Zach Braff: MSN Interview

Bringing with him a weight of heavier material, this is a confused character who you might not find quite so endearing as the lovable JD from Scrubs. We had to meet the man…

 

Garden State was a ‘coming-of-age’ movie and The Last Kiss is about hitting the difficult thirty mark. Are you hearing a lot of comparisons?
"I think that’s inevitable really. But that’s not really what this is about - Last Kiss is about the tough side of commitment and relationships. Sure it does have me in it, it does have a killer soundtrack with some cool British bands and, obviously, there’s a degree of introspection. But other than that the two don’t really have much in common.”

 

The drama here seems to be more urr… dramatic then what we’ve seen from you before…
"Well my first acting jobs were Shakespeare plays in New York City. I have trained to do more extreme stuff like that so I actually really enjoyed getting the chance to yell and everything else. I just don’t get a chance to do it much on Scrubs. There’s plenty of humour in there too. I can’t help but let my goofy side out every now and then…"

 

Was there studio pressure on you to lighten the tone?
"Having read the script and seen the Italian movie (l’Ultimo Baccio – 2001) on which it’s based, I was shocked that an American studio was gonna release this movie. It’s the fact that the character does things that aren’t strictly likeable. It’s pretty taboo for the lead character to do something so horrible. I liked that about that the screenplay so, when I met with the studio, I made them promise they wouldn’t step in and change it."

 

It’s pretty rare to have a character that does the wrong thing…
"That’s what’s interesting to me about the movie. When you read scripts, so many of them are like, ‘this is Die Hard in a boat’ or ‘this is Harry Met Sally but now it’s in the fifties and they're younger.’ It’s as if everything is something else. So to read something and go ‘Wow! That’s pretty ballsy to have that happen,’ was really good. I was thinking, ‘What? A protagonist who doesn’t make all the right decisions and who a large portion of the audience will hate for the at least a third of the movie? – Woah!’ There’s a lot of refreshing things about it that definitely drew me in."

 

What’s the audience reaction been like?
"I think what happens is that audience members get mad at me, but then, when they’re honest with themselves they sit back and think, ‘Okay – I’ve been there.’ Even if you haven’t been as far as this character has, you’ve probably been tempted. Put it this way, there’s at least someone in the movie you can identify with and compare yourself to – men and women alike I think. It upsets people a lot. But in a good way I think as it starts a conversation. That’s my theory at least."

 

So the appeal of the movie is it’s honesty…
"That’s why I wanted to do it. They do exit polls in the states to see how people are liking the movie when it first comes out. Straight afterwards, people would be saying, ‘It made me SO MAD!’ Then we’d ask them five minutes later and they’d be like, ‘Yeah I really liked it actually.’ You can’t be an adult and not have some deep reaction whether it’s the subjects of love or lust or betrayal. Y’know we all bring our baggage to this movie. It’s gonna ignite something either way."

 

Was it a fun film to make?
"There were a lot of fun scenes and this was a great group of people to work with. I’m still friends with all of them. We genuinely got on really well. We had X-Box in the trailers and we had a lot of fun. I even taught Rachel [Bilson] how to play Halo – that was a lot of fun."

 

You’re a director yourself. Did you get to have any input here?
"Being a director makes it very hard to go back to the scenario where you don’t have any input. Inherent in being a film director is having strong opinions about things. I’ve been in a situation where I wasn’t really being listened too and I really hated it. Don’t get me wrong. I mean if I’m being directed by one of my heroes like Woody Allen or Scorsese or someone like that I will shut the hell up and do what I’m told!"

 

This is the second film of yours in which you’ve chosen the music…
"I love sharing music. I don’t know a great deal more than the average person but I know what I like. And now that I’ve got these two soundtracks out that have sold really well it kinda snowballs on itself because people know what I like and introduce me to a lot of new music that they know I’ll like… which is cool."

 

Are there any other titles that have got you excited at the moment?
"I haven’t seen the Borat movie yet but I know already that it’s gonna be my favourite movie ever. I just think Sacha Cohen is so funny and courageous and smart."

 

What’s this we hear about you leaving Scrubs?
"That’s a rumour. I just said, ‘it’s up in the air,’ and I got so much stick straight away for saying that. I don’t know and I won’t decide ‘til March. They’ve made it very clear to me that the show will go on whether I’m in it or not. I still haven’t decided what I’m gonna do. Going to work and getting paid to goof around with your friends is the best job ever. It a lot of work – for seven months of the year you don’t have much of a life – but it’s a lot of fun. Being on a show that goes on for six or seven years is such a once-in-a-lifetime thing that there’s definitely an argument for it."

 

By Ed Holden, Movie Editor - Feedback - Discuss - Blog

Published 11 October 2006