It would have been very easy for former “Scrubs” star Zach Braff to continue to pursue high-paying jobs in TV or movies. But instead, ever since the sitcom “Scrubs” was cancelled (the show was on the air from 2001 to 2010), he has chosen to do projects based on what he thinks of the project’s quality, not the size of the project’s paycheck. So far, Braff’s post-“Scrubs” career has consisted of mostly off-Broadway plays and low-budget independent films. Braff admits that his residual payments from “Scrubs” allow him to live comfortably enough to make these choices, but his artistic choices are still quite different from many other actors who have been in similar situations of having to move on from a long-running TV series. One of the independent films that Braff has starred in since the end of “Scrubs” is the drama “The High Cost of Living.”
In “The High Cost of Living” (set in Montreal, where the movie was also filmed), Braff plays Henry, a drug dealer who illegally sells prescription medication. One night while driving his car, Henry accidentally hits a pregnant woman on the street. Instead of stopping to help the injured woman, he speeds away. Feeling guilty about committing a hit-and-run crime, Henry tracks down the woman, whose name is Nathalie (played by Isabelle Blais), and without telling her that he is the hit-and-run driver, he befriends her, only to feel even more guilt when he finds out that her unborn baby was seriously affected by the accident.
As Nathalie and Henry’s friendship deepens, and it becomes apparent that Nathalie is unhappy in her marriage, Henry remains torn about whether or not he should tell her the secret that could send him to prison and destroy his relationship with Nathalie. At the New York City press junket for “The High Cost of Living,” I sat down for an interview with Braff, who talked about his experiences in making the film; what people can expect from “All New People,” the off-Broadway play (opening in June 2011) that he wrote; and which filmmaker’s business savvy he most admires.
Since you’re known primarily for doing comedies, how did you prevent yourself from falling back into any comedic habits when you were doing a drama like “The High Cost of Living”?
I think after doing eight-and-a-half years of broad comedy, you certainly fall into certain habits that I want to avoid. Even when I've done movies like “Garden State” and “The Last Kiss” and “The Ex,” I saw things I was doing, all actors have those sort of “go-to” habits they can’t help but fall into.
So when I did this movie I was very aware of not doing them. I even told the director, “Don’t let me do X, Y, Z. It’s a very easy route.” Henry is a really still guy. He’s pretty down and depressed and lost. And I think there wasn’t so much room for him to be quip-y or even silly. There are one or two half-attempts at a joke that he makes during the movie, but I really tried to avoid doing much at all, since he’s sort of a quiet guy.
Did you build a back story in your head for Henry?
A little bit — not anything too elaborate. We came up with a kind of a plan, like, “Why is there. Why is he in Canada? What’s the rough idea of what’s happened to this guy? Why is he in Canada, living illegally? Why did he start selling drugs?” That kind of thing.
When you first saw the final cut of “The High Cost Of Living,” what was going through your mind?
When I first saw the movie, I was blown away, because you just never know what someone is going to do when you make a movie. We had no money, and this was [filmed in] 2010 — low-budget filmmaking at its finest. No money, shot on video, a skeleton crew. On set it looked good, but you just have no idea.
Also, as a first-time filmmaker, Deborah [Chow, the writer/director of “The High Cost of Living”] was wonderful on set, but you didn’t know how she was going to edit the movie. So when I saw it, I thought she did a fantastic job. The response she’s gotten at festivals, I think she’s won an award at every festival she’s gone to, including best [Canadian] first film in Toronto [at the 2010 Toronto International Film Festival], which is a really cool award to get, so I was very pleased.
Did your interpretation of the Henry character change from when you first read the script to when you actually film the movie, either from the director’s input or your own input?
I was happy with it. I really wanted to do something that was dramatic and pared-down and simple, in terms of my performance, but I also didn’t want to come across as trying too hard and do some role that was so elaborately trying to show that I was different. I wanted to do something different without it coming across as trying too hard. The role was perfect for the occasion, because it was 180 degrees from “Scrubs,” but simple and not too “show-y.”
You filmed “The High Cost of Living” on location in Montreal. Can you clear up the rumors about your passport problems during that time?
The story got elaborated on the Web. I had some passport issues that I had to deal with, but we worked them out. I’m a pilot. So while we figured out my passport issues, I didn’t want to miss the press. If the movie is going to have an audience anywhere, the eye of the storm would be Montreal, since it’s set in Montreal and it’s French Canadian and a quarter of the movie is in French. I wanted to make sure I didn’t miss Montreal press, so I flew up there, and whilst I was in the air, my passport issues got worked out.
What do you think about Montreal?
I love Montreal. I’ve made two movies there. It’s a lot more fun in the spring than in the dead of winter, but it’s a great city. I really like it there a lot.
Do you have a favorite restaurant in Montreal?
I don’t. It’s hard to say. They’re known for their food. I love the Old Port though. That’s where I spend most of my time [in Montreal]. It’s very romantic. There are lots of great restaurants.
Can you talk about the play “All New People” that you wrote?
I wrote a play, and it’s getting produced at Second Stage Theatre. It’s my first play. I’ve done a bunch of rewrites and adapted a couple of things, but it’s my first 100 percent original thing [that I wrote] since “Garden State.” I wrote it because I was very inspired by the play [“Trust”], which I acted in at Second Stage with Paul Weitz last summer.
I wrote it before that, when we were prepping [“Trust”]. And it was my first play [that I wrote], and I thought, “Oh, this would be a good exercise. And hopefully, I’ll get some feedback from my writer friends, and I’ll eventually have the play produced, because it’s one of the things I’d love to have happen.”
And then my agents sent it out. And my two favorite off-Broadway houses — the Public Theatre and the Second Stage — both were interested in it, which was surreal and wonderful. And then the Second Stage, which has kind of been my home of late, because I’ve been spending my last summer there, decided to produce it this summer [in 2011]. So it’s happening. The poster is up on 43rd [Street] and 8th [Avenue in Manhattan]. I just walked by it. It’s 30 feet high. It’s very exciting.
How much time did you have to rehearse with your “High Cost of Living” co-star Isabelle Blais?
We didn’t have time. It would’ve been much harder if it was one of those movies where, “OK, you [portray people] who have been best friends your whole life.” Fortunately, the whole movie was, “You don’t know each other at all, and you’re very awkward around each other.”
She’s very well-known [in Canada]. She’s a French-Canadian cinema star. She’s won awards. She’s very well-known and respected in that community. I’d seen some of her films, and I could see what an actress she was. But I didn’t know her work before that, and I didn’t know her personally. So we used that [unfamiliarity]. We met and said, “Hey, let’s just dive into it.” And it was actually helpful to not know each other.
Why do you tend to play guys who are outsiders or who feel alienated from society?
I think I’m drawn to people feeling alienation and people looking for new chapters of their life to begin. That subject matter interests me a lot. I think it’s really relatable. Being lost and then being sort of rescued by someone — often a woman — is a through line [for most of my roles].
What kind of research did you do for your role in “The High Cost of Living”?
The funny thing is the research I did was learning how to chain smoke, because I’d never smoked cigarettes in my life. I got these herbal cigarettes online because I didn’t want to smoke nicotine. It’s a pet peeve of mine when I see people smoking in movies, and it looks like they learned that morning.
So I bought a carton of these herbal cigarettes online, and walked around New York for two weeks, and for the first time at 35 years old, was watching people [who smoke] and seeing their gestures. And lighting [cigarettes] in the wind. So that was my preparation: learning to look like a chain smoker.
What do you think about independent filmmaking now, compared to when you did your 2004 movie “Garden State”?
I think that obviously the advent of amazing-looking video … I don’t know if it’s opened the door to more filmmakers but it’s allowed you to make a film for less money. “Garden State,” we made for $2.75 million, which is crazy even today, and was crazy at the time, but [“The High Cost of Living”] was made for even a fraction of that, which would’ve been impossible. The fact that video is looking so amazing will, I think, open the door for more filmmakers to make movies.
As a director, do you feel more comfortable working with film or video?
I love film, but it’s not realistic to say that you can shoot film for that much longer, unless you’re someone who has access to tons of money. I would always choose film over video, but I wouldn’t let the project go away because they said, “Oh, we can only afford video.” Because of the job that this female cinematographer [for “The High Cost of Living”], Claudine [Sauvé], did, I think this movie looks fantastic for what it is.
How did you end up with the script for “The High Cost of Living”?
My manager found it, and she knew what I was looking for. I’m not getting offered these parts in mainstream Hollywood. It’s not what people think of me for, and I respect that. The onus is on me to prove that I can do it. So we were looking for something that was smaller where someone would give me a shot.
Most times I read a script — as I’m sure a lot of people do — and I think, “Oh, after a couple of [rewrites], this will be really cool. There’s something really great here. It needs another draft or two, and it’s there.”
For [“The High Cost of Living”], I read it, and I was like, “Let’s do it! It’s amazing! This woman’s a really talented writer.” I met her at the Bowery Hotel in New York. We clicked. I liked her as a person. And I said yes immediately.
A lot of independent films about people who are drifting in their lives are labeled “mumblecore” films. For people who haven’t seen “The High Cost of Living,” can you explain why it isn’t a mumblecore film?
We’ve all seen those movies at festivals, where you’re like, “Oh my God, is nothing really going to happen for two hours in this movie?” I’m not interested in movies like that. This [“The High Cost of Living”] was subtle, obviously, but, I thought, very realistic. This is how these people would be.
You and your brother Adam are adapting the children’s book “Andrew Henry’s Meadow” into a movie. Do you see it as an animated or live-action film?
I’d love it to be either. It’s been in development for a while. My brother and I optioned our favorite children’s book. The reason why it’s taken years to get it made is that it isn’t a famous children’s book. We learned in the process that it certainly helps if people know the book, and if it’s a title people know.
But this was our favorite children’s book as kids, and my brother and I came up with the story, and he wrote the screenplay. It’s been a roller-coaster ride. For a minute, it was at Fox with Barry Sonnenfeld directing. And now it’s in limbo, but we’ll get it made. It could be an amazing animated movie, but we envisioned it originally as live-action.
Have you explored any other genres of film, TV or theater that you would like to do?
When you do one character for eight-and-half years, you can’t wait to do everything. Yeah, I want to do whatever is out there. I want to propel down a mountain with an Uzi. Action, drama. Theater is something that is very important to me, obviously.
What’s your plan to not be typecast as J.D. Dorian from “Scrubs”?
This is the plan. I’m joking. There is no plan. The plan is to pursue things that really intrigue me. And because of the success of “Scrubs,” they don’t have to be paydays. They don’t have to be things that I don’t believe in.
I can take roles, whether they [are] in tiny indies or off-Broadway theater or a small part in a big movie — whatever. It’s something that makes me go, “Wow, I want to do that. That’s exciting to me. I’d be proud to be in that.” I’m in the rare position to be able to say, “I only want to do things I really believe in and really think are good.”
Which directors would you like to work with someday?
There are so many. Chris Nolan, [David] Fincher. These guys I’ve looked up to in my whole career.
Jean-Pierre Jeunet. I met him. He loved “Garden State.” He was so cool. For the French poster [of “Garden State”], he said, “You know, if it’ll help you, I will give you a quote for the poster.” He’s like the [Steven] Spielberg of France. And he did. On the French poster, he gave a wonderful quote about the movie.
He’s always been a hero of mine. In film school, we worshipped him. So that was really cool. He is a really, really nice man. I’d love to work with him one day.
Alexander Payne [is another director I’d like to work with], without even going into the legends, like [Martin] Scorsese. I’d also like to work with people who are interested in working with me.
What was the shooting pace like for “The High Cost of Living”?
It was like, “Did we get? Moving on!” We moved so quickly. My whole part was shot in 15 days. People ask, “Oh, was there lots of improv’ing?” You don’t improv when there’s no time. We did a little; we changed it up a little.
But for the most part, when you have the luxury of improv’ing, you’re like, “Cool. We’ve got it as written. Now let’s take a little time and play around and see if anything comes out of it.” On this film, we just didn’t. It was like, “OK, we’ve got the close-up? Let’s do the wide shot before lunch.”
Which was more helpful to you in making independent films: your theater experience or your TV experience?
The TV experience was grad school in so many ways for filmmaking. It was a different director every single week, especially when I was first starting out. I went to film school, and getting to work on “Scrubs” with a different talented director every week, seeing what you liked and what you didn’t like, was an amazing education. And also, shooting an episode in four-and-a-half days — what we accomplished in one episode of “Scrubs” was amazing. So I learned all of that there: how to move quickly.
Is there one scene in “The High Cost of Living” that visually surprised you the most?
The scene on the roof where we’re toasting marshmallows, and it’s snowing. It wasn’t written as “it’s snowing.” And obviously, we couldn’t afford a snow machine. And actually, when it was snowing that night, we were concerned that the continuity would be all screwed up, because it’s going to snow in some shots and not in others. And it just evenly snowed the whole night.
And I think it’s a really sweet scene. And that was a surprise when I saw it in the movie how pretty it looked and how sweet it is and how bizarre it is that they’re sitting in this freezing cold on a rooftop, toasting marshmallows in a snowstorm. I thought there was something special about that scene and the connection that we had. We had good chemistry in that scene.
When you went to film school, did you plan to be an actor?
I didn’t think I could have a career as an actor, really. I knew I was going to try. I, as a young kid, had commuted in from New Jersey to audition for theater. I would do play readings, and audition for anything and everything. I didn’t get many callbacks.
I remember I would do play readings and sit around tables with amazing actors. And they would blow me away, even as a young kid, by how good they were. But I’d never seen them before. I’d never heard of them.
And I think that really educated me at a young age that this is a total roll of the dice. Some people will make it, and some people you’re sitting next to will not make it. I think that freaked me out a little bit about being an actor.
I didn’t like that it was so random who got to make it and who didn’t. So I really was just planning on pursuing filmmaking. And then I had success an actor and I thought, “Oh, maybe I can do both.”
What do you think about the trend of more independent films being released through video on demand (VOD) before they’re released in theaters?
A movie on this scale that people love at festivals or that people love in a little art-house theater, where else is it going to be seen? It’s going to go away. VOD is great for a movie like this [for] people who don’t actively go to festivals or don’t actively go see what’s at [art-house theaters] or live in a small town in the middle of nowhere.
I’m really active on Facebook and Twitter, and you see the fans going, “I watched the trailer, and it looks amazing. Too bad [the movie] will never come anywhere near me. Hopefully, one day I’ll be able to find the DVD.”
So I think VOD as a business model for “art cinema” or indie cinema is really fabulous, because they really get a chance [to see these movies]. I think it’s great for movies like this. It really brings indie/festival movies to people homes, and then opens it up to a much, much wider audience.
Do you think your Henry character in “The High Cost of Living” is a bad person?
No. I don’t think he’s an evil person. I think he’s human, in that he has sh*tty aspects of his personality and good aspects of his personality — just like us all. We have things that we’re proud of that we’ve done and things that we’re not.
Obviously not on the extreme level of this movie, but we all have things in our past where we’re like, “I’m not proud of what I did there.” In terms of the [Henry] character, I think he’s a decent person who’s just gotten tangled up in life and painted into a corner and stuck.
What else can you say about the play “All New People”? Who will be in it?
The cast, we’re working on now. There’s only person cast so far. Funnily enough, that’s Tony Goldwyn, my director from “The Last Kiss.” Within the play, there’s a couple of tiny short films that are flashbacks to the characters’ pasts, and I’m directing them. So Tony’s not in the play, proper. He’s the first person cast in one of the shorts. But in terms of the proper play casting, we just started, and that will be announced soon enough.
[“All New People”] takes place in Long Beach Island, New Jersey, in the dead of winter in a beach house. When the play opens, the main character is about to hang himself. And through a series of wacky circumstances, three strangers show up at the beach house, and spend real time — 90 minutes — talking him out of it and essentially celebrating his birthday with him. And it’s a comedy. In a nutshell, that’s what it’s about.
Someone said, “So you’re writing a story about another sad guy in New Jersey”? And I said, “I just write what I know. I’m not writing about gangs in Baltimore. I have to write what I know.”
What’s the most important thing you’ve learned as an actor, writer and director?
I think when you stray too far from your gut, you get a much worse product than when you stay and follow your instincts. I think the times I’ve done things that have worked out well, it’s been … for the most part because I stayed with my gut in what was good and right. And the times when something went totally amiss is when I went against that.
Is there anyone you’d love to sit down and talk with, in order to pick their brain?
You’re going to think this is a really funny answer, but it’s the truth. It’s Tyler Perry. Obviously, I’m not the epicenter of his audience.
[I’d want to ask him questions] not for the content, but for his business model. I think the man is a business genius. Obviously. He’s giving Oprah [Winfrey] Bentleys.
I think in this new age, he’s a person I really admire, who said, “I’m not going to try to appeal to this whole country. I’m going to make movies for my audience, and I’m going to do it really well, and they’re going to love them, and we are both going to have this wonderful symbiotic relationship.” That’s something that very appealing to me, going forward. So I’d like to sit down with him and grill him about that.
And he built his own film studio in Atlanta, not L.A. or New York, like most American filmmakers would do.
Yeah, I’d like to build mine in New Jersey.
When Tyler Perry was asked why he thought his 2010 movie “For Colored Girls” was snubbed by the Oscars, he said something like, “I don’t know. I don’t know how to play that game.” Do you think Hollywood is not as inclusive as it should be?
No. I think that’s like a victim’s standpoint. It’s a business. And like any business, it’s all about making money. There’s nothing charitable about it. So you have to find your own niche.
People like him are really impressive because they’ve gone outside the box. Like VOD is a new concept. I think Tyler Perry found a new concept: “What if I just make movies that are targeted at my specific audience?” I mean, look at how much success he’s had at it. I think it’s a great idea. You know you’ve made it when you give Oprah a Bentley. [He laughs.]
Is there any goal you want to achieve that you haven’t achieved yet?
I just don’t think that far in advance. I’m obviously really looking forward to directing another movie, but right now, I’m just really focused on [“All New People”] and “The High Cost of Living.”
For more info: "The High Cost of Living" website
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