I’ve been a Zach Braff fan since his early days on Scrubs.  I was thrilled to learn that he was going to be a part of Oz The Great and Powerful and absolutely ecstatic to find out I would have the opportunity to interview him along with 24 other bloggers!

As Finley the Flying Monkey, Braff plays the comedic role in this film and he’s fantastic!  I could tell he was truly proud of his performance in this movie.

*** POSSIBLE SPOILERS BELOW.  READ AT YOUR OWN RISK. ***

Most Memorable Scene

I love the moment when we find China Girl and James is putting her back together. It genuinely was so moving. Even on set, it was so moving.  We were on all these giant sets and 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, Joey King and the puppeteer. 

They had this beautiful marionette puppet because she was small enough that she could actually have a marionette puppet.  And, um, and Sam and it was just so sweet and beautiful.  And I actually had my eyes welled – that’s when I discovered that I wanted the monkey to almost be like an easy crier. My eyes really genuinely welled and I told Sam – 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. 

image credit – Disney

From Scrubs to a Flying Monkey

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.  Once we have one as written, you guys can play around and come up with stuff.  And a lot of the stuff people loved, came out of 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 (the director) really wanted that, he’s like, I want you and James to riff. I want you to find those new jokes.  Scrubs was a great training ground to be able to do this. 

On Filming in Detroit

We stayed in Royal Oak which was a really cool town. You cannot but feel for Detroit.  Uh, you know, 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.  I hope the city is proud of the movie, because it was entirely made there. 

image credit – Disney

For the Latest News on Oz The Great and Powerful

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Also, for the latest news, check out http://www.disney.com/thewizard.

OZ THE GREAT AND POWERFUL is in theaters now!

** Walt Disney Pictures invited me on this all-expenses paid trip as their guest . Thoughts and opinions here are 100% my own and not influenced by others. **