Oh my! Having the chance to interview Zach Braff, who plays two characters in the film Oz The Great and Powerful, was amazing! I have been a fan of his for years, ever since Scrubs came on the air.
He was everything I thought he would be and then some. So down to earth, and crazy funny! We all had a wonderful time with him during the interview, as you will see….
Q: During the production you’re in this little tiny black booth as Finley?
ZACH BRAFF: Yeah, that’s one of the ways we did it. Sometimes by the end we had three pretty solid ways that we did it. Sometimes I was just scrunched down like in this blue onesie [LAUGHTER] which is really adorable and for six months no matter how many times I put it on, everyone pointed and laughed at me [LAUGHTER] and so I sat on my butt and kinda hunched over, I was thirty-six inches tall. Sam wanted to capture everything….gestures and my facial expressions.
Other times there was a puppet that I would kind of operate like when he needed to be flying and stuff. And then there’s times when I couldn’t be there at all, and I’d be in this booth with cameras all around me. And then James would be looking at a monitor that was kind of on a pole. He’d get a tiny ear piece in his ear so that we could work together. I think that made such a difference. Because it wasn’t just this character that got phoned in at the end, it really was this important relationship.
Q: What was one of your most memorable moments during filming?
ZACH BRAFF: I love the moment when we find China Girl and James is putting her back together. Because it genuinely was so moving. I mean, even on set, it was so moving. We were on all these giant sets and we were literally sitting in a tea kettle and it was James and, and Joey King and the puppeteer.
They had this beautiful marionette puppet, because she was small enough that she could actually have a marionette puppet. My eyes actually welled, and that’s when I discovered that I wanted the monkey to almost be like an easy crier. I said to Sam, well let’s have him like covertly do it, like he doesn’t want Oz to see that he’s crying, so let’s have him covertly swipe the tear. And then they kept in the movie, it was really sweet.
Q: What was the most challenging part?
ZACH BRAFF: I was nervous the whole time, like I’m here for so long and working so hard. Are they going to capture all that I’m doing? As an actor you go, okay, it’s my face, so they can’t get around. Are they going to capture the subtleties in this. I don’t want to put my name on this if it’s, if it’s not going to capture all the little things I’m trying to do.
And then at the premier I finally saw, and for the first time, fully realized, and it was so exciting for me. It made me really happy, that they got it all.
Q: You were the comedy, and that’s what kids really respond to, what’s your feeling about doing this for kids?
ZACH BRAFF: Well I did do Chicken Little. I have nieces and nephews, I don’t have any of my own yet, but I love kids and the idea. I’ve already scored that stuffed animal and it’s really cute, you’ll love it.
I have a twelve-year-old nephew and I swear you guys will love this story as moms, his sister couldn’t come out from Florida for the premier, but he did. I said I want you to give this, his sister is eight, to Ella because she didn’t get to come out. And he goes, yeah-yeah-yeah I’ll give it to her. He’s sleeping on my couch and I walk in to come here this morning, and he’s totally spooning it [LAUGHTER] and I’m like, there’s no way Ella is getting that stuffed animal. So I told my publicist, I need like a box of those things. Um, one is not going to do. [LAUGHTER]
Image ©Jeanne Sager, Inside Out Motherhood
Q: What was it like going from Scrubs to playing Finley?
ZACH BRAFF: Well it helped [LAUGHTER] The physical comedy from Scrubs helps, and also the improvisational stuff, because on Scrubs what we would do is – once we have one as written, you guys can play around and come up with stuff. And that’s what a lot of the people loved, us improving on Scrubs. And on this movie it was so big, I was like, they’re not going to have time for any of that. But Sam really wanted that, he’s like, I want you and James to riff.
Q: How do you prepare for a role like a monkey?
ZACH BRAFF: I did actually go to the Detroit Zoo. [LAUGHTER] But creating a creature from scratch, and he looks like a monkey but he flies and he talks like a human. So it really wasn’t too much monkey research to be done.
Q: How do you feel about flying monkey trending on Twitter? (We were tweeting the hashtag #FlyingMonkey and it trended as we were in the interview).
ZACH BRAFF: Is it? No it’s not – because of you guys? [LAUGHTER] You guys have such scary power. Congratulations. Wow, you guys can band together for good. That’s really cool. That’s a lot of power. I’m going to get on there and re-tweet it.
Follow @ZachBraff on Twitter – he is hilarious!
Q: What was the audition process?
ZACH BRAFF: Sam asked me to come in…….But he didn’t even want me to audition. He just kinda wanted to talk. He said, so here’s an example, we have this scene, but we want someone who can kinda come to the set and figure out who this guy is with me and James. And he showed me the animation and I was watching it, and I saw him jump off and Oz says, what are you doing, you’re jumping off. And I just went, I have wings. [LAUGHTER] Sam just started dying laughing and I was like, I guess that’s a good sign. [LAUGHTER] And to me- that’s how it started. I found out when I got home that I got the gig, because I made the director laugh.
That’s what he wanted, he wanted someone that could sit there and go, oh what if I said this. And I said, Sam, I promise you this, I’m going to drive you crazy, I’m going to pitch a thousand ideas, but just take what you like and leave the rest. No hard feelings. And there’d be plenty of times where we’d be on set and I’d be like, oh what if this da-da-da-da-da-da all excited and he’d be like, that’s hysterical, but it’s not called The Monkey. [LAUGHTER]
Q: How was it filming in Detroit?
ZACH BRAFF: I had fun, we stayed in Royal Oak, which was a really cool town. I cannot but feel for Detroit, we all know from the news that they’re struggling and I felt kind of proud to be a part of this project that was bringing a lot of jobs to town. It looked like it was a great thing for the city, and I hope the city is proud of the movie, because it was entirely made there.
Q: How do you compare this role, with your role in Garden State?
ZACH BRAFF: Most of my work has been smaller films and, and the TV show. So for me this was thrilling just to even be on set, I love movies so much, and just to be there, uh, uh, on this, uh, what I think is a pretty historic experience. Just to be on set was, was a dream.
Q: How would you like to take a quick group photo?
ZACH BRAFF: I would love to! They got me trending on Twitter! [LAUGHTER] God, I wish all the other interviews were this fun – I sit in a boring room. Come around, Moms. [LAUGHTER] Danika, get a picture for me!
OZ THE GREAT AND POWERFUL is in theaters NOW!!
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Disclosure: I was provided with an all expense paid trip by Disney in order to bring you this information. All opinions and experiences expressed are my own. This is accordance with Federal Trade Commissions 16 CFR, Part 255 Guides Concerning the Use of. Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.
Dianna Ranere