PaleyFest: 'New Girl' Zooey Deschanel Ready to Return to Recording During Break (Video)

The cast and producers of Fox's New Girl were greeted with a warm reception at Monday night's PaleyFest panel in Beverly Hills.

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Approaching the end of the successful freshman season, star Zooey Deschanel spoke with The Hollywood Reporter about how she plans to spend her break from filming.

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"I know that I definitely need to rest," she says, adding that music seems to be calling more than film. "I really want to bet back into the studio. I have a lot of stuff I want to record and a lot of songs I've written."

Being part of the New Girl hasn't stopped her from those other pursuits -- she released a Christmas album with She & Him collaborator M. Ward in November -- but it has dramatically changed the 32-year-old's schedule.

"It's a real marathon," she says. "We've been doing it for 7 months, every day, but it's been so fun. I love getting to create a character over a long period of time."

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And that character soon gets a new love interest in the form of Dermot Mulroney. He's signed on for a multi-episode arc as the divorced father of one of Jes' students who she starts dating.
 
"He's a sophisticated man who comes a courting," she teases. "He's very fancy."

As for future romantic pairings, she was less certain about the chances of ever seeing her friend and 500 Days of Summer co-star Joseph Gordon-Levitt on the show, if leaving it a little open-ended. "I don't know," she says. "He's so busy."

Watch THR's complete interview with Deschanel above.