Zack Braff has taken to the crowd-sourcing website Kickstarter in order to seek funding for his follow-up to 2004’s Garden State. Billed as a continuation, rather than a sequel, Wish I Was Here was co-written by Braff with his brother Adam and will feature a semi-autobiographical narrative of characters in their mid thirties. In order to garner support for the dramatic comedy, the popular actor also released a short promo video which you can check out below:
Granted, this news is a symptom of Veronica Mars’ success last month, which rallied a record-breaking $1 million a in little under four hours, it also represents Kickstarter’s status as a viable economic platform for independent filmmakers. And considering how Wish I Was Here experienced development woes in recent years, this will come as a relief to fans of Braff’s work. With a set target of $2 million over the next 30 days, the project has already reached $300,000 at the time of writing and is well on its way to reaching its goal.
To get a general idea of the film, here’s a brief synopsis:
“Wish I Was Here” is the story of Aidan Bloom (played by Zack Braff), a struggling actor, father and husband, who at 35 is still trying to find his identity; a purpose for his life. He and his wife are barely getting by financially and Aidan passes his time by fantasizing about being the great futuristic Space-Knight he’d always dreamed he’d be as a little kid.
When his ailing father can no longer afford to pay for private school for his two kids (ages 5 and 12) and the only available public school is on its last legs, Aidan reluctantly agrees to attempt to home-school them.
The result is some funny chaos, until Aidan decides to scrap the traditional academic curriculum and come up with his own. Through teaching them about life his way, Aidan gradually discovers some of the parts of himself he couldn’t find.
It was written by my brother, Adam, and me last summer.
From the video and plot description, we can safely assume that Wish I Was Here will host a similar emotional tone to Braff’s directorial debut. In playing the role of Aidan Bloom, too, the actor-come-director will draw upon the wayward, self-conscious stereotype that he’s become known for over the years. J.D. and Andrew Largeman are each charming and peculiar characters, and it’s hard to imagine anyone other than Braff bringing them to life with his astute comedy.
In circumnavigating the traditional studio process, Zack Braff hopes to draw in enough support for his independent project to ensure it sees the light of day. But what do you make of it? Would you be interested to see Zack Braff step behind the camera again for Wish I Was Here? Let us know below!
