The Oscar-Winning Actor Who Inspired Jess's Character On New Girl

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New Girl's Jess was partly inspired by Diane Keaton

The "New Girl" creator admitted as much in a 2013 Q&A session with The New York Times' ArtsBeat. During said session, Meriwether told an inquisitive fan that the initial inspiration for Zooey Deschanel's Jess Day came courtesy of a popular U.K. comedy series. "While I was trying to figure out what the show was going to be, I fell down a Hulu Hole with this British series (or should I say 'programme'?), 'Green Wing,'" Meriwether revealed. "I just fell in love with the lead actress Tamsin Greig ... I was very much inspired by that character and the crazy tonal shifts the show pulled off."

The Oscar-winning actor that helped inspire Deschanel's "New Girl" character, meanwhile, is none other than the legendary Diane Keaton, who took home the best actress statue in 1978 for her brilliant work in "Annie Hall" (via IMDb) and is regarded by many as one of the greatest screen actors ever. According to Meriwether, Keaton influenced her creation of Jess Day because the actor is "so massively, heart-wrenchingly funny, and she is never just playing one thing. Whenever we get criticized that the Jess character is too this or too that, I think about Diane Keaton. Funny women aren't feminist symbols. Funny women are honest women."

As far as templates for smart, strong, and/or quirky female leads go, Meriwether could obviously do a lot worse than Keaton, who has become both a Hollywood and feminist icon for portraying such richly-nuanced characters over the course of her career. But even if Keaton's comedic DNA is evident throughout all of "New Girl," Deschanel still made Jess her own over the years, and most would probably agree that the show was better because she did.

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