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(VIDEO) Zach Braff talks his Kickstarter-funded new film 'Wish I Was Here'

Braff last wrote, starred in, and directed 2004's Garden State, but he's now back in the feature film game after 9 years on TV show Scrubs.
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Zach Braff (middle) stars in Wish I Was Here with Kate Hudson


Zach Braff wrote, directed, and stars in his new feature film Wish I Was Here with Kate Hudson, Mandy Patinkin, and Josh Gad.

It's the longtime TV veteran's first premier big-screened billing since Scrubs ended its nine-year run in 2010.

"I was just kind of fried," he said. "I waited and I all of a sudden got this idea. I wrote it with my brother, and it was time."

The film – "about familial love," the director says – was funded by a crowd-sourcing campaign on Kickstarter, where almost 47,000 fans raised over $3.1 million for Braff to make his film his way. They also no doubt wanted a follow-up – or something like it – to Braff's 2004 indie hit Garden State, which has become a cult favourite.

(Wish I Was Here was released into theatres on July 18, and has opened to mixed reviews. It currently has a 40 per cent rating on Rotten Tomatoes.)

More to this story after the video below...

"This is about familial love, about a man realizing that the most powerful thing he has in his life is the love he has for his family," Braff says. "We could all go on our individual quests for all our dreams to come true, and pursue all our dreams, but ultimately the most fulfilling thing – that this man finds – is the love of his family."

In the film, Braff's character Aidan Bloom is a 35-year-old struggling actor with a wife (Hudson), son, daughter, and father – the four corners of that familial love the film's star was summarizing.

"I don't know, I'm just a sucker for father-son stories," Braff says. "I don't follow sports at all, but when I watch Field of Dreams I just start balling like a baby. They really work for me."

If you're wondering what he's talking about, I'd suggest spending a few minutes on the two clips below...