Zach Braff’s ‘Wish I Was Here’ to Premiere at Sundance in January
Zach Braff‘s Garden State follow-up, Wish I Was Here, will make its world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Wish I Was Here is among the 119 feature-length films set to screen at this year’s festival, and one of 98 that will make its world premiere. The 2014 Sundance Festival will take place January 16th to the 26th in Park City, Salt Lake City, Ogden and Sundance, Utah.
Read Rolling Stone’s Selections for the Wish I Was Here Soundtrack
Along with directing Wish I Was Here, Braff also co-wrote the screenplay with his brother Adam and stars in the film as Aidan Bloom, a struggling actor caught in a financial and existential crisis: With his relationship with his wife Sarah (Kate Hudson) already on the rocks, Bloom ends up home-schooling his kids when his sick father, Saul (Mandy Patinkin), can no longer pay for their private school. The film will also feature Jim Parsons (The Big Bang Theory), Josh Gad (Book of Mormon) and Ashley Greene (Twilight).
Can Kickstarter Save the Movie Business?
Braff funded the project with a massively successful Kickstarter campaign earlier this year, easily surpassing his $2 million goal in just four days. In a note on the Wish I Was Here Kickstarter page, Braff said that he had been close to signing a standard financial deal to make the movie – a move he believed might have compromised some of his creative control – but after seeing the success of Rob Thomas’ campaign to fund a Veronica Mars movie, he decided follow suit.
Watch a New Clip from the Veronica Mars Movie
“I couldn’t help but think (like I’m sure so many other independent filmmakers did) maybe there is a new way to finance smaller, personal films that didn’t involve signing away all your artistic control,” Braff wrote at the time. In all, Braff was able to raise $3,105,473 on Kickstarter thanks to the help of 46,520 backers.