Zooey Deschanel Chosen to Play Loretta Lynn on Broadway
"New Girl" actress Zooey Deschanel has signed on to play the legendary Loretta Lynn on Broadway. She will be filling shoes first worn by Sissy Spacek in the 1979 film "The Coal Miner's Daughter."
Lynn was performing at the Grand Ol' Opry in Tennessee when she called Deschanel up on stage to make the formal announcement.
"I have a friend here tonight. I don't know if ya'll remember when Sissy Spacek was with me. I brought her out here with me. She about fainted. We both fainted," Spacek told the audience. "She went on to do the 'Coal Miner's Daughter' and you know from there. Well, there's a little girl back stage that's going to do the play of 'Coal Miner's Daughter' on Broadway."
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Instead of keeping the crowd in suspense, Lynn immediately asked, "Zooey, where you at honey? Are you going to help me sing 'Coal Miner's Daughter'?" she asked after Deschanel appeared onstage.
"I'm going to help you sing," Deschanel replied. "This is a great honor for me. This is my hero."
"Don't forget her name. Her name is Zooey," Lynn told the audience after the song was over.
The film won Spacek her first Academy Award for her portrayal of Lynn, who wrote the song of the same title and the 1976 biography. Lynn is considered an icon in the country music genre, and Deschanel is TV's current "it" girl, with her series on Fox, running a website and performing with her band She & Him.
Deschanel sings the theme song for "New Girl" and often performs on the song. Her viral video of a duet with Joseph Gordon Levitt received over 1 million hits, and she is known for being quirky yet incredibly talented. Playing Lynn should come easily to the young star.
No date has been released for the Broadway show yet, but the New York Times reports that the live show will not conflict with "New Girl."
