Total Film

Grief Encounter

Zach Braff is a self-confessed procrastinator. It's been 19 years since the Scrubs star's writing and directorial debut, Garden State, and nine years since he followed it with Wish I Was Here. Though he wanted to write a third film he struggled to get started. ‘There has to be a catalyst that really puts me in the chair,’ he laughs over Zoom from LA. ‘Like so many people who write, I'll do anything to procrastinate. So it has to be something that I'm really willing to dedicate so much time to, and also something that I feel like I have to say that's hopefully worthwhile to people.’

All three of his screenplays happened at pivotal points in his life, he admits: springing from a ‘post-collegiate quarter-life crisis’, while was triggered by his fears of his parents passing. was born out of grief. ‘I had a four-year period where I just kept losing very important people in my life,’ he recalls of a series of sorrows: the death of his dad, his sister, his dog, his manager and, as the pandemic raged and devoured, his friend, actor Nick Cordero, who died

You’re reading a preview, subscribe to read more.

More from Total Film

Total Film2 min read
Flop Culture
Why it was a good idea (on paper) A-holes assemble! In retrospect, there's no mystery as to why 1999's riff on Bob Burden's Flaming Carrot Comics would be greenlit. As sundry Guardians and Deadpools have since proved, odd/goofball superheroes have se
Total Film1 min read
Much Ado About Dying 15
OUT 3 MAY CINEMAS Shot over a five-year period, this is a clear-eyed and poignant portrait of ageing, caregiving and dying, courtesy of British documentary filmmaker Simon Chambers. The latter reluctantly becomes the principal carer to his gay octoge
Total Film1 min read
See This If You Liked
Lee Majors was the original unknown stuntman in the TV show, which ran for five seasons. The last time Gosling played a stuntman he doubled as a getaway driver in this ultra-cool thriller. Brad Pitt's achingly cool stuntman, Cliff Booth, packs heat i

Related Books & Audiobooks