It’s been just under two decades since since Zach Braff’s directorial debut Garden State, which, Braff tells Collider’s Steve Weintraub, still “comes up every day in [his] life, to this day.” Returning with a style unique to the actor-writer-director, A Good Person stars Florence Pugh, Morgan Freeman, and Molly Shannon in a hopeful film about overcoming guilt and addiction, and learning forgiveness for yourself and others.

During their discussion ahead of the movie’s theatrical premiere, Braff opened up about why A Good Person is “the best thing [he’s] made,” and how he took great measures to ensure the film depicted its heavier elements appropriately and accurately. Braff shares how his experience directing television like Ted Lasso and Shrinking have helped hone his filmmaking skills, the difficulties of leaving footage on the cutting room floor, and why Pugh’s choice to cut her own hair for the movie provided a challenge during production. He also discusses his relationship with Oscar-winning cinematographer, Mauro Fiore, and where the custom-made trainset in A Good Person ended up after filming.
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You can watch the interview in the player above, or read the full conversation below. For even more on A Good Person, check out Ross Bonaime’s review saying Braff’s latest feature, “makes one wish that he’d write and direct his own films more than just once a decade.”

COLLIDER: I like throwing a curveball at the beginning, but first, let me start with congrats on the movie, I thought you did such a great job with this. But I’m curious, if someone has never seen anything you’ve acted in or directed before, what is the first thing you’d like them watching, and why?

ZACH BRAFF: This film because I think it’s the best thing I’ve made. I think, you know, I made Garden State, which I’m very proud of, but I made it at 25 years old. I was very young and green, and I certainly didn’t think anyone was going to see the movie beyond my parents and the temple choir. It went on to have such a reverberation that it comes up every day in my life, to this day.

But I feel like, through directing all the things I’ve directed since, and especially of late with [Ted Lasso] and Shrinking, and the TV stuff I’ve done, and this show called Solos I did on Amazon that I’m really proud of, I feel like I got better. I learned a lot, and I think this is the thing I’m most proud of, for sure.

Do you think that having Morgan Freeman narration in a movie is like entering a cheat code in a video game?

BRAFF: [Laughs] That’s funny. Yes and no. I mean, if he’s just saying bullshit, I mean, who cares? It’s just a beautiful voice saying bullshit. I hope that it’s the magic of good writing with that voice. But I will tell you that he one day lost a bet to me when we were making Going in Style, and when he lost the bet, my outgoing voicemail message was his voice saying to leave a message.

First of all, that’s amazing. And second of all, I think the narration in this movie is very appropriate, totally works. When you are trying to depict addiction on screen in a movie or on a show, if you don’t get it right, it’s like touching the third rail. So how nervous were you to try to take on this kind of material because if it doesn’t work, it’s, you know, it’s all over?

BRAFF: There was no way I was gonna let that happen. I mean, from day one, I was calling and texting with friends who are very involved in recovery and AA and NA. I know people, of course, and have been to meetings to support people, but I was never gonna let that happen.

I put a lot of guardrails in place. I gave the script to people who are very active in recovery. I consulted with a man who runs a recovery center. And then, when we got into production, we were put in touch with a woman who not only overcame her own opioid addiction, but is someone who counsels young women, and lots of people. So she was on set for every single scene, anything related to recovery, and she was sitting by the monitor next to me, and I was like, “Would that poster actually be there?” And she’s like, “Yeah, yeah, that looks good.”

Image via MGM

I’m always curious about the editing process because that’s where it all comes together. So how did the film change in the editing room, perhaps, in ways you didn’t expect?

BRAFF: Well, you know, I agree with you and I have to credit Dan Schalk, my fantastic editor. You know, I always think of editing a movie like you’ve gone out in production on a scavenger hunt. You’re collecting as much as you possibly can in 26 days, and then you get back to the editing suite and you’re like, “Well, what did we get?” And usually, you’ve gotten something that’s, in my case, usually two hours and 45 minutes long, and you have to make these tough choices. What is the two-hour movie in this two-and-a-half 45-minute cut? And it’s very hard, you have to make choices that always hurt, but you have to because you’re really carving out what’s the best movie within the clay that you’ve amassed. So there’s stuff that ends up on the cutting room floor. That’s tough sometimes, but I think it’s for the greater good.

Florence cuts her hair in the movie, and you obviously have to get that in one take. I don’t know how you do it more than once. So I’m curious, how stressed were you trying to make sure you were going to be able to photograph it and get it all without missing a beat?

BRAFF: I was so nervous, and then cutting her hair was her choice. You know, Florence was really involved in the development of the script, and she said, “I think it would be really powerful, after the prologue when we find her, if she’s cutting her hair off,” and I said, “That’s like a production nightmare. It’s genius. It would be so cool, but we don’t want to deal with wigs, wigs look horrible. And how would we even schedule that out of order?” And she just kept saying, “You’ll figure it out, you’ll figure it out.” And I was like, “Florence, I spoke to the AD’s, I spoke to the producers, it’s just not schedulable,” and she was like, “You’ll figure it out.”

I was glad that she pushed us because we did figure it out, because she kept pushing us, and we figured out a way to do it with no wigs. And so, yeah, it’s really scary because she’s gonna lop off her hair live on camera, and you only get one take to get it right.

Image via MGM

Mauro Fiore, he obviously is a very talented cinematographer, and you have some very cool shots in the movie. Talk a little bit about collaborating with him on the film and what he brought to it that only he could bring.

BRAFF: He’s just incredible, and, you know, I loved him when he shot some beautiful Antoine Fuqua movies. I thought Training Day is just a beautiful movie. What’s the Jake Gyllenhaal boxing movie that’s incredibly…?

It’s not Stronger, is it? No, that’s David Gordon Green. Southpaw.

BRAFF: Thank you. Southpaw, I just thought was stunning. And then he went on, and he’s done enormous movies, like he’s got an Oscar for the first Avatar, and he just did the last Spider-Man (Spider-Man: No Way Home). But we had actually made a short film together for Adobe, and Florence was the star with Alicia Silverstone. So we got a chance to work together, and I was nervous. Can a guy who’s made these giant movies come and do small-scale still? And he did, and he was incredible. We made a beautiful short film. So then, he was the person I wanted to shoot this movie, and we just really hit it off.

I was nervous because he was coming from Spider-Man, and I was like, “Are you gonna be able to shoot this movie in 26 days? Like, you’ve seen the schedule, right?” And I just love how he adapted. He said, “Okay, these are my tools. This is the size crew I have, this is the schedule,” and he made it work, and he’s just magical. And I think the movie is really, really beautiful because of him.

I gotta go, but just real fast, who kept the train set?

BRAFF: I wanted to keep the train set, no one had a spot for it, but it was completely bespoke and made for us by these amazing guys who, it is their hobby. We commissioned it from them, and it really was a mock-up of the town of South Orange, New Jersey. It was gorgeous, but no one really had a spot for it. I believe the men who were a part of a club brought it back to their club space for everyone at the club to enjoy.

A Good Person is now playing in theaters. For more on that challenging haircut scene, check out our interview with Pugh below.