As far as Hollywood is concerned, Zach Braff is a “newbie” no more: he’s got five seasons of the always hilarious, woefully underappreciated sitcom Scrubs under his belt, he’s received accolades for his turn as the writer, director and star of the hit indie film Garden State, plus he’s won a Grammy AND the heart of the actress and pop star Mandy Moore. Hollywood.com got the good TV doc to submit to a thorough examination.
HW: Are you writing another film right now?
ZB: When I started writing Garden State, Scrubs hadn’t started yet. So I had time to sit at my dinning room table for six months and write a movie. So now what I’m trying to do because I want to direct again–I don’t have time to start from scratch with anything because of my schedule, but I’m trying to find a movie to adapt. There’s a Danish movie that I really love that I’m working on getting the rights to. I might adapt that or adapt a book. I’m trying to find something that’s almost halfway there, so that I can get a jump on it. I don’t have the time currently to start from scratch, although when Scrubs is eventually over I will do that again.
HW: Do you feel like you have something to say in the same way that you had something to say in Garden State?
ZB: Oh, of course. I mean, not every film that I’m going to make is going to be as personal as Garden State, but first and foremost I always wanted to be a filmmaker and that’s what I want to do.
HW: Do you feel that you’re becoming a Hollywood sex symbol?
ZB: By no means, but if you know anyone who thinks of me like that I’d love to get their number. There are so many guys competing to be the cool, sexy guy that it’s nice not to be in the running for that at all. I’m just happy to be me and do what I’m doing.
HW: What was it like having your real-life girlfriend Mandy Moore playing your girlfriend on Scrubs?
ZB: Mandy always hung out on the set and so she knows everyone and was always very relaxed, and if you ever get a chance to meet her there’s not a warmer, more personable, and friendly person. So it was very easy and cool and fun.
HW: Were you nervous for her when she came to the set to actually get in the game and perform?
ZB: No. The funny thing is that Mandy doesn’t obviously get to play it too much, but she’s a really funny comedienne, and what you saw on the show is that she’s a really funny physical comedienne. And it gave her a chance to be really funny and silly and something that she hasn’t normally gotten a chance to do, and something that she was stepping out of her comfort zone to do. But I think that because she loves [executive producer] Bill [Lawrence] and she loves all the actors she felt like it was a safe environment to be creative and be courageous.
HW: What’s been your most challenging Scrubs scene?
ZB: Oh, it’s got to be one of the fantasies. Some of them are so crazy and some of the stunts are a little bit dangerous and a little bit hard and scary.
HW: Do you think that you’re become more courageous as an actor now because of all the weird things that you’ve had to do?
ZB: Yeah. I think that it’s great to have a job where there is no wrong answer. Scrubs is such a safe environment for an actor. You can be totally ridiculous and totally broad and silly, and obviously there are things that we go, “Okay, we took it too far.” And then in the editing room we’d bring it back, but it’s very rare for an actor to have a kind environment where anything goes, and I think that it’s a fun place for actors to go and play because in so many other jobs that you have you’re like, “Oh, bring it down,” or something like that.
HW: Away from Scrubs, what’s the bravest thing that you’ve ever attempted?
ZB: I think it was playing Romeo in Romeo and Juliet in an outdoor theater with two thousand people a night, where every night I would start going, “I don’t know if I know this.” Romeo talks for essentially two hours straight in Elizabethan English, and I remember thinking every night, “I can’t believe that I’m about to walk out in front of two thousand people and talk for two hours and be able to remember all these things.”
HW: Has it been hard with your schedule to strike while the iron is hot?
ZB: Well, I’ve been doing all that I can. I mean, I had a five-month hiatus last summer and I did two movies back to back. One is called The Last Kiss and one is called Fast Track that’s a workplace comedy with Jason Bateman and Amanda Peet and Charles Grodin and Mia Farrow. So I mean I’ve been working as much as I can, nonstop. Of course there are projects that come up that you fall in love with while you’re shooting Scrubs. But this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity: if you get one, great, good long run on a quality show in your life then you are lucky. I really respect that and I’m grateful to it for being the source of my big break. So I’m loyal to the show.
HW: What are you going to do with your next hiatus?
ZB: I’m trying to put a movie together. There are a couple of things that I’m looking at adapting, and there’s a project that I might direct. It depends on what comes together first.
HW: What do you do when you can actually find some spare time?
ZB: In my spare time I sleep because the schedule is so grueling. You work late on a Friday night, and so you sleep late into Saturday, and so you really only have like a day and a half off and you kind of want to lay on the couch and watch TV.
HW: What shows do you watch?
ZB: My new obsession is Lost. I love Lost. I just got turned onto it and so I’m still working my way through the first season. I got the DVD’s and it’s great. I love it. At the Golden Globes I accosted each and every member. I’m such a fan that I almost tackled some of them. Matthew Fox–I was like, “Okay, let me get this straight. When you’re in the hatch…” I don’t know. I was like a weird Star Trek fan. But they are so nice and are all so cool. I spent like an hour talking to Evangeline Lilly about specific details of the show and she was like, “Relax. I don’t know.”
HW: Do you feel like you are sort of a subject of Trekkie-like obsession yourself because of the devoted cult followings of Scrubs and Garden State?
ZB: Yeah, well, Garden State did something really interesting to a lot of people and that is that it almost gets them talking about their own lives. If you look at their blogs and read them, it isn’t just the funny sort of Star Trek “What’s the combination to the safe in Episode 312?”… It’s more like people talking about their lives and what the movie made them feel like and how it’s changed them. So I love going on the web and reading that stuff because it’s so moving, as someone who creates things, to see, “I watched the movie and I finally called my father.” There are multiple stories like that and you’ll see them if you read the blog. So I love it. It’s been a great thing.
HW: Are you firmly fcoused on film after Scrubs, or would you explore more television as an actor, writer or director?
ZB: I would do it as a creator or a producer. I can’t imagine that for the bulk of my career that I would sign on to do another TV show. Maybe when I’m older and I want to settle down and not be traveling around a lot, but it’s exciting to go off and have a movie career and travel the world and have that life experience, and I want to have that experience. But TV has been great to me, and I would love to be involved in other shows.
HW: Who would you really like to play in a big-screen biopic?
ZB: One of the Rugrats.
HW: You’re officially a Grammy-winning artist for your work assembling the Garden State soundtrack.
ZB: It’s very odd to win a Grammy Award. When I was a little kid dreaming about becoming successful in the business, holding a Grammy award wasn’t one of the things that I dreamed about, but it was a great honor and a great testament to all of the artists and great music in Garden State. The Grammy was really for all of the artists on the film, but I just get to keep it at my house. I’m fortunate to have a lot of friends in the music business, a lot of musicians and they’re always introducing me to new music and I love going on iTunes and finding new bands.
HW: What are you listening to?
ZB: A new guy called Joshua Raidon. He’s blowing up and we’ve had him on Scrubs a couple of times. His song ends the new movie that I just did, The Last Kiss. That’s a great movie and something that I’m really proud of. It’s myself and a big cast. Casey Affleck, Rachel Bilson. Jacinda Barrett, Blythe Danner and Tom Wilkinson. Currently they say that it’s coming out in December. It’s a big ensemble movie in the spirit of Diner for people turning thirty. I really am proud of it.
HW: What’s the one thing that you’d like to say to the fans of Scrubs?
ZB: Thank you for sticking with it. The reason that we’re still on the air, but because the critics have been so great to us and the fans have stuck with us. I mean, if it weren’t for the fans following us all over the place–God knows that they put us in enough time slots. We were everywhere but Saturday morning. So I’d like the fans to know that they’re the reason that we’re still on the air.
