by senior contributor Brendan Kownacki
Photo credit: Brendan Kownacki
“Since I was four, I believed I was going to be an actor one day. I felt like God told me that when I was a kid. That’s your path,” said Zachary Levi in front of a packed audience at the Library of Congress Coolidge Auditorium.
Zachary Levi
The Library of the Congress is the largest library in the world, holding books and artifacts totaling in the millions, and among the collection is the 1955 children’s picture book “Harold and the Purple Crayon.” The story follows an inquisitive four year old boy named Harold who uses a magic purple crayon to create anything his imagination can dream up…when you hear it, the premise basically begs for a treatment on the silver screen, and now that’s the case.
Roswell Encina, Chief Communications Officer – Library of Congress
The new film hosted a preview with the Library along with a discussion with stars Zachary Levi and Zooey Deschanel. Levi stars as the namesake Harold who is jolted into the real world thanks to his magic crayon and explores the wonders and craziness of 2024 America. Deschanel is featured as a mother of a young boy who comes face-to-face with Harold as he tries to decode the magical situation.
“This was one of those ones, that’s why I read it so many times to my kids just because it is so sweet. Every time you’re kind of delighted by the end and every time Harold is in a bad situation, he draws himself out in a creative way” said Zooey Deschanel about reading the story of Harold to her own children. “It’s like delightful. I just love that about this book and that’s what I love about the movie.”
Zooey Deschanel
“It’s an incredible little book. I mean as we illustrated moments ago, there’s something that’s so simple and pure and profound about the journey that Harold and his little footy pajamas takes and this creativity and imagination and the, oh, just literally drawing myself through the peril and now I’m going to draw myself out of it and believing in himself along the way. All of that stuff” said Zachary Levi about taking the book to the big screen.
The Library has original manuscripts and drawings from the book in its collection, so it was the perfect backdrop for the discussion, moderated by FOX 5’s Steve Chenevey. The charismatic pair laughed and joked, almost like brother and sister as they talked about their past work in cinema and the experience of making the movie.
Chenevey called out the chemistry of the pair in being able to set each other up for jokes, and their comradery felt real as they described time spent together making the movie.
Zooey Deschanel and Zachary Levi speak with Steve Chenevey
The actors fought back laughter as they read portions of the original story to the crowd of fans and families before introducing several clips from the movie. Many know Zooey as the main character in the hit show “New Girl” or know Zach as the star of “Chuck” or “Shazam” — in both cases, the actors brought broad experience and authenticity to a story that is nearly 7 decades old, and somehow made the magic of the story feel current and exciting to a new generation of children and families.
For parting advice to the children in the audience, Levi said about life and the craving to be online vs the real world; “It’s a bubble and it bursts. And then you go into the rest of the world and you’re like, why do I care so much what all those people thought? So don’t do that. Care about what you care about. Go be creative and or be athletic. Go do something that lights up your soul and don’t listen to everybody else that wants to squash that stuff…And stay off of social media.”
But even Deschanel couldn’t pass up one more chance to poke at her co-star by saying “but follow me on Instagram…”
“Harold and the Purple Crayon” is in theaters now. Check out the trailer here.
