Zach Braff on His Gritty New Film and the Directing Project That Got Away

Do you think VOD is an appropriate or legitimate platform to release this film? Can it find the audience it deserves?

If not VOD, what? It goes to the Angelica for a week? I think VOD's amazing for a movie like this. If people want to have the debate about whether it's right for studio movies with big releases or at what point it should go from the theater to VOD -- I hear that's a current debate -- then that's a totally different argument. A movie of this scale? It's going to be San Francisco, here, L.A. Maybe Chicago, right? For a two-week run. VOD's amazing! It's going to bring this movie into so many homes that don't have access to it. And they're legitimately promoting it; if you go on the VOD channel, we did VOD promos. So hopefully we'll draw more in who don't usually get to see more... It's cheesy to call them "art" movies, but challenging indie movies that more people would probably like if got exposure to it. You know a couple break out every year, and then they get the crazy promotion, and people see them! A movie that doesn't have the crazy promotion or isn't necessarily commercial enough to have the big breakout but is going to be in millions and millions of homes tomorrow? That's amazing.

Does it encourage you as a filmmaker? Or do you still feel like you need to get that work out into theaters?

It depends, again, on the scale of the film. If you're making a million-dollar art movie that's a third in French, then you have to be realistic about the audience. I love these movies. You love these movies, I'm sure. People who go to festivals and people who are cinephiles love these movies. But in terms of the bulk of the country, it depends on the individual project. If I made a movie that we put $20 million into and worked our asses off on and it was a larger-scale film that was trying to appeal to a massive audience, then yeah: I'd be really disappointed if I didn't get a theatrical release. But once it came time for DVD, Id be aware that VOD is the future.

Why haven't you directed since Garden State?

That's the question every reporter's asking me.

Sorry.

No, it's a good question. If I was a reporter, I would ask the exact same question. It makes sense. I tried, several times. I wrote Garden State before Scrubs, so when Scrubs started, I had that ready to go. And it was all set. I couldn't really write during eight and a half years of doing broad comedy. I didn't have the focus to do it. I tried a couple time to get a movie going -- I had my dream cast and all that -- but actors fell out or money fell apart. It's kind of like playing poker, and my first hand was a fucking flush. Is that a good hand?

It's pretty damn good.

So I've had a couple shitty hands. But I'm really dying to. I love directing. I want to direct more. I just don't want to put out crap. I could have directed a big, stupid romantic comedy five times over. I just don't want to do that. So I'm waiting to find the right thing. I thought I had it a couple times, and it didn't come together. I wrote a play, and that's being produced off-Broadway this summer. I'm really excited about that.

What's the play?

It's called All New People. It's going to be produced at Second Stage this summer.

Congratulations!

Thank you! It's been a dream of mine my whole life. So that's it. I'm trying. I'd love to direct a movie more than anything, but I don't want to turn out something I don't believe in. So that's why it takes time. It takes a lot of things lining up -- most importantly, big-enough stars to justify the budget.

So with all this in mind, how would you describe your relationship with the legacy of Scrubs? How has it helped and/or compromised your ambitions?

I don't think it's compromised me at all.

But you weren't able to write.

I hear what you're saying. [Pause] I would never, ever criticize anything about Scrubs. It was the best gig an actor could ever hope for. It brought me this fan base. It allowed me to make Garden State, really, because it got me exposure and got me in the public eye so I could get my movie made. It was so fun. I laughed my ass off with friends for eight and a half years. I don't begrudge it anything. I think the onus is on me to prove that I have more tricks in my bag.

What happened to Open Hearts?

Open Hearts came together at Paramount. It was all going. We had Sean Penn, who was going to star in it. It fell apart at the last second. We actually had a production office open at Paramount and everything. It fell apart at the last second due to scheduling and budget, as so many movies do. I've personally paid the option on it every year, like rent. I'd love to make it. I have a beautiful adaptation of it -- oddly, coincidentally, it also involves the fallout after a car accident. But that's OK. People will think that's my specialty.

Everyone needs a niche.

I wouldn't be in it. I'd just direct it. I'd love to make it one day. I have it on my shelf.

Could [the original Danish film's director] Susanne Bier's recent Oscar win help mobilize or stimulate interest in that project in any way?

You know, it's a real character piece, and it needs an actor like a Sean Penn or a Ralph Fiennes. Someone who has enough notoriety to get the budget going, but also someone who wants to take on something dark and gritty like that. I haven't been able to find someone on that level of both acting and box-office potential to get it going. I've had some of the most amazing, wonderfully written pass letters from some of the biggest stars in the business saying, "Love it. It's really well-written. But it's not something I want to do."

Well, shit.

Sean Penn would be perfect. I hope one day maybe he'll think about it again, because it'd kind of be almost perfect for him. You know who else? Ralph Fiennes would be great. He's someone I love. Clive Owen would be great. You'd need someone like that.

Random curiosity: Have you talked to Natalie Portman since she won her Oscar? Did you send her a note or anything?

No, I haven't. My father would have been proud of me if I had done something as eloquent as writing a nice note. I e-mailed her congratulations and everything, but nothing as classy as a handwritten note. But I stood up and cheered like a proud friend.

Back when you were making Garden State, did you recognize an actress who had something like Black Swan in her?

I saw it in Beautiful Girls, man! Or like a lot of people, when I saw The Professional I said, "Oh my God. That's a star." And that's fun -- it's fun to spot early. But I saw it in Beautiful Girls, and that's why I wanted her in Garden State. I've always known she's as talented as she is.

Got it. Switching back, what is next for you?

Well, the play is this summer. Then I'm supposed to act in a movie called The Devil and the Deep Blue Sea, with Chloe Moretz and Jessica Biel, in the fall. That's a really, really well-written script by a guy named Bill Purple. And I have an adaptation I'm doing of my play. One idea is to forgo the whole system -- to kind of go the Tyler Perry route and make a really small-scale movie like [Hard Cost of Living]. And Gary Gilbert, who financed Garden State has already said he'd finance it. So if the things that are on my burners that require more of a substantial budget don't come together, I think what we're going to do in maybe the fall or winter is that I'm going to direct and Gary's going to produce a movie on this scale so we can just make something.

What are your options?

It'll either be something that I'm writing now or an adaptation of the play I'm working on this summer. It might be kind of cool to go right into it after essentially working on it all summer. We'll see.

[Top photo: FilmMagic]

Pages: 1 2