Rapid-Fire Questions With a Grumpy Zach Braff

Zach Braff in “Wish I Was Here.”

Zach Braff is best known as the affable Dr. Dorian on the long-running TV comedy Scrubs, but the actor/writer/director has also made his own films, beginning with 2004’s Garden State. Making the press rounds in support of his newest effort, the grammatically questionable Wish I Was Here, the 39-year-old South Orange native has clearly grown in the decade between film releases: The film concerns a winsome father of two whose acting career and marriage are floundering as he finds out that his father, played by Mandy Patinkin, is dying of cancer.

We caught up with him on the phone from a Chicago hotel relatively early in the morning.

So, I have a series of questions for you, rapid fire and not directly about the movie. Fun, you know?
Okay…

You sound kind of wary.
Well, I just woke up and you’re already listing the different types of questions we’re going to have.

What makes you angry?
Uninformed meanness.

What is your food kryptonite?
Ice cream. Ben & Jerry’s. Anything Ben & Jerry’s.

Other than food, what do you crave most?
Laughter.

What won’t you share with others?
Why would I tell you that?

Fair point.

What is something you’re very good at that very few people know about?
I have my pilot’s license, and my teacher told me I’m a natural.

What is something you wish you had invented or created?
The iPod.

What has been on your to-do list the longest?
Learning to play to piano.

Do you play at all?
No, but I bought the music and the piano.

What film/music/literature character do you most identify with?
Probably Alvie Singer in Annie Hall.

Wish I Was Here opens Friday at the Ritz East.