Guess who’s coming to dinner on “New Girl”?
Jamie Lee Curtis and Rob Reiner make guest appearances on this week’s episode when Jess (Zooey Deschanel) invites her divorced parents to her Thanksgiving feast so she can “Parent Trap” them into reconciling.
It is the first time on the series that we meet the parents. Reiner, the award-winning director, hasn’t lost any of the comic timing he honed during his days as Michael “Meathead” Stivic on “All In the Family.”
“He was hilarious from the moment he stepped on the set,” says Deschanel. “And no, he did not try to direct.”
When Jamie Lee Curtis read the script, she was slightly unnerved — since there was a scene in which she had to be “intimate” with Reiner.
They had never worked together, but that’s not what was making her nervous. They have a history. Their lives have been intertwined for years.
“He hosted my wedding. He is my daughter’s godfather, my husband [Christopher Guest] and I are good friends with Rob and his wife,” says Curtis, “and now, I knew they were going to yell ‘action’ and I would have to make-out with the man who was my husband’s best man!”
Reiner and Curtis play Jess’ long estranged parents who bring their out-sized personalities to the already emotion-filled holiday feast.
“I have been looking forward to this episode for a long time,” says Deschanel. “I really like the idea of setting them up… the Hayley Mills version. The idea is that Jess had been trying her whole life to get them together. This is the one last time.”
It’s about time the grown-ups had some fun on one of TV’s hippest comedies and who better to drive the action than members of Hollywood royalty.
Curtis and Reiner both come from legendary dynasties — she is the daughter of movie icons Tony Curtis and “Psycho” star Janet Leigh. And he is the son of the inimitable writer, producer, director and comedian Carl Reiner.
And when they showed up to work on “New Girl” they came face to face with a younger member of their club.
Zooey Deschanel is the daughter of Academy Award-nominated cinematographer Caleb Deschanel, whose impressive credits include, “The Right Stuff,” “Being There” and “The Patriot.” Her older sister Emily is the star of “Bones.”
Although Deschanel doesn’t consider herself Hollywood royalty — “My dad was not a movie star,” she insists — her pedigree shows in her work.
“Zooey, Rob and I were the first to arrive on the set and the last to leave, “ says Curtis. “We were the most ready to work, the least demanding, the least entitled.”
Says “New Girl” executive producer Brett Baer: “You can always tell that Zooey is the daughter of a cinematographer. It is really magical to see her step in front of the camera. Her face just lights up.”
When Deschanel made the leap to TV from her indie-movie perch, her timing was perfect. The medium was crying out for someone new and refreshing, an actress who was unafraid to be quirky and distinctive.
“She is so talented it is scary,” says Curtis. “For me, who has no discernable talent except that I am a ham, I was intimidated. She is uniquely talented. She has serious funny chops and a very soulful reservoir that is available. And did I mention she is stunningly beautiful… What a combo platter — humor, pathos, beauty and old-fashioned comedic timing.”
I asked Deschanel, who is on the phone driving to the studio, if she still thinks she made the right choice to sign up for such a long TV commitment?
“It was the best decision I ever made,” she says. “I had not read a script that was as good as that in years. I always go where the material is. If you go just for the money, if you go just because you think it’s a good career movie — bad idea. I feel great. I love having a schedule. I love being productive. I love getting to know the character.”
And that’s the real point of this episode — we get to know more about Jess through the eyes of her parents.
We find out that Jess is like her mother, who is even perkier than she is. Reiner’s character, it seems, is more like Nick (played by Jake Johnson) — he’s a curmudgeon. In this episode, Jess struggles not to return to her childhood self.
“This season we are trying to go into our characters’ rich history, to see more of who they are and how they are what they are,” says Baer. “We get to see their parenting history and why they are so screwed up and such a mess.”
By screwed up he surely means the plot point where Jess decides that Nick should hit on her mom to make her dad jealous.
“There’s this thing with a turkey baster,” says Curtis. “It is very funny and wildly inappropriate.”
Curtis and Reiner will probably be recurring characters, especially, says Curtis, if Jess ever decides to marry. “But we will not be living down the hall, knocking on the door.”
So it is up to the 30-something kids to figure out their own lives — who they will hook up with, when they will be mature enough to marry and have children.
I ask Deschanel if she ever wants to have children, like her sister Emily, whose son is 13 months old.
“He is really cute,” she says, “but I think the question is too personal.”
That’s the Deschanel I have often seen at red-carpet events. She looks ravishing for the camera, but won’t come near a microphone.
“Honestly, I don’t know why that is,” says Baer. “And I wouldn’t want to guess. On the set she’s talkative, funny and quick — and very different from Jess. This is someone who is a very successful businessperson; she is clear about what she wants and what works for her.”
Curtis suggests that, based on her own experience, Deschanel really falls into the category of second-generation Hollywood star.
“If they don’t go off the rails, second-generation people spend their careers fighting for their own voice, amidst an assumption that they are no good,” she says.
Or maybe, Zooey Deschanel is clever enough to know how to maintain a good old-fashioned sense of Hollywood mystery.
NEW GIRL
Tuesday, 9 p.m., Fox