LA Times: “Scarlett Johansson vs. Zooey Deschanel”

Posted on May 29, 2008

There’s another article comparing Scarlett Johansson to Zooey on the LA Times blog:

With a pair of Hollywood starlets gracing the world with albums this fall, could their combined box office draws pump some life into a struggling music industry?

Not quite, but early results have Zooey Deschanel’s bid at a music career faring a bit better than that of her superstar peer, Scarlett Johansson.

Deschanel’s “She & Him” project with indie singer/songwriter M. Ward was released back in March, and the much-hyped debut from Johansson hit digital and online outlets last week. Out of the gate, “She & Him” exactly doubled the first-week sales of Johansson’s “Anywhere I Lay My Head,” her love letter to indie eccentric Tom Waits.

Johansson’s album came with a bit more star power — David Bowie guests, and it was produced by TV on the Radio’s Dave Sitek — and it earned a heavy online marketing push from Warner Bros. imprint Rhino. But audiences haven’t yet seemed to have taken to Johansson’s deadpan delivery and the set’s atmospheric swirl. “Anywhere I Lay My Head” sold 5,100 copies in its debut week.
Meanwhile, “She & Him” took a more traditional approach, and scored better results, all while releasing the album with indie label Merge Records. The act’s debut, “Volume One,” sold 10,200 copies when it premiered back in March. To be fair, it’s a more accessible record, driven by Deschanel’s understated, soulful pop approach.

As a side note, Thursday night brings the premiere of Deschanel film “The Go-Getter,” which will screen at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. The film actually brought Deschanel together with M. Ward, and the pair recorded a cover of Richard and Linda Thompson’s “When I Get to the Border” for the its soundtrack.

I’ll be in attendance and will share some thoughts as soon as I can, but in the meantime, The Playlist has posted an interview with the film’s director, Martin Hynes. The director talks about introducing the two in the post: “I had no idea they would hit it off the way they did,” Hynes is quoted by Playlist. “I remember Zooey turning to Matt and saying, ‘Hey, do you know the chords to ['50s classic] “Mr. Sandman’? And he did.”

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