Zooey Deschanel has been professionally acting for nearly three decades now and, at this point, there’s a certain kind of role that she’s not seeing much anymore. Then “Trash Mountain” came around. According to the “Almost Famous” and “(500) Days of Summer” actress, it’s exactly the type of thing she wants “to get back to.”
Co-written by Caleb Hearon, who also stars as Deschanel’s brother, “Trash Mountain” tells the story of two siblings who have to come back together after the death of their hoarder father. The siblings must sort through the baggage — both literal and emotional — in their father’s home to find a crucial document, and along the way, figure out their relationship. It is directed by Kris Rey.
“I read the script, and I was just so touched by this story,” Deschanel told TheWrap’s Casey Loving at TIFF following the film’s world premiere.
“When I first started making films, it was all character-driven indie films, and there just wasn’t a lot of this kind of stuff that I was getting to read for a really long time,” she continued. “And it took me back to the early days of my career, and made me think that is what I want to get back to.”
Granted, there were some bigger budget films in the early days of her career, like “Elf,” “Failure to Launch” and more, and she is best known at this point for starring in the TV series “New Girl.”
After reading the script — brought to her attention by producer Colin Trevorrow — Deschanel actually met Hearon. According to the actors, the connection was immediate.
“Zooey is such a brilliant actor and such a kind, genuine person. What if I cry?” Hearon joked with TheWrap. “It really couldn’t have been easier. It’s like the dreamiest job ever. It clicked so immediately.”
For Hearon, a comedian and actor whose “So True” podcast has exploded in popularity, “Trash Mountain” was inspired by the sudden death of his own father.
“Well, my dad died out of nowhere. That’s got to be step one. It was really f–ked up and sad, and I just kind of started writing to process it,” he said. “I don’t think I had any conception when I started writing it that we would actually make a movie about it. It was just kind of like a type of therapy. And then I called my friend Ruby Caster, who’s so brilliant, the best, and I said, ‘Would you co-write it with me?’ And she agreed to, which was so nice. And then, every step of the way, it just kind of snowballs into like we get Kris and we get Zooey, and everyone brings their own thing to it. It started out as that little tiny thing, and now it’s this.”
