I think to read the book is to love it 
The daughter of an Oscar-nominated cinematographer and a Twin Peaks actress, Zooey Deschanel began her seemingly preordained film career building her reputation in a series of critically-acclaimed films, including Almost Famous, The Good Girl and All The Real Girls. Following up her turn in Elf opposite Will Ferrell, The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy sees her continue down the road of mainstream comedy, playing a distinctly brown-haired Trillian.
Trillian looks very different from the platinum blonde version that Sandra Dickinson played in the 大象传媒 TV series. What are the other main differences in the film?
I'd read the book as a teenager, but I didn't see the TV series until I signed on to do it. I think the 大象传媒 series is great, but definitely a very different idea of the character. Besides the physical appearances, I think Trillian is somebody who is supposed to be extremely intelligent, so it didn't make any sense for me to play her as this girl who is along for the ride. I think there's a lot more to her decision to go up in the spaceship. The character in the 大象传媒 series is high-pitched and squeaky, but that didn't seem true to my idea of somebody who was incredibly intelligent. Although I did think she [Dickinson] was very funny.
Trillian is quite a slight character in the first book, I'm assuming that her role has been beefed-up in the film?
They did a lot of work, and fleshed it out a bit. They made the character stronger and they made the relationship between Arthur and Trillian, a little bit more significant within the context of the story. It kind of holds all the comedy together.
Was there a concern about keeping her character within what Douglas Adam's would have envisaged?
Karey Kirkpatrick, the writer who came on to the project after Douglas passed away, made such an effect in staying true to Douglas' original vision. He actually had Douglas' hard drive, which held all his ideas, so that was a great resource for him. We had two weeks of rehearsal to go through everything, which was great.
From your own experience, what's the reputation of Hitchhiker's Guide in America? Does it have a significant cult following?
Oh yeah. But it's one of those things were you'll mention it to some people and they'll go, "What? What did you say?" But then you'll mention it to other people, and it's like you've mentioned God. I think to read the book is to love it. But saying that, it's the same in the UK. When I came over here to do the movie, you have to tell the custom officers what you're doing here to get a work permit, and he asked, "What's the name of the film?" And I said, Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy. And he replied "Hmmm...OK." He thought I was insane!
The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy is released in UK cinemas on Thursday 28th April 2005.
