Courtesy of Jeanne Eschenberg Sager and insideoutmotherhood.com
Funny guys are one of my weaknesses….As you can tell if you follow my husband’s blog: Southern Bella’s Big Daddy. So of course I was super excited that we were interviewing Zach Braff. I’ve been a fan of his for YEARS. He came in and made us laugh, was super charming, and got a kick out of us making #FlyingMonkey trend on twitter. He’s AMAZINGLY good in the film even though he’s an animated character and yes I may have even the Finley Monkey setting beside me on my desk right now….Which is totally normal right? Check out some excerpts of the interview below:
Q: During the production you’re in this little tiny black booth?
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 like just scrunched down like in this blue screen Onesie which is really adorable and for six months no matter how many times I put it on, everyone pointed and laughed at me. So I sat on my butt and kinda hunched over, I was thirty-six inches tall. I’d do that, you know, Sam wanted to capture everything. Gestures and my facial expressions.
We’d do it that way. Other times there was a puppet that I would kind of operate when he needed to be like flying and stuff. Then there’s times when I couldn’t be there at all, and I’d be in this booth with cameras all around me. James would be looking at a monitor that was kind of on a pole. Then he’d get the tiny ear piece in his ear. That’s how we could, you know, do it, ’cause Sam’s biggest thing was, I don’t want you in a sound booth at the end of the shoot. I want you there, I want you and James improving, I want it to be two buddies on a road trip.
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- you guys have seen the movie, right? I love the moment when we find China Girl and she’s broken and James is putting her back together. Because it genuinely was so moving. I mean, even on set, it was so moving. Ae were on all these giant sets and to, for the first time we were literally sitting and it was so surreal. We were literally sitting in a tea kettle and it was James 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. It was just so sweet and beautiful. I actually had my eyes welled, and that’s when I discovered that I wanted the monkey to almost be like an easy crier. I was like, my eyes really genuinely welled and I was like, Sam, well let’s have him like covertly- he doesn’t want Oz to see that he’s crying, so let’s have him covertly swipe the tear. 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, you know. As an actor you go, okay, it’s my face, so they can’t get around that. When all that you’re doing is really reference for an animator, you’re going, yeah I was nervous. Like are they going to capture the subtleties in this. I don’t want to put my name on this if it’s not going to capture all the little things I’m trying to do.
When I start and then along the way, I’ve only seen like rough, you know, incarnations of it, ’cause it takes so long to get it that photo-real, the way you guys saw it in the movie. At the premiere I finally saw, and for the first time, fully photo-real and realized, and it was so exciting for me. Because it really did capture little subtle face ticks, and things I never would have thought they would have picked up in the eyes. They did. That made me really happy, that they got it all.
Q: You were the comedy guy, 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. So, I did it before. 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 right and I swear you guys will love this story as moms. I have a twelve-year-old nephew and I walk in and his sister couldn’t come out from Florida for the premiere, but he did. I said I want you to give this- his sister is eight. I said, I want you to give this to Ella because she didn’t get to come out. He goes, yeah-yeah-yeah I’ll give it to her, and he’s sleeping on my couch. 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. Actually it was funny he goes- I want you to give this to Ella, he goes, yeah-yeah-yeah we’ll share it, and I was like, no-no-no it’s for Ella. [LAUGHTER] So I told, I told my publicist, I need like a box of those things. One is not going to do.
Q: What was it like going from Scrubs to playing Finley?
ZACH BRAFF: Well it helped. I had a wide range and it helped. The physical comedy from Scrubs helps and also the improvisational stuff, ’cause on Scrubs what we would do is, you know, the rule was, hey, do one as we have one as written. Then, you guys can play around and come up with stuff. A lot of the stuff people loved, came out of us improving on Scrubs. AThis 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.
I want you to find those new jokes and so I was really glad that. Scrubs was kind of great training ground, to be able to do this.
Q: How do you prepare for a role like a monkey?
ZACH BRAFF: I did actually go to the Detroit Zoo. [LAUGHTER] I stumbled across two monkeys in, let’s just say, in intimate embrace [LAUGHTER] None of that proved useful. Maybe for the sequel, I don’t know if the monkey gets a girlfriend or not. It worked creating a creature from scratch, I mean, yeah, 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: SO there wasn’t a lot of monkey business? [LAUGHTER]
ZACH BRAFF: You have me on record saying there was little monkey business. [LAUGHTER]
Q: How do you feel about flying monkey trending on Twitter?
ZACH BRAFF: Is it? No it’s not! Because of you guys? [LAUGHTER] You guys are such scary power. You know, it’s so funny- [OVERLAPPING CONVERSATION] 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.
Q: What was the audition process?
ZACH BRAFF: Sam asked me to come in and I didn’t know that I would have read, ’cause I, I would have auditioned. He didn’t even want me to audition. He just kinda wanted to talk and I went on. I went in his room and he had a really- rough animatic. Really like this pre-visualization stuff, uh, you guys are savvy, you know that. It was that sequence where we’re running off the cliff and right before we go into the bubbles, where I jump off. And the monkey didn’t have any lines.
He said, so here’s an example. We have this scene, but, you know, we want someone who can kinda come to the set and figure out who this guy is with me and James. 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. I just went, I have wings. [Sam just started dying laughing and I was like, I guess that’s a good sign. [LAUGHTER] So that’s how it started. I found out when I got home I got the gig, ’cause 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. 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 I, 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] maybe when we make the movie, The Monkey, we can do that elaborate scene you just pitched [LAUGHS]. So maybe, who knows, the sequel.
Q: How would you like to take a quick group photo?
ZACH BRAFF: I would love to. [LAUGHTER] it’ll be trending on Twitter. God, I wish all the other movies were this fun [LAUGHTER] sit in a boring room. Come around, moms because I’m tall [LAUGHTER]
Oz The Great and Powerful is in Theaters Everywhere! Want to keep up with all Oz updates? Check out the Oz The Great and Powerful website then Make sure your following Disney Oz Movie on Twitter and you “Like” the Oz the Great & Powerful Fan Page. Also, make sure you check out all my other interviews and fun stuff at the #DisneyOzEvent.
***Disclosure: I’m attending The #DisneyOzEvent . My flight, lodgings, and expenses were covered by Disney. All opinions are 100% mine. ***
About Kas
great interview you had! I cant wait to see this movie hopefully this weekend!
Kristyn´s last blog post ..Another Casual Sunday at the Park
Awesome interview! I think Zach Braff was so great in OZ…Finley was definitely one of my favorite characters.
Brandie (@ Home Cooking Memories)´s last blog post ..Spinach and Artichoke Stuffed Portobello Mushrooms
Finley was our favorite character in OZ so we are thrilled to see the interview.
What a fun interview!! Loved in character in the film
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