Zach Braff earned the ire of movie fans across the Internet when he raised funds to make his second directorial effort, WISH I WAS HERE. Many cried foul that an actor with seemingly large amounts of money would have to ask fans to pay for a passion project. Unlike the VERONICA MARS movie that seemed to truly be rooted in the fans wanting to make the project happen, Braff’s Kickstarter opened the floodgates for crowd-sourced films from well known Hollywood names.
Despite the outcry, WISH I WAS HERE has been made and will premiere at the Sundance Film Festival in 2014. Zach Braff‘s cast includes Kate Hudson, Ashley Greene, Josh Gad, and Mandy Patinkin making it one of the more impressive projects to come out of a Kickstarter campaign.
Aidan Bloom, a 35-year-old struggling actor, father, and husband, is still trying to find purpose in his life. In coming to terms with the death of his father, Aidan and his family unite to discover how to turn the page onto the next chapter.
Braff wrote the screenplay with his brother Adam. The plot sounds like the next logical step from the guy who made GARDEN STATE and changed the lives of countless teens and twenty-somethings who got lost in the indie-ness of that comedy-drama. I like Braff as a performer and was a big fan of SCRUBS. He himself admits that he took the job on the long-running sitcom as a way to get GARDEN STATE made. Now, after years of not having lead roles and some supporting parts in movies like OZ THE GREAT AND POWERFUL, it looks like he is ready to get back into the limelight with this project.
Kickstarter or not, I am intrigued to see if Braff is able to replicate what he did with GARDEN STATE. I did enjoy the movie for what it was, even if it didn’t change my life or cinema as a whole. WISH I WAS HERE will premiere at Sundance on January 16-26th, 2014 and expect a theatrical release to happen later in the year.