Like her costars, Sam Rockwell and Martin Freeman, Zooey Deschanel was no aficionado of Douglas Adams' seminal comic novel The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy when she signed on to be part of the big-screen version, now in theaters.
"I read the book in the fifth grade," she says. "It was kind of a big thing to read
Hitchhiker's at that age. Everybody thought we were so sophisticated to be reading it, but because I was 10 I didn't really get a lot of the humor. I thought I did, but I read it again before starting the movie. There's no way I would have gotten this when I was 10!"
In the film, Deschanel plays Trisha McMillan (although she more readily answers to her space name, Trillian), a free-spirited young woman who has to choose between two very different guys. On the one hand, there's Zaphod Beeblebrox (Rockwell), the president of the Galaxy, who's got a big spaceship and an even bigger ego. But she's also got a soft spot
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Attention, people of Earth: If Zaphod Beeblebrox, President of the Galaxy, seems familiar to you, that's because he's based on several of what you would call "celebrities."
"I pushed for an Elvis/Freddie Mercury vibe," says Sam Rockwell, the actor who embodies the far-out prez in the current hit film, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. "There's also some Vince Vaughn in there — Vince does a great Elvis — and Bill Murray from Kingpin."
And in case you're curious, yes, Rockwell also modeled his performance on several real heads of state. "I watched Bush and I watched Clinton," he says. "I was actually pretty nervous during rehearsals because they asked me to tone down the Southern accent."
It was Rockwell's versatility that won him the part of Zaphod. He originally auditioned to play the less flamboyant Ford Prefect, a role that later went to Mos Def. "I read for Ford
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"No, I'm not sick of talking about The Office," sighs Martin Freeman, who played the lovelorn Tim on the beloved British series. "I really do understand people's fascination with it. To do one of the most-talked-about shows in the last few years this early on in my career... that opportunity doesn't come along very often. It's definitely a thing to beat."
Freeman shouldn't be too concerned about equaling past triumphs. After all, he's currently starring in The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, which topped the box-office charts this past weekend in America, Australia and Freeman's home country, England.
Based on Douglas Adams' classic book, the movie casts the actor as Arthur Dent, one of the only human survivors left after Earth is destroyed to make room for a hyper-space bypass. The book's sizable fanbase has been waiting for the movie for more than two decades, and its members were more than a little concerned when Hollywood got invo
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