Robin Tunney vs. Zooey Deschanel
Battle of the Drawling Dolls

Some might say that Zooey Deschanel is this year's Maggie Gyllenhaal -- the adorably gawky indie-inclined It Girl who's vaulted from the art house to the pages of InStyle. But we say that Zooey Deschanel is actually this year's Robin Tunney. Which is kind of not the best news for Robin Tunney.

You see, it's not like Robin Tunney, if she had the choice, would probably take all that kindly to the idea of her handing off the baton to the next generation, in the person of Zooey Deschanel. They're only about seven and a half years apart, so they're practically in the same generation. And to the casual observer, Tunney's carved out a nice little groove for herself, and her career seems to be going pretty well. She's been working steadily for over a decade, in a nice mix of mostly bad big-budget blockbusters (End of Days, Vertical Limit), cult favourites (Empire Records, The Craft), prestigious indies (Cherish, The Secret Lives of Dentists), and movies where she plays crazy girls (Niagara, Niagara).

But maybe Tunney recently woke up one morning and noticed that Zooey Deschanel is matching her move for move: bad big-budget blockbusters (Big Trouble, The New Guy), cult favourites (Almost Famous, Mumford), prestigious indies (All the Real Girls, The Good Girl). And, to top it all off, Deschanel is younger than Tunney, cuter than Tunney, and unlike Tunney, not in The In-Laws.

But maybe Tunney isn't threatened by Deschanel's ascendancy. Maybe they can join forces -- take on the film world together. Maybe they've already brokered such a plan. Maybe they held a historic summit at Sundance this year, drawling and deadpanning to each other over lattes in the Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf tent, comparing notes on what it's like to work with Tim Blake Nelson. They don't have to be adversaries, Tunney might have argued. They look enough alike that they could play sisters. And, hell, if they're going to play sisters, maybe they could even start passing themselves off as sisters, like, in real life -- like the indie scene's answer to the Olsen twins! Why not? And why stop there? Maybe they could get the same agent, Tunney might have suggested, and have that agent send them out on all the same auditions. And then for parts that one of them gets, that one could make sure that a part for the other gets written into the script! And maybe they could move in together, and be, like, sisters and roomies! At which point Deschanel might have politely excused herself to go try to catch up with Miguel Arteta or David Gordon Green, leaving Tunney alone. And old. And that much closer to career oblivion.

I mean, a tertiary supporting character in The In-Laws? Robin Tunney, lay down your arms and concede defeat.

Advantage: Deschanel