It’s been six years since Zach Braff’s last directorial effort, going in styleand nearly a decade since his last film as writer and director, i wish i was hereso it was time for him to make his comeback.
original sky movie A good person starring Florence Pugh as Allison, a young woman whose world comes crashing down when she survives a car accident that kills her future sister-in-law.
Recovering from an opioid addiction, Allison forms an unlikely friendship with her future father-in-law Daniel (Morgan Freeman), who gives her a chance to put her life back together and move on from her grief.
Writing the film during the pandemic allowed Braff to overcome his own grief for the people he lost, and releasing the film continued to help.
“I think by sharing the film and seeing people relate to it and respond to it, it was a really good feeling. Seeing people see themselves in the film and empathize with the way I felt. The community of that is really cathartic and wonderful. , ” he counts digital spy.
In front of A good person‘s theatrical release on March 24, digital spy sat down with Zach Braff to talk about working with Florence Pugh as a producer, reuniting with Morgan Freeman and the mini movie exfoliating meeting.
This is the third time you’ve written a feature film, do you think Zach from Garden State could have written A good person?
Zach Braff: No, because I was very young when I wrote it. Garden State. I was 25 years old and I was writing about what I felt at the time as a young person, feeling [being] lost and not knowing what to do with my life.
This is a very different time in my life. It’s about the pain and resilience after tragedy, so it was inspired by things I’ve experienced that I haven’t experienced as a young person.
You talked about how you wrote this movie for Florence and she came on board as a producer. Did that change the movie in surprising ways for you?
Oh yes, because Florence had very, very clever script notes. She wrote two songs that the character performs in the film. She is an actress savant. She really came in handy in the casting.
When I was deciding between two or three people, she would come in and say, ‘It’s so clear that this person’ because she has such great acting talent. In many ways, Florence, the producer, was extraordinarily helpful.
You’ve worked with Morgan Freeman before, did that help? It was a case of just calling him and saying, ‘Hey Morgan, do you want to do another movie?’
[laughs] No, it wasn’t like that. But I didn’t think he would go for it because the first thing we did was a big studio comedy and this was a small indie movie and Morgan doesn’t do a lot of those so I didn’t know he would say yes.
It helped direct him because we already had a friendship, we already had a joke. He’s intimidating, I mean he’s Morgan Freeman. So I think I had a level of comfort with him that I wouldn’t have.
We already had a relationship. He already trusted me from the previous film, so I think that allowed me to push him even more in a way that I wouldn’t have had the courage to do if it was our first project.
He does a voiceover in the movie, so was that already in the script or were you like, ‘I’ve got Morgan on board, I need a voiceover’?
[laughs] It was actually in the script, but it’s funny when Morgan shows up, the narration takes it to a whole different level.
have a mini exfoliating reunion because you have Molly Shannon playing Florence’s mother who was in ‘My Last Chance’, who you haven’t worked with directly…
I directed that episode though. Molly is primarily known as a comedic actress. she was one of the best SNL stars ever.
It’s actually the first episode of exfoliating I already drove. She was the guest star and as a guest star, she was just doing comedy, but she had a dramatic arc. When I cast her, I knew Molly was not only hilarious, but she also had incredible dramatic skills.
It’s an inherently human thing to find humor in even the darkest of times, and how exfoliating did too often, this film also has the humor among the darkest moments. Is it difficult to find that balance?
It’s all in the script. I think it’s crucial because otherwise, I think, as a movie lover, if it’s too mushy, you kind of fall out of place. It’s too much to digest. Whereas if you spice up the humor throughout, the audience feels a sense of relief, and I think that’s really important.
Just like in life, when you’re going through a really tough time and a friend or family member says something funny and you’re really grateful for the laugh and you really needed it.
I think it’s an important thing to do when writing about material in this way as well.
Sky
We touched on that a little bit, but what do you hope audiences get out of it? A good person?
I hope they see something of their own lives in it. It is a particularly intense tragedy. I hope most people haven’t gone through something like this, but I hope they see something of their own lives, picking themselves up after a really rough period.
I mean, even something as universal as COVID, going through this horrible time and picking yourself up and starting a new chapter. I hope people see themselves in that.
A good person is released in theaters on March 24th and available to watch on Sky Cinema from April 28th.
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