Zooey Deschanel Gets Direct: How Was Her First Time Calling the Shots Behind the Camera on New Girl?
Zooey Deschanel directed New Girl's season six premiere and didn't love having to direct herself
Who’s that girl behind the camera? It’s Zooey!
New Girl returns for season 6 with an episode helmed by leading lady Zooey Deschanel, and the actress caught up with PEOPLE to discuss the unusual challenge of directing herself during her first sit-down in the director’s chair.
“It was really great,” Deschanel tells PEOPLE. “It was a great experience and really fun for me.”
Still, the actress admits that negotiating acting and calling the shots could at times be “difficult. I didn’t want to take too much time to be watching playback because it takes a lot of time, and I wanted to make sure I was really focusing on the other actors. Luckily, we have a directing producer and I kind of let him be a barometer for me.”
The first episode sees a post-wedding Cece (Hannah Simone) and Schmidt (Max Greenfield) looking to buy a house while Jess deals with her lingering feelings for Nick (Jake Johnson) after he moves to New Orleans to be with former loftmate Regan (Megan Fox) – but that’s just the tip of the iceberg.
“We’ve got a lot of good episodes coming up,” teases Deschanel, 36. “There’s some fun stuff, there’s a camping episode, there’s a crossover episode with Brooklyn Nine-Nine.”
The new season of New Girl premieres Tuesday at 8:30 p.m. ET on Fox.