Zach Braff

0:11You're an Auss. It's like no place I've ever seen. Thanks so much for doing this, Zach. I appreciate it. Thank you for having me. So talk about getting to play a flying monkey. How does one prepare to play a monkey? You can't really do much research. I actually did go to the zoo because I was trying to be a good actor and the monkeys there didn't really give me much help. They don't fly. They don't fly and they don't talk. Right. So, you know, it was cool because it wasn't just, you know, being in a vocal booth, it was really being there on set. The director wanted to capture my gestures, my facial expressions, the whole performance. And also, since most of my scenes were with James Franco, he really wanted us to, you know, to improv and riff and kind of keep it fresh and new.

0:59So it was a different way to do an animated character. You can find this wicked witch. You can have a nice pile of bananas. Oh, I see. Because I'm a monkey. I must love bananas. You like bananas? Of course I love bananas. I'm a monkey. Don't be ridiculous. You don't animate until you're done shooting the whole film. So you're there. I'm there acting it out with these video cameras all around me. And then Sam would cut the footage of what I'd done together. And the animators would then use that to create the character. What I found interesting too, talking about creating the character. When you play Frank, you get these 1905 huge chops going on the cyber. And then the monkey kind of has them too. So it's your decision as a Sam's like, how about a couple of them? Sam, that's Sam Raimi and his team. They wanted to do little subtle things.

1:45Obviously the voice is the same. But the mutton chops sort of tie into the monkey. We wanted to find a couple of gestures that tie it in. I think all the adults will be clear that it's the same person. But for the kids, they wanted to give them a couple of extra clues that they're the same being. How hard could it be to defeat a wicked witch? Hard! It's very, very hard. What were your first impressions when you saw Sam's Oz? I mean, this is years and years in the making. I've seen it at all different stages, from storyboards to finally at the premiere in Hollywood the other night. The red carpet, or I should say the yellow brick carpet. And the 3D is just on another level. They've really taken it and grown.

2:30Avatar I think was a real breakthrough. And I think they really sort of built on that and made it even better. I finally stopped flying at me. And that's what I hadn't seen before in 3D. Yeah, and Sam, they actually figured out, you know, little, I learned so much about 3D, that 3D was giving some people headaches because you're asking your brain to do a lot of things. And one thing they did with this movie is they actually researched the why 3D wasn't working for some people and stopped doing those things that were bothering people. Because you're actually making both your eyes do different things. And if you do it too extreme and too much time, some people, not everyone, got headaches. So it's headache free. How's the great and powerful? Headache free. Another thing you can do that I just did in there, I don't know if you've done this, find your way to Oz.com. What's that? It's, I don't know, again, it's all about breaking through.

3:18You know, 1939 Wizard of Oz was a technological breakthrough. It was the first color movie. And I think in every step of the way, both in the making and movie and the promoting of the movie, they're trying to do sort of things that have never been done before. I got to let you go sweetie something, call five questions, five quick questions, one word answers. Okay. Hitch cocker Kubrick. Kubrick. Lennon or McCartney? Lennon. Your biggest influence as an actor. Daniel D. Lewis. That's a good one, no. Roll your most proud of. A garden state. And in one word, Oz the great and powerful. Fun. Two! Bless you. Good work. You just sneezed away the plan. Sorry.