"I don't really believe in remaking American movies. I think that's sort of silly. There's something about an American audience, the masses don't tend to watch subtitled foreign films in this country

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Zach Braff: A guy you want to slap?
TORONTO, Ontario (AP) -- Zach Braff is the adorable puppy dog on "Scrubs," the NBC sitcom in which he plays a goofy, ever-lovesick young doctor just about anyone might want to hug.
Now Braff's happy to play a young architect so in lust that even his own mother might want to punch him out.
In "The Last Kiss," Braff stars as a man whose unease over settling down with his beautiful, pregnant girlfriend leads him into a fling with an enticing college babe.
"I have reporters all the time saying to me, 'I really love the movie. I wanted to slap ... you,"' Braff told The Associated Press at the Toronto International Film Festival, where "The Last Kiss" premiered in advance of its theatrical debut Friday. "I say, 'That's great, that's awesome. You had a reaction to it."'
Adapted from an Italian film, "The Last Kiss" makes a few concessions to American audiences. The lead player in the Italian version is a bit more of a cad, Braff said, but the remake generally retains the character's ambiguous nature as someone to love and hate at the same time.
"I think it's sort of refreshing to have a protagonist that isn't always doing all the right things, and the only bad things that happen to him are a result of negative outside forces as opposed to something internal," Braff said.
"It just felt very human, and I couldn't believe the studio was going to make the movie. I got them to promise me they weren't going to change it when I signed on. You can see all the opportunities where they could have wimped out and softened it and made it more mainstream. There'll be people who'll have a hard time with this movie."
After writing, directing and starring in the hit "Garden State" and scoring with the lead voice in the animated comedy "Chicken Little," Braff is looking to maintain a career as one of those rare stars able to jump from the small screen to the big one.
Braff, 31, co-stars with Jason Bateman and Amanda Peet in next year's workplace comedy "Fast Track," and "Scrubs" creator Bill Lawrence is working on a movie adaptation of author Gregory McDonald's crime romp "Fletch Won" in which Braff may star. The actor also plans to return to directing with a remake of the sober Danish drama "Open Hearts," a story of tragic twists that follow a traffic accident.
Meantime, Braff remains busy on "Scrubs," the show that broke open his career, which had a promising start with the 1993 Woody Allen comedy "Manhattan Murder Mystery" but had languished with little-seen indie films through the rest of the 1990s.
Braff has not decided whether to return to "Scrubs," saying he will put the decision off until March when production wraps on the sixth season.
Another decision he faces is whether to appear in his version of "Open Hearts" or stick solely to writing and directing the film, which is based on Danish filmmaker Susanne Bier's tale.
Foreign-language flicks are a handy source of material for filmmakers too busy to develop a story from scratch, Braff said.
"I don't really believe in remaking American movies. I think that's sort of silly. There's something about an American audience, the masses don't tend to watch subtitled foreign films in this country, so I think they are a great source for adaptations," Braff said.
"It's nice for me when I can't write an original screenplay, because they're a hard thing to do and you don't always have the time to dedicate to it. So where can you go? You can go to a book, obviously, or you can find a great foreign film nobody in this country saw. With 'Open Hearts," I was so taken by it, this story really resonated with me. I bet it would resonate with a lot of people."
A graduate of Northwestern University's film program, Braff began writing and making short films while growing up in New Jersey. His father was a film buff, running 16-millimeter prints of movies projected on the family's living room wall, so Braff developed an early love for cinema.
"Garden State" drew on elements of his Jersey upbringing, though the subdued, depressed lead character and his torn-asunder family was not based on Braff's own experiences.
After Braff was cast in "Scrubs," he quit the job he'd had waiting tables, then learned there would be a five-month lull before the show began shooting. Braff said he had been through a rough patch in his life and felt a bit depressed, so he used the time off to examine where he was at.
"When I got 'Scrubs,' which was like my dream come true, and that depression didn't really subside, I thought, OK, there's something going on here if my dream just came true and I'm still bummed out," Braff said. "Let me sit down and write about it. Really, what came out of that five months was the first draft of 'Garden State."'
The film showed a darker, dramatic side that fans had not seen in the lovable character Braff plays on "Scrubs." Braff is counting on "The Last Kiss" to further stretch audience expectations.
"I hope so," said Jacinda Barrett, who co-stars as Braff's pregnant girlfriend in "The Last Kiss." "He's incredibly witty and intelligent in it and still likable considering the despicable acts he commits in this movie. I hope people see what he's capable of."
Other TV actors often find their movie careers fall flat. But Braff has chosen wisely so far, saying he deliberately avoided the easy path of romantic comedies that came his way after the success of "Scrubs."
"I think I had enough knowledge of the business to know the importance of what that first movie is," Braff said. "I want to have a long career, and I don't want to always be doing broad comedy, physical comedy, slapstick.

"I think it's also wise that it be a very small movie and not something that can get written about as a box-office disaster. 'Garden State' cost two-and-a-half million dollars. It would have been pretty damn hard for it to be a box-office disaster. I didn't think of it as the ultimate strategy. I think I was just aware the dumb thing to do would be to take a big romantic comedy payday."

to answer the question: yes

― gear (gear), Tuesday, 12 September 2006 18:08 (nineteen years ago)

That guy is kind of a douche.

― Allyzay is cool: with Blue n White, with Eli Manning, with NY Giants (allyzay), Tuesday, 12 September 2006 18:12 (nineteen years ago)

KIND of a douche?!?

― Eisbär (llamasfur), Tuesday, 12 September 2006 18:12 (nineteen years ago)

I've said it before and I'll say it again: Garden State is fucking awful. Scrubs is kind of shit as well.

― chap who would dare to start Raaatpackin (chap), Tuesday, 12 September 2006 18:14 (nineteen years ago)

the link, with punchable photo

― gear (gear), Tuesday, 12 September 2006 18:15 (nineteen years ago)

http://www.cnn.com/2006/SHOWBIZ/Movies/09/12/toronto.zachbraff.ap/index.html

― gear (gear), Tuesday, 12 September 2006 18:15 (nineteen years ago)

oof. he is not going to age well.

― Shakey Mo Collier (Shakey Mo Collier), Tuesday, 12 September 2006 18:17 (nineteen years ago)

I kind of can't hate the guy. He's a never nude.

― DOZENS!!! (nickalicious), Tuesday, 12 September 2006 18:25 (nineteen years ago)

j/k he is totally horrible

― a naked Kraken annoying Times Square tourists with an acoustic guitar (nickalici, Tuesday, 12 September 2006 18:26 (nineteen years ago)

Used to think he was kind of a good guy/interesting type of actor, but now I kind of feel like he's full of himself, and an overblown sense of entitlement Hollywood type who I would prolly not leave a good tip for at a restaurant.

I did greatly enjoy "Garden State," but that may have had to do largely with N.Portman and Peter Saarsgard, who were both good in it.

― GoodGodHolyShitBagofDemons (Big Loud Mountain Ape), Tuesday, 12 September 2006 18:28 (nineteen years ago)

You're all just jealous beecause he gets to knock up RWLondon's Jacinda.

― Young Fresh Danny D (Dan Perry), Tuesday, 12 September 2006 18:28 (nineteen years ago)

I think the only acting I've actually witnessed of his must've been in Manhattan Murder Mystery - which I don't remember him being in at all - but he seems completely uninteresting. no ideas.

― Shakey Mo Collier (Shakey Mo Collier), Tuesday, 12 September 2006 18:29 (nineteen years ago)

http://www.brianmpalmer.com/blog/2006/09/07/the-gardening/

― Dom Passantino (Dom Passantino), Tuesday, 12 September 2006 18:33 (nineteen years ago)

He was in Manhattan Murder Mystery? No wonder people in college thought he seemed a little smug.

― nabisco (nabisco), Tuesday, 12 September 2006 18:34 (nineteen years ago)

I mean, clearly the winning film star in our school was the big-headed kid from So I Married an Axe Murderer.

― nabisco (nabisco), Tuesday, 12 September 2006 18:35 (nineteen years ago)

he was one of those "theater kids" in college, i bet

― gear (gear), Tuesday, 12 September 2006 18:36 (nineteen years ago)

you know how some people say that when someone not so attractive dating someone very attractive will suddenly seem more attractive and some people say that someone very attractive dating someone not so attractive will suddenly seem not attractive? well, mandy moore seems like kind of a douche these days.

― sunny successor (katharine), Tuesday, 12 September 2006 18:37 (nineteen years ago)

Actually no, Gear -- he was an RTVF (Radio, Television, and Film) kid, which is distinct from (if adjacent to) Northwestern's large and visible theater contingent.

― nabisco (nabisco), Tuesday, 12 September 2006 18:41 (nineteen years ago)

(RTVF guys were more likely to be dude-ish, whether it was in the "I like Kevin Smith, Swingers, and my fraternity" way, the "I like Hal Hartley and am an indie-rocker" way, or the "I'm learning CGI so I can work on video games" way. I understand nobody cares, just thought I'd share that.)

― nabisco (nabisco), Tuesday, 12 September 2006 18:44 (nineteen years ago)

Dudes like Hal Hartley? Huh.

― Laurel (Laurel), Tuesday, 12 September 2006 18:45 (nineteen years ago)

at my college the TVR/film douchebags were terrible. one big network of, yeah, 'swingers'/'trainspotting'/kevin smith fans with a circle-jerk mentality (which is necessary for film school to a degree, if you want to get anything made, but still gross)

― gear (gear), Tuesday, 12 September 2006 18:49 (nineteen years ago)

everybody silly enough to take film @ UT Knoxville liked david lynch and stanley kubrick. cultural backwater. however we did extremely well at producing exactly zero Zach Braffs.

― TOMBOT (TOMBOT), Tuesday, 12 September 2006 18:55 (nineteen years ago)

I'd like him if he changed his name to Zap Barf

― TOMBOT (TOMBOT), Tuesday, 12 September 2006 18:55 (nineteen years ago)

The late 90s did seem like a bigger-than-usual moment for dudish not-too-artsy guys to go to film school -- Kevin Smith and Swingers and such surely a big influence there. These are the types of guys who have always gone to film school, though, right?

― nabisco (nabisco), Tuesday, 12 September 2006 18:56 (nineteen years ago)

the best student film I saw while at UTK was an 8mm short by a dude who hosted the Industrial show after my slot at 90.3 FM and willingly subjected himself to countless Cleopatra Records promotional material

― TOMBOT (TOMBOT), Tuesday, 12 September 2006 18:59 (nineteen years ago)

― TOMBOT (TOMBOT), Tuesday, 12 September 2006 19:00 (nineteen years ago)

"I love Clerks because it makes me think that even I could make a movie!"

― Marmot (marmotwolof), Tuesday, 12 September 2006 19:05 (nineteen years ago)

film school was real dude-ish, definitely. hardly anyone i know went on to a career in film after graduation, actually; the only ones who went on to actual success at film was this guy from bolivia who wrote and directed this flick called 'sexual dependency' which i guess did pretty well (his country's oscar submission for best foreign film) and this friend of mine who's written a couple of horror films.

― gear (gear), Tuesday, 12 September 2006 19:07 (nineteen years ago)

Garden State was a watershed moment in the understanding and acceptance of mental illness.

― always crashing in other people's cars (kenan), Tuesday, 12 September 2006 19:09 (nineteen years ago)

yes i understand now how the mentally ill should treated: slapped repeatedly and then executed

― gear (gear), Tuesday, 12 September 2006 19:14 (nineteen years ago)

Swingers would be great if Double-Down Trent was the star and/or we didn't get that cheesy crap with Heather Graham at the end. Generally, the less Favreau a movie has, the better it is.

― milo z (mlp), Tuesday, 12 September 2006 19:35 (nineteen years ago)

Generally, the less a movie is Swingers, the better it is.

― nabisco (nabisco), Tuesday, 12 September 2006 19:39 (nineteen years ago)

i saw swingers a few months ago on cable and it's pretty amazing how much vince vaughn has gone to seed

― gear (gear), Tuesday, 12 September 2006 19:41 (nineteen years ago)

P.S. on the Swingers vs Singles thread, where all of ILX proved itself to have the world's shittiest taste by picking Swingers, I said that Swingers reminded me of every frat-boy film major I'd ever met, and people acted shocked: "shy, whatever do you mean? you've got it all wrong!" Which is to say: screw you guys, I'm going home, etc.

― nabisco (nabisco), Tuesday, 12 September 2006 19:48 (nineteen years ago)

I have never heard of this guy, but is there something really objectionable in what he says that I am missing? Does anyone hate the idea of re-making foreign films for American audiences or do you all just hate this guy because he isn't very good?

― Cathy (Cathy), Tuesday, 12 September 2006 19:50 (nineteen years ago)

They hate him because of the Shins, basically.

― nabisco (nabisco), Tuesday, 12 September 2006 19:51 (nineteen years ago)

I didn't hate Garden State as much as many of you seem to, but I barely remember a single thing about it now. It was basically a TV show pilot wasn't it?

― M. White (Miguelito), Tuesday, 12 September 2006 19:51 (nineteen years ago)

when swingers first came out on video a friend covinced me to rent it and i made it through about 1/4 of the movie--completely apalled. i think i fast forwarded to a later part to see if it might have improved, noticed that the horrible lighting made heather graham look really pasty, and then turned it off. what crap.

― Amateur(ist) (Amateur(ist)), Tuesday, 12 September 2006 19:53 (nineteen years ago)

i vaguely remember getting into my first online spat ca... 1994 maybe? or 1995? whenever, i posted some negative review of "swingers" somewhere and i got a few emails which read like random-googler postings telling me i was a fag and etc.

― Amateur(ist) (Amateur(ist)), Tuesday, 12 September 2006 19:54 (nineteen years ago)

oh, it must have been 1996.

― Amateur(ist) (Amateur(ist)), Tuesday, 12 September 2006 19:55 (nineteen years ago)

I have not heard the Shins but I heard about the Shins being in Garden State, which I have not seen, and Nathalie P. saying "this song will change your life". That sounded so awful that I am willing to hate Garden State, The Shins and this Zach Braff guy without further investigation. I already kind of hated Nathalie Portman.

― Cathy (Cathy), Tuesday, 12 September 2006 19:57 (nineteen years ago)

i think i liked two scenes in 'swingers', that's about it. the best thing to come out of that movie was ron livingston.

― gear (gear), Tuesday, 12 September 2006 19:57 (nineteen years ago)

What really intrigues me about Garden State is thinking about "writer/director" Zack Braff being like "cut cut cut...you guys, that was all wrong...FROM THE TOP...making out with Natalie Portman, take FIVE HUNDRED FORTY TWO...action!".

― a naked Kraken annoying Times Square tourists with an acoustic guitar (nickalici, Tuesday, 12 September 2006 19:59 (nineteen years ago)

noticed that the horrible lighting made heather graham look really pasty

IOW, sunlight?

― Young Fresh Danny D (Dan Perry), Tuesday, 12 September 2006 20:26 (nineteen years ago)

"IOW"?

― Amateur(ist) (Amateur(ist)), Tuesday, 12 September 2006 20:26 (nineteen years ago)

In Other Words

― Young Fresh Danny D (Dan Perry), Tuesday, 12 September 2006 20:28 (nineteen years ago)

LOI OTG!

― Amateur(ist) (Amateur(ist)), Tuesday, 12 September 2006 20:29 (nineteen years ago)

xpost Also, Dan Perry's Getting Hit Over the Head Lessons.

― always crashing in other people's cars (kenan), Tuesday, 12 September 2006 20:29 (nineteen years ago)

http://www.avclub.com/content/node/52668

― gear (gear), Tuesday, 12 September 2006 21:52 (nineteen years ago)

http://www.avclub.com/content/node/52718

― gear (gear), Tuesday, 12 September 2006 21:53 (nineteen years ago)

hot actresses should only appear in culturally-correct skin tones, even in semi-indie early-career flicks

― gabbneb (gabbneb), Tuesday, 12 September 2006 21:56 (nineteen years ago)

I'm trying to think of what the Last Kiss poster/album cover design reminds me of:

http://comingsoon.net/nextraimages/lastkisssoundtrack.jpg

Is it this?

http://www.vh1.com/shared/media/images/amg_covers/200/drd100/d170/d17095axybg.jpg

― jaymc (jaymc), Tuesday, 12 September 2006 21:58 (nineteen years ago)

Bah:

http://ec1.images-amazon.com/images/P/B000G8NY54.01._AA240_SCLZZZZZZZ_V63334206_.jpg

― jaymc (jaymc), Tuesday, 12 September 2006 22:00 (nineteen years ago)

i actually watched swingers for the first time last night. so so vereh 90's. swing revival (ewwww)

― latebloomer (latebloomer), Tuesday, 12 September 2006 22:03 (nineteen years ago)

http://perfectbeat.com/web_store/Html/Images/CDs/617465114526.jpg

― gear (gear), Tuesday, 12 September 2006 22:12 (nineteen years ago)

I have never seen Swingers. If I wanted to watch assholes get drunk I think I'd prefer a ratpack movie.

― Shakey Mo Collier (Shakey Mo Collier), Tuesday, 12 September 2006 22:13 (nineteen years ago)

"Scrubs" creator Bill Lawrence is working on a movie adaptation of author Gregory McDonald's crime romp "Fletch Won" in which Braff may star.

hey, what happened to Jason Lee?

― kingfish prætor (kingfish 2.0), Tuesday, 12 September 2006 22:50 (nineteen years ago)

My Name is Earl.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Tuesday, 12 September 2006 23:21 (nineteen years ago)

I like Scrubs a lot. It was a great idea, very funny show, didn't have any one person stealing the limelight. I ... kinda thought Garden State was ok, but it felt like the rambly silly end monologue bits of Scrubs, made into a film.

Braff himself now appears to be turning into a git. Pity.

― Trayce (trayce), Tuesday, 12 September 2006 23:30 (nineteen years ago)

gear, before you posted that, i was totally thinking "there must be a chill-out compilation that uses that clean sans-serif look." nice work.

― jaymc (jaymc), Tuesday, 12 September 2006 23:31 (nineteen years ago)

do Swingers-haters hate fun? are you really reacting to the substance of the movie or all of the apparently-style-cramping signs that are packed into it (and that didn't really signify until after the movie came out)? I mean if you hate Swingers, shouldn't you loathe Tarantino?

― gabbneb (gabbneb), Tuesday, 12 September 2006 23:36 (nineteen years ago)

the yipsters all unite under one font

― gear (gear), Tuesday, 12 September 2006 23:36 (nineteen years ago)

Lisa Alspector sez:

Movies about outsiders breaking into LA social and professional circles (the two seem inextricably linked) are a dime a dozen, but this one is fresh, thanks to a script by Jon Favreau in which the lead character (Favreau) knows he resembles a character in a movie even if he doesn't know he is one. This self-awareness combines with the empathic touch of director-cinematographer Doug Liman to gently mock the practice of referring to other movies even as it waxes referential; there's a lovely scene that self-consciously cannibalizes the work of Quentin Tarantino. Wannabe cogs in the industry, the characters are as aware of the influence of movies on their lives as Swingers urges its audience to be.

Sure it's a little gauche, but it's charming!

― gabbneb (gabbneb), Tuesday, 12 September 2006 23:40 (nineteen years ago)

the cult of swingers is admittedly far worse than the film itself, which seems to realize in the end that trent is a douchebag.

― gear (gear), Tuesday, 12 September 2006 23:43 (nineteen years ago)

I mean, in the final major scene of the movie, the main character resolves his big life problem... by almost-literally walking into Goodfellas! (but with much better music)

― gabbneb (gabbneb), Tuesday, 12 September 2006 23:50 (nineteen years ago)

ok big bad voodoo daddy is not better than the ronettes

― gear (gear), Tuesday, 12 September 2006 23:56 (nineteen years ago)

Is it better than "Layla"?

― always crashing in other people's cars (kenan), Tuesday, 12 September 2006 23:58 (nineteen years ago)

yeah, ok, maybe you got me there. scorsese's music usage eternally makes my skin crawl, tho.

― gabbneb (gabbneb), Wednesday, 13 September 2006 00:05 (nineteen years ago)

Uh, so the only reason to remake a movie is cause, like, people haven't already seen the original? (sorry if I'm just restating the already obvious stupidity of that statement).

Braff always reminds me of the guy who sat next to you in class and was really full of himself and cocksure but kind of a dumbass, and you always thought "Yeah, like this guy's (film, band, art, novel) is really going to go anywhere" but then it does.

― A-ron Hubbard (Hurting), Wednesday, 13 September 2006 01:10 (nineteen years ago)

ok big bad voodoo daddy is not better than the ronettes

Kinda axiomatic, that.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Wednesday, 13 September 2006 01:11 (nineteen years ago)

his quote is pretty condescending, but essentially correct, i mean h-wood has been doing this for a long time, duh.

as for the Swingers hate, i guess i move in different circles cuz i never encounter the dude-ish fanboys in love with this. i thought it was pretty inexpertly made, but occasionally amusing.

― timmy tannin (pompous), Wednesday, 13 September 2006 01:19 (nineteen years ago)

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