Subscribe to Print Edition | Sat., February 21, 2009 Shvat 27, 5769 | | Israel Time: 04:45 (EST+7)   Back to Homepage web haaretz.com Haaretz Toolbar Diplomacy Defense Jewish World Opinion National Print Edition Car Rental Books Haaretz Magazine Business Real Estate Joy of Giving Travel Week's End Anglo File

Zack Braff drinking in the Tel Aviv lifestyle at a local coffee shop. (Daniel Tchechik) Last update - 16:17 24/11/2008 'Scrubs' star Zach Braff falls in love with Tel Aviv By Ruta Kupfer Tags: Tel Aviv, Zach Braff  He enters the cafe in Tel Aviv's Neveh Tzedek quarter, walking with that familiar stride from the hospital corridors of "Scrubs," his shoulders tossed to the sides a bit, but he has no scrubs or stethoscope. He's wearing a blue T-shirt and is equipped with a camera. He hasn't shaved in a while. And, of course, everything takes place without the stream-of-consciousness narration you get on the television series. This is Zach Braff, who plays the lead character of J.D., John Dorian, on this very amusing comedy series. His full name is actually Zach Israel Braff and his 10-day visit to Israel, which ended over the weekend, was a private one. The series will be going into its eighth season, with the seventh being aired in Israel on Mondays (Yes Stars 1), and Braff has left it for good, so he could travel at his leisure. He went to Jerusalem, Jaffa and Eilat, "all the touristy things," he says, but spent most of his time in Tel Aviv. "The best way to travel abroad is to live with the locals," he says. "I'm enjoying getting to pretend that I'm an Israeli living in Tel Aviv with my friend. He has a really nice place, we sit with his friends in cafes, talking with them. I love it so much." This is not his first visit to Israel. "I came when I was in high school as part of a student exchange program with the Jewish Community Center in New Jersey, to Ramat Eliyahu. You come and volunteer for five weeks at a day camp. I was a teenager - I couldn't really appreciate it as much, and now I come back as an adult and I can really get the flavor of the city, and I love it. What I really wanted to do is live in the city and feel like a Tel Avivian." Advertisement And how does a Tel Avivian feel? Braff: "As an American Jew it's an amazing feeling to come to a place where you feel you belong. You know we're such a minority in the U.S. Even though I grew up in New Jersey, which was very Jewish, and then I went to school in Chicago, which was Jewish, and then I moved to New York, which is very Jewish, and then I went to Hollywood, which is very Jewish. But they say we're only 2 percent of the population and shrinking because of intermarriage." Braff says that when you come here, "you just feel this amazing sense of community. We hear so much about Israel and politics with the Palestinians and you feel so separate from it. So I really wanted to see for myself." He says he was "lucky" to be able to come and see things firsthand and to talk to Israelis. "As a Jew I think it's really important to come to this place. There is such a tremendous sense of community, tremendous bond for obvious reasons. I don't know if Israelis have a sense of it because they live here, but I love it." The Israeli experience made such an impression on him, he says, he is thinking of his next film touching on a story about an American Jew who visits Israel. Braff, who wrote and directed the successful "Garden State," which also starred Natalie Portman, says a story like what he has in mind is something he's never seen in a movie and thinks it will be really interesting. Braff grew up in a very Jewish household: "We were kosher, I mean very kosher, with separate dishes and separate dishwashers. Everything. I'm glad actually in hindsight because I can read Hebrew. I don't know what I'm saying, but I can read it, which is probably the hardest part. And now that I'm here, I'm inspired. I want to learn the language." He decided to drop his observance of kashrut right after his bar mitzvah. His father was "very into explaining to me that is when you become a man in Jewish tradition. So I was smart enough to say, 'Well if I'm a man, I can make some decisions of my own, and I would like a cheeseburger.'" His father, a lawyer, is an amateur actor who instilled in his son a desire to study acting. His mother is a psychologist. He has three siblings, and one occasionally works with him on television projects. He left "Scrubs" because "there's so much I want to do with my life." But he prefaces his remarks with calling the series "the most amazing experience of my life" and says he is very grateful. Then he adds: "But when you work on a television series, they own you" - a reference that wraps up the studios, the network, the show and the insurance company that insures the actor. "I don't think they'd let me come here," he says. And he has just gotten his pilot's license. As a TV star, "they wouldn't let me take flying lessons." Braff says that at 33, he wants his life to be about other things. "I want to take piano lessons, I want to study at university, I want to travel, I want to do other parts, make another movie. So it was time for me to branch out and start a new chapter." His departure from the series, and that of its creator, Bill Lawrence, does not mean it's coming to an end. (Reruns of the fifth and sixth seasons are airing on Star World on cable TV.) The series recently changed hands, going from NBC to ABC, where the eighth season will be aired in the U.S. "To be a hit in the U.S. - and everyone knows that at times it's two different countries, as you can see in the elections - you have to find a way to appeal to everybody, and 'Scrubs' found its niche. It's a specific comedy and style. So we found that audience and it was enough to keep us alive. But it was never a hit." Yet Braff was nominated for an Emmy. He will part on screen from his good friend, Donald Faison, who plays Turk, his best friend on "Scrubs." The two met in filming the series and became real friends, just like on the show. "It's amazing. What I love about Donald is that we couldn't be more different - he's a black guy from Hell's Kitchen in Manhattan, I'm a Jewish kid from the suburbs. We couldn't be more different in personality. He's a big athlete, an alpha male, and I like being a dork. We couldn't have less in common and yet we have the exact same sense of humor, we crack up at the exact same stuff. No one can make me laugh the way he can." So a lot of things seep into the show from real life? "Oh yeah. After eight years you can be sitting at dinner with Bill, telling him something that really happened in your life, and the next day it's in the script." Braff adds: "Me and Donald joke that we're as gay as two guys can be without being gay." There are people he admires: "Ricky Gervais, I think, is a genius. He's someone I really look up to. I love everything he does. You know, you see people that can make you laugh, and then there are people that you go 'wow!' I think Sasha Cohen is another example. I love [TV hit] '30 Rock.' I think it's the funniest thing on." He also offers a tribute to the late John Ritter: "When I was a kid, our parents were exposed to Chaplin and Buster Keaton. For me it was John Ritter on 'Three's Company.'" He calls the show "the funniest thing I've ever seen" and says of Ritter: "The man could fall over a couch like nobody else." One of Ritter's last roles was playing Braff's father on "Scrubs." Tony Goldwyn, who directed Braff in "The Last Kiss" said he has the qualities of an "everyman" and reminded him of Tom Hanks when he was younger. Braff comments: "Whenever a young actor who's not stunning-looking has a hit, people say 'oh, he's a young Tom Hanks.' I think when you see Brad Pitt, you say, 'wow, that's a really handsome man.' I've never seen anyone in my life that looks like that, and there are some actors, like myself, who you think, 'wow, I went to high school with that kid. I know that guy. He was in my Hebrew school class.'" Bookmark to del.icio.us   Not Bibi fans Hamas says Israel has picked in Bibi the 'most dangerous' politician to lead it. Diplomacy to continue State Department says U.S. will still support 2-state solution under Obama.   1.   Why doesn`t this young man ... 04:07  |  Morris Valentine 24/11/08   2.   to #1 09:12  |  Niv 24/11/08   3.   he did it 09:24  |  radman 24/11/08   4.   Israel is magical 09:59  |  ray 24/11/08   5.   yet another american jew 11:41  |  bobby 24/11/08   6.   From USA, with (Platonic) love for Tel Aviv 12:37  |  zmogus 24/11/08   7.   What BS 13:22  |  Scott G 24/11/08   8.   Yes 13:28  |  One 24/11/08   9.   Lovely Interview 13:36  |  Tel Avivian 24/11/08   10.   I applaud him! 13:45  |  Petra 24/11/08   11.   Zach Braff 13:54  |  marcus 24/11/08   12.   Petra 14:08  |  zmogus 24/11/08   13.   #11 Marcus Tom Hanks won an academy award 14:14  |  Petra 24/11/08   14.   why doesn`t he stay (platitudes, platitudes) 14:19  |  sam 24/11/08   15.   He feels he belongs here ! ? ! ? : - ( 14:34  |  Suad 24/11/08   16.   Suad, show thanks #15 19:46  |  FOX 24/11/08   17.   Our Silly Little Valentine #1 19:50  |  FOX 24/11/08   18.   Zack the mensch, Suad & so many cynical posters 20:16  |  Alan 24/11/08   19.   To Suad 21:15  |  Israeli 24/11/08   20.   To FOX #16 22:49  |  LOBBAT 24/11/08   21.   To Niv (#2) 22:49  |  Morris Valentine 24/11/08   22.   Zach 23:19  |  marcus 24/11/08   23.   Give Zach a break 23:30  |  John 24/11/08   24.   Try some Jewish education instead of cheeseburgers 23:45  |  Dara 24/11/08   25.   To Dara (#24) 00:30  |  Morris Valentine 25/11/08   26.   To Fox (#17) 01:43  |  Morris Valentine 25/11/08   27.   You lot are a bunch of whingers, aren`t you? 01:57  |  Hannah 25/11/08   28.   To Hannah of Golders Green (#27) 05:55  |  Morris Valentine 25/11/08   29.   Lobbat, mourning Beirut #20 09:39  |  FOX 25/11/08   30.   Morris comes up empty again #26 09:48  |  FOX 25/11/08   31.   Thank you Valentine! 10:06  |  FOX 25/11/08   32.   thanks to everyone who made Tel viv what it is today! 10:41  |  Pamela Levene, 25/11/08   33.   Familiar Feeling 11:12  |  Steve 25/11/08   34.   # 29 Thx Israel for Hezbollah`s power 11:39  |  suad 25/11/08   35.   # 16: Yours is the typical answer of a self-satisfied Jew 12:43  |  Suad 25/11/08   36.   # 18 I am a Palestinian ! what`s wrong with that ? 12:57  |  Suad 25/11/08   37.   # 19 U`re too good to be true ! 13:11  |  Suad 25/11/08   38.   why doesn`t Morris... 07:48  |  david 26/11/08   39.   # 22 re: Zach Marcus 16:46  |  Petra 29/11/08   40.   RADMAN yes! 17:02  |  Petra 29/11/08

Read & React Livni, Netanyahu to meet Sunday for coalition talks Responses: 32 Coalition building / Netanyahu threatened and Lieberman blinked Responses: 8 Ariel Zilber: Ehud Olmert, we'll miss you Responses: 28 Why Israel's rejection of 'peace' hospital offer angered Turkey Responses: 17 More Headlines 01:28 Israeli Envoy: world must act to prevent Iranian nuclear breakthrough 02:08 U.S. to prod Syrian envoy on support of terrorism, suspected nuclear program 23:33 U.S. reiterates it will work with next Israel government 23:51 Senior Kadima official hopes for 'broad' coalition 21:33 Gazans: IDF used us as 'human shields' during offensive 20:55 Hamas: Israel picked 'most dangerous' politician to lead it 20:58 Vatican irked by 'blasphemous' Virgin Mary TV spoof in Israel 01:02 Hamas official uses diplomatic channels to send letter to Obama 15:23 Coalition building / Netanyahu threatened and Lieberman blinked 09:17 ANALYSIS / Netanyahu's victory is starting to turn sour 12:41 Gaza militants fire 10 mortar shells, Qassam rocket at Negev 02:44 Andy Ram says receiving visa to play tennis in UAE 'a very good surprise' 01:43 French FM: No reason to link Shalit deal with Gaza crossings 04:05 Israel's Eurovision team: An Arab who looks Jewish and a Jew who looks Arab Previous Editions Select Day 20 feb 19 feb 18 feb 17 feb 16 feb 15 feb 13 feb 12 feb 11 feb 10 feb 09 feb 08 feb

Special Offers Advertisement Spring Specials-Dan Hotels Jerusalem from 179$. Tel-Aviv from 223$. Herzliya from 336$ Dead Sea Skin Care Quality cosmetics from the Dead Sea. Coupon code HAARETZ for 12% off! Summer in Israel Israeli style - Tzofim Chetz V'Keshet 2009 Passover Vacations The BEST Passover Vacations around ? Mexico, Arizona and Florida Camp Kimama Israel 2009 The best place for your children this summer Eldan Rent a Car Israel's leading car rental company offers you a 20% discount on online reservations Jewish Singles Personal Ads Find the love of your life on JDate.com Junkyard Junk a car - get free towing nationwide and a tax-deductible receipt

Home | TV | Print Edition | Diplomacy | Opinion | Arts & Leisure | Sports | Jewish World | | Israel 2009 election results

Site rules | Makom: Engaging on Israel | Search engine marketing

Haaretz.com, the online edition of Haaretz Newspaper in Israel, offers real-time breaking news, opinions and analysis from Israel and the Middle East. Haaretz.com provides extensive and in-depth coverage of Israel, the Jewish World and the Middle East, including defense, diplomacy, the Arab-Israeli conflict, the peace process, Israeli politics, Jerusalem affairs, international relations, Iran, Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, the Palestinian Authority, the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, the Israeli business world and Jewish life in Israel and the Diaspora.

© Copyright  Haaretz. All rights reserved