frank James -- Jesse's devoted sibling and partner in crime. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

An aspiring small-town criminal edges in on the family business of an old acquaintance, only to find things quickly spinning out of control when an emotionally unstable cop begins investigating the case. Clueless criminal wannabe John "Rugged" Rudgate (Aaron Stanford) spends most of his time forging rebate coupons and selling speakers on the streets, but upon receiving a peculiar blast from the past he begins to dream of more lucrative criminal endeavors. It seems that John's old friend Jeff Lagrand (Paul Schneider) has arrived back in town to assist his sardonic sister (Zooey Deschanel) in maintaining the storage facility bestowed upon the pair by their recently deceased father. Of course, any self-respecting criminal would see this as an opportunity to make a pretty penny, and despite his small-time background Rugged is now ready to make the leap into the big leagues. Though his attempt to pry his way into the family business at first seems to be going along swimmingly, Rugged soon finds his criminal endeavors thwarted by a particularly sensitive cop (Michael Rapaport) who, despite his emotional fragility, remains determined to crack the case. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

Money and emotions lead to a difficult reunion between a father and daughter in this drama. Reese Holden (Zooey Deschanel) is a struggling stage actress in New York City whose life has become an uphill struggle -- her career isn't giving her satisfaction, her relationship with would-be rock star Ray (Dallas Roberts) is stuck in neutral, an affair with her friend Rob (Robert Beitzel) brings no excitement, and her colleague Deirdre (Deirdre O'Connell) simply doesn't understand her problems. Reese is also short on money, which is why she's willing to listen to a proposal from a publisher who wants to release a series of love letters that her mother, a well-known author who died years ago, wrote to her father, Don (Ed Harris), another respected novelist who has fallen out of the limelight but is said to be working on a final major work. Having accepted an advance for the collection, Reese pays a visit to Don in Michigan to get his OK for the project and collect the letters, but discovers two strangers have moved in with Don -- Shelly (Amelia Warner), who studied under Don and has installed herself as his business manager, and Corbit (Will Ferrell), a neighborhood sad sack who helps with the housekeeping and runs errands for the reclusive writer. As Reese vies with Shelly for her father's attention, she struggles to come to terms with issues from her childhood and the dissatisfaction with her life. Winter Passing was written and directed by noted playwright Adam Rapp; it was his first feature film. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

Director Miguel Arteta and writer Mike White, who had previously collaborated on Chuck and Buck, turn an eye toward suburban boredom with the quirky comedy The Good Girl. Jennifer Aniston stars as Justine, a woman who is feeling constrained by her life. Her husband, Phil (John C. Reilly), is a house painter who spends the majority of his time smoking marijuana with his friend Bubba (Tim Blake Nelson). Longing for something more in her life, Justine becomes involved with a younger co-worker named Tom (Jake Gyllenhall), but because of his fascination with The Catcher in the Rye, he likes to be called Holden. Her new sense of freedom and release are threatened when a co-worker dies, and when Bubba learns of her infidelity. This film was screened at the 2002 Sundance Film Festival. ~ Perry Seibert, Rovi

Writer and director Cameron Crowe's experiences as a teenage rock journalist -- he was a regular contributor to Rolling Stone while still in high school -- inspired this coming-of-age story about a 15-year-old boy hitting the road with an up-and-coming rock band in the early 1970s. Elaine Miller (Frances McDormand) is a bright, loving, but strict single parent whose distrust of rock music and fears about drug use have helped to drive a wedge between herself and her two children, Anita (Zooey Deschanel) and William (Patrick Fugit). Anita rebels by dropping out of school and becoming a stewardess, but William makes something of his love of rock & roll by writing album reviews for a local underground newspaper. William's work attracts the attention of Lester Bangs (Philip Seymour Hoffman), editor of renegade rock magazine Creem, who takes William under his wing and gives him his first professional writing assignment -- covering a Black Sabbath concert. While William is unable to score an interview with the headliners, the opening act, Stillwater, are more than happy to chat with a reporter, even if he's still too young to drive, and William's piece on the group in Creem gains him a new admirer in Ben Fong-Torres (Terry Chen), an editor at Rolling Stone. Torres offers William an assignment for a 3,000-word cover story on Stillwater, and over the objections of his mother (whose parting words are "Don't use drugs!"), and after some stern advice from Bangs (who says under no circumstances should he become friends with a band he's covering), Williams joins Stillwater on tour, where he becomes friendly with guitarist Russell Hammond (Billy Crudup) and singer Jeff Bebe (Jason Lee). William also becomes enamored of Penny Lane (Kate Hudson), a groupie traveling with the band who is no older than William, but is deeply involved with Russell. Lester Bangs and Ben Fong-Torres, incidentally, were real-life rock writers Crowe worked with closely during his days as a journalist. Almost Famous' original score was composed by Nancy Wilson of Heart (who is also Crowe's wife).
~ Mark Deming, Rovi

Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Zooey Deschanel star in director Marc Webb's wry, nonlinear romantic comedy about a man who falls head over heels for a woman who doesn't believe in love. Tom (Gordon-Levitt) is an aspiring architect who currently earns his living as a greeting card writer. Upon encountering his boss' beautiful new secretary, Summer (Deschanel), Tom discovers that the pair have plenty in common despite the fact that she's seemingly out of his league; for starters, they both love the Smiths, and they're both fans of surrealist artist Magritte. Before long Tom is smitten. All he can think about is Summer. Tom believes deeply in the concept of soul mates, and he's finally found his. Unfortunately for Tom, Summer sees true love as the stuff of fairy tales, and isn't looking for romance. Undaunted and undeterred by his breezy lover's casual stance on relationships, Tom summons all of his might and courage to pursue Summer and convince her that their love is real. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi