First-time screenwriter and director Zach Braff has woven together stories of growing up in New Jersey, in creating the film Garden State. Braff was in town for a screening at the Ritz Bourse on July 8.

Natalie Portman and Zach Braff in Garden State. photo, K.C. Bailey

Using quirky events or people (i.e. the existence of Desert Storm trading cards or a friend who shot arrows straight up in the air), Braff collected vignettes and outputted a script in four months, in 2000.

"One of the [ideas] was there was a woman having sex with a kid in my high school. I thought that was the oddest, most uncomfortable thing I could imagine," Braff said. "And then I went to Medieval Times [a medieval-themed restaurant where the entertainment is jousts and knights fighting] and that was the craziest, most ridiculous thing I'd ever seen. I thought, 'What if I just combine them?" Braff worked the scenarios into one storyline: a middle-aged woman sleeping with a student who worked as a knight at Medieval Times.

Some parts of the main character are one hundred percent-Braff, "Because of headaches in my life, I went to doctors and a neurologist. I thought if they have any more degrees they would have to be on the ceiling," recalled Braff. Hence when the character he plays in Garden State, Andrew "Large" Largeman, goes to the neurologist, there is a degree on the ceiling.

	Director Zach Braff on the set of Garden State. photo, K.C. Bailey

Braff wanted to focus on personal, character-driven stories that are not often seen on the big screen. "I lost my shit in my twenties. That was the seed of the idea. I went off to college and I was homesick, but Jersey wasn't my home anymore… For me it led to depression, I was lost. I began finding that [feeling] in other people - a general malaise. It's called the quarter-life crisis." A term in common usage, "quarter-life crisis" had been unknown when Braff's generation experienced the phenomenon.

Braff explained, "a lot of people are going through it… maybe not in their twenties but [are thinking] 'I am long overdue for a new chapter in my life. I just want to be happy again.'" The audience meets the protagonist of the movie, Large, at a pivotal point in his life when he is ready to be happy again.

Braff explains that it was destiny that led him to write the screenplay. "I always knew I was going to direct [Garden State]. I went to film school, that's what my 

Zach Braff in Garden State. photo, K.C. Bailey

dream was, to be a filmmaker. If I hadn't written this, I wouldn't have even had a 

chance to audition for this part. It would have been offered to ten guys before I got to read for it." Writing his own script allowed Braff to act in and direct the film.

Braff says that while starring on the NBC series Scrubs, he learned how to be a director. "I definitely took a lot from directors [that came through Scrubs]. It's almost like film grad school, a different director every week…I take what I love and leave what I don't." A self-described actor-friendly director, Braff kept a peaceful set on Garden State so that his actors would be comfortable and give unfettered performances.

Braff shot the movie in twenty-five days and then edited it on nights and weekends. Garden State was assembled in eight weeks to make the Sundance Film Festival deadline. Under a tight timeline and serving as the screenwriter, actor, and director, Braff said he was "scared I'd be exhausted and would not be able to handle it all… what made me the most nervous was mainly acting and directing. I wasn't sure if I could handle it all."

Born and raised in South Orange, New Jersey, Braff attended Columbia High School in Maplewood. He graduated from Northwestern University with a B.A. in film.

"Playing a lead is exhausting enough," continued Braff, who added, "Directing is more exhausting than playing the lead in a movie. Even though it was a lot to take on, it felt risky, but a risk worth taking."

	Peter Sarsgaard, Natalie Portman, and Zach Braff in Garden State. photo, K.C. Bailey

That risk, Garden State, was acclaimed as an official selection at the Sundance Film Festival and the U.S. Comedy and Arts Festival. Screening Garden State at Sundance was sweet revenge for Braff, who remembered, "Everyone passed in Hollywood on this movie. The film doesn't have a three-act structure and that was terrifying to studios. I was untested [as a director]." The plot concerns a young man who returns home for his mother's funeral after being estranged from his family for a decade. He faces his domineering father and the village motleys he left behind. An enthusiastic woman played by Natalie Portman, provides him with love and rescues him from banality. "We almost had to cancel [the project]," continued Braff. "Then there was an unprecedented sale at the end between Fox Searchlight and Miramax." These studios respectively would handle the domestic and international distribution of the film.

The first time director recalled on the night he had to shoot a difficult pool scene, "There is always chaos, but when I have to act and direct and moderate the chaos, I thought 'what the hell am I doing? This sucks.'" Although he felt trepidation regarding the directing, Braff said he found it to be the most gratifying task of drama. "[Getting to] conduct an orchestra of 150 really creative people…is a lot of collaboration. I love collaboration, working with creative people, and being the decision maker," said the actor, who is slated to direct an upcoming episode of Scrubs. Starting his fourth season on the show, Braff compared movie directing with television directing. "With [Garden State] I could do a lot of preparation. With Scrubs, the script often comes out that Monday…That'll be a fun challenge."

Braff is currently rewriting a screenplay, entitled Eight Track. He is also adapting his favorite children's book, Andrew Henry's Meadow (Burn, Doris. Putnam, 1965) as a screenplay with his older brother. For the latter project, Braff will be adding the title "producer," to his curriculum vitae that already includes actor, writer, and director.

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