I’m an unabashed fan of Zooey Deschanel and I gotta say I was a little weirded that she agreed to star in that upcoming made-for-cable remake of THE WIZARD OF OZ. It just seemed so beneath her talents. It seemed like after ELF she had trouble getting that breakthrough role. THE HITCHHIKER’S GUIDE TO THE GALAXY could’ve been it but that movie sucked. Ass. So we move on and hope for great things for Zooey. One of those great things could be a starring role in M. Night Shyamalan’s next film THE HAPPENING. Deschanel has signed on to co-star with Mark Wahlberg in the eco-thriller about what happens when Mother Nature decides to purge Earth of humans. Zooey will play the estranged wife of Wahlberg’s character. Filming on THE HAPPENING will begin this August after Deschanel wraps that silly Sci-Fi miniseries “Tin Man.” She can be seen later this year in THE ASSASSINATION OF JESSE JAMES (…yada yada) and heard in the animated penguin film SURF’S UP. Her portrayal of Janis Joplin in the planned biopic has been put on hold while rights issues are being worked out.