Zach Braff is definitely no scrub when its come to writing and directing movies. His directorial debut is Garden State and its a highly personal tale.
When Andrew Largeman [Zach Braff] returns to his hometown for his mothers funeral, he reconnects with old friends and now hes gone off his depression medication. A chance meeting with Sam [Natalie Portman], who also suffering from various maladies, opens his world to the possibility of rekindling emotional attachments, confronting his psychologist father, and perhaps beginning a new life.
Check out the website for Garden State
Daniel Robert Epstein: How much did you draw from your own life for this film?
Zach Braff: Id say lots. As far as whats all real and whats not, Id say about 75 percent of it is stuff that definitely happened, it just didnt necessarily happen to me. Its a collection of stories, things that I read about, things that someone would tell me late at night and Id write it down on a matchbook. I come from a family of storytellers. We sit around the table and just try and crack each other up telling funny stories and so when I sat down to write this, it was an amalgamation of all the different things I had been collecting.
DRE: Can you draw out one story that is a personal story for you?
ZB: There are all kinds of degrees. Ill give you an example, the story where I was a waiter in the restaurant is almost verbatim a conversation I had working as a waiter in a restaurant. In the movie the guy shoots an arrow in the air. I had a buddy who thought that was the funniest thing in the world and he would do that, just launch an arrow in the air and make us all run around. Wed be terrified and he would cackle the whole time. I used to hang out in the huge empty quarry where we actually shot. We added the abyss part digitally, but we used to all go out and hang out there and it was the last undeveloped land in the town of South Orange, just like it is in the movie. Actually now its aluminum-sided condos.
DRE: What about the medication?
ZB: I was not on medication, but Ive been in some really depressed periods of my life where I definitely could have used it. A lot of the stuff that the character is going through was stuff that I went through in my 20s and Im still going through because Im 29 now. There are these girls who wrote a book called The Quarter Life Crisis which I didnt read, but I think that the title is so appropriate. Post-college people are getting married later and later now. They get married in their early 30s now instead of their early 20s and there is this period of self-exploration and, for me, a lost loneliness.
DRE: In Hollywood it seems that if a character in a movie does drugs or smokes, he is considered a bad character and this film doesnt judge people like that.
ZB: I just felt like my generation or at least the circles Im in, thats sort of what old people think. Im never in a room where if a joint were to go by, Id be surprised. Even with adults. Its just silly to me that what you said is often the case. One of the themes of the movie is that drugs are a part of our life, not just illegal drugs, but pharmaceuticals. When I would go home, I could remember thinking, Wow. This is like Brave New World. Everyone had their drug that makes them right. Whether it be an illegal drug or a mental-health pharmaceutical or large doses of Advil. Whatever it is. Everyone was taking something and so I thought that was sort of a symptom of being in this day and age.
DRE: What do you have that makes you right?
ZB: Heroin. No, I dont really have anything. Writing actually is something that is really cathartic for me. Beating the shit out of things with baseball bats is also healthy. But I steer away from anything that is too addictive.
DRE: Where does this late 20s malaise come from for you?
ZB: Well, I was a waiter three years ago so my success is very recent and even financial and career success doesnt necessarily kill a good malaise. Thats one of the hard things about becoming successful in a way because you cant tell most people youre depressed because if you tell people theyll go "Fuck you buddy. Things are going great for you." So you have to keep it to yourself and your family. Theyre the only people that will listen. The movie is not really about this time in my life but when I was 23 to about 27.
DRE: Natalie Portman is so selective about the films she takes, was it difficult to get her to star in this movie with you?
ZB: Well, I was surprised that she said yes. I never imagined that she was going to. We would say at meetings, Someone like Natalie Portman. Like a Natalie Portman kind of girl. Wed make a list of people we thought were like Natalie Portman and wed sit around and debate the different actresses that could be a good Natalie Portman. Then I wrote her a letter and then we met and had lunch and all of a sudden on the way home from lunch, she called her agent and said, Yeah, Ill do it. We were all like, What? We were in shock.
DRE: That was the first time you met her?
ZB: Yeah, Id never met her before in my life. Wed both done plays at the Delacourte Theatre in Central Park and I was actually doing Twelfth Night when I wrote her my letter. I thought that was an angle we could relate to. It is really a testament to her because she was incredibly trusting of me. When very few people were willing to take a risk on me she did.
DRE: Why did you want Natalie so badly?
ZB: I think there are a lot of actresses in Hollywood that are beautiful and a handful who are good actresses. Theres a smaller group that are both, and of the group that are both, there are a few that have that X factor thing where youre like, I cant take my eyes off this person. What is it about her? Its like this charisma, this energy, this special thing thats very rare and she has it. I always saw that and I could always see that even when she was in things where I wasnt a fan of the movie per say, I could see that thing that she had poking through. I think its rare to find someone that has that. Its exciting when you do.
DRE: Who were your guardian angels when it came to getting this made?
ZB: Gary Gilbert. Everyone in Hollywood passed on the movie, even when I had Natalie and myself with Danny DeVito producing. We couldnt find financing anywhere because it was taking a risk. The movie does not have a traditional, three-act structure. I couldnt really find anyone who was willing to take a risk until I ran into Gary Gilbert who was a self-made wealthy person and looking to get into film financing.
DRE: I found the movie to be very much about the modern Jewish, suburban experience. I was wondering how being Jewish informed your life and this movie?
ZB: My experience of growing up in Jewish suburbia was not one really of going to temple or being religious. But instead the religion informed the culture and informed the humor and informed the types of movies we watched. But it was never really about my connection to God or a higher power. I never got really anything from Temple and I think thats one of things I address in the movie when Natalies character jokingly says, Wow, youre really Jewish and Im like, Well, I guess Im Jewish. I dont really do anything Jewish. I dont really go to Temple.
DRE: Did you and Natalie connect on that level?
ZB: The funny thing is Natalie plays someone who is not Jewish and here she was born in Jerusalem, a Jewish mothers dream, teasing me about being Jewish.
DRE: Did your family hope you two might hook up?
ZB: I know! And she speaks fluent Hebrew, too. She really is a Jewish mothers dream.
DRE: Shed probably think Natalie was too Jewish.
ZB: Yeah, can you imagine my mom being, Shes just too Jewish. I liked her and then she spoke fluent Hebrew and I was frankly turned off. She was pushing it.
DRE: This movie has a great soundtrack. Did you handpick the songs yourself?
ZB: Its all my favorite music really. Stuff I was listening to while I was writing it and I made a mixed CD. So when I gave out the script, I would give out this mixed compilation Id made and even when people passed on the movie, they were like, Man, that soundtrack! So, when we got the movie made, the bands little by little were extremely generous in letting us have their songs for very little money.
DRE: Do you plan to continue juggling your film career with Scrubs or do you plan to leave the show in the next couple of years?
ZB: Well, the show is only picked up for another two years, so we'll see how that plays out.
DRE: What is your instinct?
ZB: The show is the ideal gig because we do it seven months out of the year. It's really an actor's dream. You do something you really love and go to work and act every day for seven months and get to act really silly, which is a blast and then five months out of the year you do whatever you want. My second hiatus I did Shakespeare in the Park and this one I did this film. You can go act in other people's movies, you can sit and play video games or you can travel. You can really do anything. Scrubs affords me the ability to explore lots of other ideas and follow the things Ive dreamed about doing. This was my biggest dream. I went to film school. This is what I wanted to do more than anything and 'Scrubs' really was the catalyst that allowed me to do that.
DRE: If Scrubs ends will you do another show?
ZB: I don't imagine that when Scrubs is over that I'll go and do another TV show right away. I'd produce something or create something, but I probably wouldn't go act in something right away because I'd like to do more and more of this directing rather than acting.
by Daniel Robert Epstein
SG Username: AndersWolleck
When Andrew Largeman [Zach Braff] returns to his hometown for his mothers funeral, he reconnects with old friends and now hes gone off his depression medication. A chance meeting with Sam [Natalie Portman], who also suffering from various maladies, opens his world to the possibility of rekindling emotional attachments, confronting his psychologist father, and perhaps beginning a new life.
Check out the website for Garden State
Daniel Robert Epstein: How much did you draw from your own life for this film?
Zach Braff: Id say lots. As far as whats all real and whats not, Id say about 75 percent of it is stuff that definitely happened, it just didnt necessarily happen to me. Its a collection of stories, things that I read about, things that someone would tell me late at night and Id write it down on a matchbook. I come from a family of storytellers. We sit around the table and just try and crack each other up telling funny stories and so when I sat down to write this, it was an amalgamation of all the different things I had been collecting.
DRE: Can you draw out one story that is a personal story for you?
ZB: There are all kinds of degrees. Ill give you an example, the story where I was a waiter in the restaurant is almost verbatim a conversation I had working as a waiter in a restaurant. In the movie the guy shoots an arrow in the air. I had a buddy who thought that was the funniest thing in the world and he would do that, just launch an arrow in the air and make us all run around. Wed be terrified and he would cackle the whole time. I used to hang out in the huge empty quarry where we actually shot. We added the abyss part digitally, but we used to all go out and hang out there and it was the last undeveloped land in the town of South Orange, just like it is in the movie. Actually now its aluminum-sided condos.
DRE: What about the medication?
ZB: I was not on medication, but Ive been in some really depressed periods of my life where I definitely could have used it. A lot of the stuff that the character is going through was stuff that I went through in my 20s and Im still going through because Im 29 now. There are these girls who wrote a book called The Quarter Life Crisis which I didnt read, but I think that the title is so appropriate. Post-college people are getting married later and later now. They get married in their early 30s now instead of their early 20s and there is this period of self-exploration and, for me, a lost loneliness.
DRE: In Hollywood it seems that if a character in a movie does drugs or smokes, he is considered a bad character and this film doesnt judge people like that.
ZB: I just felt like my generation or at least the circles Im in, thats sort of what old people think. Im never in a room where if a joint were to go by, Id be surprised. Even with adults. Its just silly to me that what you said is often the case. One of the themes of the movie is that drugs are a part of our life, not just illegal drugs, but pharmaceuticals. When I would go home, I could remember thinking, Wow. This is like Brave New World. Everyone had their drug that makes them right. Whether it be an illegal drug or a mental-health pharmaceutical or large doses of Advil. Whatever it is. Everyone was taking something and so I thought that was sort of a symptom of being in this day and age.
DRE: What do you have that makes you right?
ZB: Heroin. No, I dont really have anything. Writing actually is something that is really cathartic for me. Beating the shit out of things with baseball bats is also healthy. But I steer away from anything that is too addictive.
DRE: Where does this late 20s malaise come from for you?
ZB: Well, I was a waiter three years ago so my success is very recent and even financial and career success doesnt necessarily kill a good malaise. Thats one of the hard things about becoming successful in a way because you cant tell most people youre depressed because if you tell people theyll go "Fuck you buddy. Things are going great for you." So you have to keep it to yourself and your family. Theyre the only people that will listen. The movie is not really about this time in my life but when I was 23 to about 27.
DRE: Natalie Portman is so selective about the films she takes, was it difficult to get her to star in this movie with you?
ZB: Well, I was surprised that she said yes. I never imagined that she was going to. We would say at meetings, Someone like Natalie Portman. Like a Natalie Portman kind of girl. Wed make a list of people we thought were like Natalie Portman and wed sit around and debate the different actresses that could be a good Natalie Portman. Then I wrote her a letter and then we met and had lunch and all of a sudden on the way home from lunch, she called her agent and said, Yeah, Ill do it. We were all like, What? We were in shock.
DRE: That was the first time you met her?
ZB: Yeah, Id never met her before in my life. Wed both done plays at the Delacourte Theatre in Central Park and I was actually doing Twelfth Night when I wrote her my letter. I thought that was an angle we could relate to. It is really a testament to her because she was incredibly trusting of me. When very few people were willing to take a risk on me she did.
DRE: Why did you want Natalie so badly?
ZB: I think there are a lot of actresses in Hollywood that are beautiful and a handful who are good actresses. Theres a smaller group that are both, and of the group that are both, there are a few that have that X factor thing where youre like, I cant take my eyes off this person. What is it about her? Its like this charisma, this energy, this special thing thats very rare and she has it. I always saw that and I could always see that even when she was in things where I wasnt a fan of the movie per say, I could see that thing that she had poking through. I think its rare to find someone that has that. Its exciting when you do.
DRE: Who were your guardian angels when it came to getting this made?
ZB: Gary Gilbert. Everyone in Hollywood passed on the movie, even when I had Natalie and myself with Danny DeVito producing. We couldnt find financing anywhere because it was taking a risk. The movie does not have a traditional, three-act structure. I couldnt really find anyone who was willing to take a risk until I ran into Gary Gilbert who was a self-made wealthy person and looking to get into film financing.
DRE: I found the movie to be very much about the modern Jewish, suburban experience. I was wondering how being Jewish informed your life and this movie?
ZB: My experience of growing up in Jewish suburbia was not one really of going to temple or being religious. But instead the religion informed the culture and informed the humor and informed the types of movies we watched. But it was never really about my connection to God or a higher power. I never got really anything from Temple and I think thats one of things I address in the movie when Natalies character jokingly says, Wow, youre really Jewish and Im like, Well, I guess Im Jewish. I dont really do anything Jewish. I dont really go to Temple.
DRE: Did you and Natalie connect on that level?
ZB: The funny thing is Natalie plays someone who is not Jewish and here she was born in Jerusalem, a Jewish mothers dream, teasing me about being Jewish.
DRE: Did your family hope you two might hook up?
ZB: I know! And she speaks fluent Hebrew, too. She really is a Jewish mothers dream.
DRE: Shed probably think Natalie was too Jewish.
ZB: Yeah, can you imagine my mom being, Shes just too Jewish. I liked her and then she spoke fluent Hebrew and I was frankly turned off. She was pushing it.
DRE: This movie has a great soundtrack. Did you handpick the songs yourself?
ZB: Its all my favorite music really. Stuff I was listening to while I was writing it and I made a mixed CD. So when I gave out the script, I would give out this mixed compilation Id made and even when people passed on the movie, they were like, Man, that soundtrack! So, when we got the movie made, the bands little by little were extremely generous in letting us have their songs for very little money.
DRE: Do you plan to continue juggling your film career with Scrubs or do you plan to leave the show in the next couple of years?
ZB: Well, the show is only picked up for another two years, so we'll see how that plays out.
DRE: What is your instinct?
ZB: The show is the ideal gig because we do it seven months out of the year. It's really an actor's dream. You do something you really love and go to work and act every day for seven months and get to act really silly, which is a blast and then five months out of the year you do whatever you want. My second hiatus I did Shakespeare in the Park and this one I did this film. You can go act in other people's movies, you can sit and play video games or you can travel. You can really do anything. Scrubs affords me the ability to explore lots of other ideas and follow the things Ive dreamed about doing. This was my biggest dream. I went to film school. This is what I wanted to do more than anything and 'Scrubs' really was the catalyst that allowed me to do that.
DRE: If Scrubs ends will you do another show?
ZB: I don't imagine that when Scrubs is over that I'll go and do another TV show right away. I'd produce something or create something, but I probably wouldn't go act in something right away because I'd like to do more and more of this directing rather than acting.
by Daniel Robert Epstein
SG Username: AndersWolleck
VIEW 26 of 26 COMMENTS
jena:
Very awesome...thank you (years later).
gdarklighter:
Wow. Was that really five years ago?