From Scrubs To HBO’s Rooster

Warning: Proceed with caution if you have not yet seen Rooster Season 1, Episode 4! While it may come as a surprise to some to see Zach Braff behind the camera, he’s been directing for over two decades.

Following the success of the 2004 film, Garden State, Braff began trying his hand at crafting episodic television. It all started on his best-known series, Scrubs, where he formed his relationship with showrunner, Bill Lawrence. From there, the pair started teaming up, with Braff guest-directing several episodes of the medical comedy before hopping on more Lawrence-backed projects, including Apple TV+ megahits Ted Lasso and Shrinking, and now, episodes three and four of HBO’s latest comedy, Rooster.

ScreenRant‘s Liam Crowley spoke to Braff ahead of episode four’s release, about the “freedom” Lawrence allowed him behind the camera and how he still, to this day, owes it all to Scrubs.

Zach Braff: Well, I mostly just direct for Bill [Lawrence]. I mean, I’ve done some pilots and stuff, but Bill and I spent so much time on Scrubs together, and after Garden State, he let me start directing Scrubs episodes. And we just have a really great shorthand. I know exactly what he wants, and he lets me play around with the camera a bit, which I really like. And he gives me a lot of freedom, which is fun because that’s not the case for a lot of TV directors. A lot of times, people are just told, “Do exactly this, and go execute.” But Bill and I have such a great shorthand after all these years that he lets me play a bit. And a lot of time, those sorts of things that weren’t what he was considering, get into the show. So I directed a bunch of Scrubs, and I directed the second episode of Ted Lasso. And then I’ve directed five Shrinkings now, and two Roosters.

While episode 3 sees the sudden , near-fatal collapse of Dean Riggs [ Alan Ruck] during a heated confrontation — a moment that shifts the entire power dynamic by forcing Dylan Shepherd into the role of interim Dean after Riggs lands in the hospital, episode 4 focuses largely on the aftermath of Rigg’s collapse, as Greg Russo [ Steve Carell] attempts to stay useful, inserting himself deeper into student life, as he focuses his energy on mentoring student Ethan Morales, avoiding the larger institutional fallout. That avoidance follows him to an all-night frat party, where Greg shows up out of place and overcompensating, turning what should be a low-stakes social setting into another reminder that he doesn’t quite know how to navigate this new role.

When it comes to working with Carell’s Russo,Braff said the improvisation theOfficealum is known for in his comedic roles was fostered even further on Rooster by the “safe” environment Lawrence created on set, which made it that much easier to try things out both in front of and behind the camera.

Zach Braff Reveals What It Was Like To Direct Steve Carell

ScreenRant: What was it like to just direct Steve? Because I asked him this at the junket, so many of his mannerisms — there’s no way all of that can be directly on the page. So is he someone who is a big improviser? Are you giving him feedback on the day, on the dailies, and stuff like that?

Zach Braff: He tries things. I mean, that’s the whole Bill Magic. One piece of Bill Magic is that he creates an environment for actors that’s so safe. It’s like, as an actor doing comedy — cheesy analogy — but you’re on a tightrope. It’s going to be funny, or it’s not. And if it’s funny, you stay on the tightrope. If it’s not, you fall. But Bill creates such a safety net of an environment, where it’s like, who cares? Go crazy. Do one huge. If it’s ridiculous, I won’t use it. Do one totally small. If you’re mumbling, I won’t use it. So you feel, whether you’re Steve Carell or you’re an 18-year-old day player, you feel in this environment you can be your best, because there’s no judgment. If you try a big joke, and it’s so stupid and no one laughs, who cares? No one’s ever going to see it. And that’s how some of the best stuff came out of Scrubs. The jokes that people love most were just me and Donald [Faison] or me and Neil Flynn, the janitor, just f–king around and improvising crazy s–t. And people love it because you find gems in there. And I think that’s what happens with Steve. We do different levels of things. We try it bigger, try it smaller, have him do a take where we just say whatever you want to say. We just need to get from point A to point B. And then, in there, especially on a new show, you’re just trying to find the tone of it. What is the tone of this thing? And then, little by little, you start honing in, going, “Okay, this is our show.” And I think four really locked in.

As someone who had read one and two, and directed three, when I got to four, I was like, “Okay, I think I’m seeing A, what people are going to love about this show. And B, as you said, watching Steve dance between the uptight professor party and the out-of-control frat party, really kind of showed what some of the themes of the show are going to be.”

ScreenRant: I was going to ask how you got involved with this show specifically, but it’s a relationship with Bill, which is really cool to hear. When he brought this project to you, what was your initial response to just the world that he was creating?

Zach Braff: Oh, I loved it. First of all, I never worked for HBO, and they’re such a cool studio, and I loved the script. And I mean, Steve Carell and Bill Lawrence, and all this incredible cast, Johnny C. McGinley, who I’m very close with, it was a no-brainer. And then when I saw my episodes, four in particular, was this all-nighter, Carell dancing between these two parties. And four sort of felt to me like, okay, one through three are laying a lot of pipe, introducing a lot of characters, introducing a lot of backstory, and four kind of felt like, “Oh, this is the show. This is what the show’s going to feel like.” That big frat party set piece, to me, where Steve gets a sort of pep talk from one of his students, that he could be whoever he wants to be in college — I just remember getting goosebumps at the monitor, being like, “Oh, I think this is what the show is.” This feels new, and specific, and unique to this story.

ScreenRant: And like any good show that brings in multiple different directors, there is tonal consistency throughout the episodes that I’ve seen so far. That being said, where did you find room to play and put your own unique directorial stamp of sauce on this project?

Zach Braff: Well, on a new show early on, you’re still a part of helping find what that is. So you want to give Bill levels of things. That scene with where Steve’s wasted at the statue that’s been tagged, and he’s talking to Rory, there are versions of that that are so broad. I mean, there’s versions of it where there’s paint on Rory’s nose, and he’s like, “Is there any on my face?” And he’s like, “No.” I mean, it was hilarious. On the day, we’re cracking up, but it’s a perfect example of when you start to hone in on the tone of the show, you go, “Okay, that was funny on the day, but it’s way too broad for the show we’re making.” So that’s a perfect example of you’re shooting straight versions that are totally built in the world of reality, and then with Rory and his character in particular, there are broader versions.

And then, your job as a director, early on in particular, is to give the showrunner a wide array of ways to go with it. And then it’s Bill’s job, Bill and Matt Tarses’ job to go, “That’s funny. It’s not our show.” And that’s what happens a lot of times. In Scrubs, too, as we establish the tone in this new season, it’s like, “That’s really funny. It’s not really the show of the tone we’re making this new incarnation.” We sort of had a mandate to keep things based in reality. We’ll dip our toe across, as they do with Rory. I mean, Rory’s a perfect analogy. Is that guy always losing his gun in the real world? Probably not. But it’s funny as hell on the show, because if everyone else is based in reality, you can earn it. And another big thing I do is try to push Bill with the cinematography.

When I directed episode two of Lasso, I shot a lot of crazy, fun, big cinematography, making the camera a bit more of a character. I was prepping while they were shooting the pilot, so I didn’t really know what was happening with the pilot. But when I saw my episode in the final cut, almost all of that stuff was out, and I was kind of bummed, but he was like, “It’s great. It’s just not what we’re doing with the camera in this show.” So little things I try and get in … There’s a quick shot of the bottle sliding across the ice at the end of three in Rooster. I just try to find little bits of seasoning that I think will be true to the tone that Bill’s established, but also add a little bit of cinematography that has a little bit of fun to it.

Check out more of our Rooster coverage here:

Rooster airs Sundays at 10:00 p.m. ET/PT on HBO and streaming on Max.