He scrubs up well

Actor Zach Braff is finally having the career he dreamed of - and just as well because there was a time not so long ago when the 31-year-old almost gave it all away.  He started out as an actor (played Woody Allen's son in Manhattan Murder Mystery), studied filmmaking at North Western University in Chicago, made short films, relocated to LA and then waited tables for the next few years.   Rejection after rejection followed and he was on the point of quitting and heading back to New Jersey when his agent begged him to go for one more audition.  That turned out to be Scrubs and the rest as they say is history.  Today,he is not only the star of the wacky medical show, but he' since proved himself as a writer and director (The Garden State).  In between working on Scrubs he's planning his second feature (as a director) and trying to fit in the odd feature film (as an actor) that comes along    In The Last Kiss he plays Michael, a guy on the cusp of 30 who is secretly depressed about his predictable, ordinary life.  So when his live in girlfriend (Jacinda Barrett) falls pregnant, he freaks out and has an affair with a cute college student (OC's Rachel Bilson).  Based on the 2001 Italian film L'Ultimo Bacio by Gabriele Muccino, and adapted by 'It' screenwriter of the moment Paul 'Crash' Haggis. Zach Braff sat down with Gaynor Flynn at the recent Toronto International Film Festival to chat about his career, Scrubs and whether or not he's ever cheated on a woman.

What was it about this role that made you say yes?
Zach Braff:  I just really related to Michael. I thought he was a real human being, you know one with flaws who does stupid things.  I can relate to that can't you?  You read so many scripts and all the protagonists are just so unreal, they're like Mr Perfect, so I was really drawn to Mr Idiot, the less than perfect guy.  I was surprised a studio was going to release it I mean it was pretty honest and gritty for an American movie about relationships. It didn't smooth over any of the rough edges and I found it pretty courageous.  And every time its screened people come and say oh god a movie that had respect for its audience and didn't try and answer every single question for them.

What's interesting about this film is that even the women avoid cliché.
Zach Braff: Right, and that's the other thing I admired about Paul's script.  The easy option would be to make Rachel's character a total ditz but she's not.  She's intelligent, funny, charming and of course that makes it much harder for him and for the audience to hate her.  That's why it's such a great human drama because its real.  She is far too young for him but that's part of what he's going through, you know approaching 30 and trying to hang on to some past youthful ideals.

After directing The Garden State, is it hard to just be an actor again?
Zach Braff:   It is a little bit. But I mean Tony Goldwyn respected by two cents when I gave it and I really trusted him. He's an actor as well and has a really good eye for acting and story telling so I felt I was in good hands.

Was your character in Last Kiss the same as when you went in or did you have some input?
Zach Braff:   Yeah I did. I didn't want to make him like a playboy.  It was important to make him as likeable as I could because of what he does so that the audience like him but then be mad at him but then root for him to rectify things.  So if anything I think I tried to heighten the aspects of the character that would make him likeable to the audience.

In terms of approaching a role, what's your process?
Zach Braff:   I'm going to be honest with you most people don't do anything.  You just get to know the script and figure out your take on it and you just go for it.  I didn't sit around and meditate on what it would be like to live in Wisconsin.

Have you ever cheated on a girlfriend?
Zach Braff:   No and if I had I wouldn't tell you but I think we can all relate to feelings of betrayal.

What was it like working with Jacinda Barrett?
Zach Braff:   She's wonderful.

Did you know her beforehand?
Zach Braff:   I knew of her because I'd obviously seen the Real World many years ago but then I saw Ladder 49 and I thought she was really good.  She's a sweetheart and she blew us away in the audition. Many, many young women read for that part and when she read for it she just blew everyone out of the water.

Did you have any say over who was cast?
Zach Braff:    I had input.  It's ultimately up to the producers and the director but I definitely had some input.   I mean I think they respected me from Garden State and I think they thought my opinion was worth something, which is great.

And further indication that your status is on the rise in Hollywood.
Zach Braff:   Who knows how long that will last.

Where do you see your career going?
Zach Braff:   I don't know I'm sort of taking it one step at a time. I know that I want to direct again, and there's a couple of other projects I'm in talks about acting in but right now its all about The Last Kiss and I have another film coming out called Fast Track it's a comedy with Amanda Peet and Jason Bateman and that's pretty much all I'm up to.

What about Scrubs?
Zach Braff:   I shoot that seven months of the year so work wise I stay very, very busy.  I like it though, I don't always think of it as work, sometimes it feels like work when you're exhausted but I just feel so lucky that I get to do what I always dreamed of doing so I have fun doing it.

Is this your last season?
Zach Braff:   I'm doing this full season and I'm not sure about next season yet but I'm sure Scrubs will continue for some time.

What do you get out of that now, that you've got a film acting career and a film directing career?
Zach Braff:   It's just nice.  It's going to work with your good friends and just laughing all day and it provides really nice career stability and I enjoy it.

Does the money help when it comes to making the feature films?
Zach Braff:   In a way it does because you can refrain from going out and trying to do a money job you don't believe in just because you need to survive.

Do you plan on directing again?
Zach Braff:   Yeah I'm definitely going to direct again the next thing looks like it'll be this Danish film Open Hearts by Susanne Bier that I optioned and I'm going to do an American version.

Why do an American version?
Zach Braff:   Well because I don't have time to write something from scratch right now I'm just working non stop and when I wrote Garden State I sat at a desk for six months and wrote it and so I wanted to adapt something because that was sort of a leg up and when I saw that movie I just thought it was so amazing and beautiful but a Dogma movie with subtitles is not the kind of movie most Americans ever see so I thought that since it was such a powerful story I could do an interesting Americanised version and give it a wider audience and I just thought it was so powerful, it was so simple but at the same time it was about so many things.

Do you feel any pressure on your second film, given that your first film did so well. Or do you not buy into any of that?
Zach Braff:   Well of course I didn't expect Garden State to be the success it was. I never imagined it would be so well received so you can't help but wonder and I cannot set out to make seminal movies about mental evolution every time but I think one of the things I want to do is go in a completely different direction and Open Hearts is a pretty dark drama. I don't want to toe the line and do things like Garden State.

When scripts come your way, what are you looking for? Do you get offered lots of material?
Zach Braff:   Yeah and I look for a movie that I'd go see which is maybe 1% of the ones that I read.

You haven't done a really big Hollywood blockbuster yet have you?  Do you have anything against them?
Zach Braff:   No, well except that they're often quite boring. I'm also just starting out so I don't want to imply that I'm being offered blockbusters everyday but I also try and pick things that I believe in and that I would want to go and see myself.

Do you have actors in mind for Open Hearts?
Zach Braff:   Yeah I do but I can't say who they are yet.  It's a bummer that you have to be so secretive these days but with the state of the Internet you know.  I said something to this Irish reporter a week ago and it was all over Yahoo.

Was it right or wrong?
Zach Braff:   It was slightly misquoted and so it got me into a little bit of trouble so that's why
everyone's so careful these days, you've got to choose your words carefully.

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Zach Braff interview

Latest film: The Last Kiss
Cast: Zach Braff, Jacinda Barrett, Rachel Bilson
Release: March 2007
Rated: M

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