American actor, screenwriter, producer and director Zach Braff, best-known as Dr John ‘J.D.’ Dorian on the Scrubs television series, was in Montreal this week for the premiere of Deborah Chow’s indie film The High Cost of Living, in which he co-stars with Isabelle Blais.
The dark drama tells the story of a pregnant woman Nathalie (Blais) who loses her baby due to a hit-and-run accident. Grief-stricken, she finds comfort in a drug dealer named Henry (Braff), and after falling in love with him, realizes that he is actually the driver who fled the scene.
Impressed with the script, Braff agreed to do the role for less than his usual fee. He praised the director Deborah Chow’s script, and found the characters interesting. It was the type of project and just the challenge he was looking for, he said to Be Interactive.
The biggest challenge for the actor was to show his character as a good, humane, and likeable person. After he hits a pregnant woman with his car and flees the scene, he feels guilty and tries to redeem himself by finding her, befriending and even falling in love with her. But eventually his guilty secret catches up to him, noted Braff.
The actor was pleased to return to Montreal, stating that he loved the city. Since 2006’s The Last Kiss, it is the second time he has filmed in the city.
Braff’s next project is producing his play All New People for the Second Stage Theater which will be open this summer off-Broadway in New York. He also has plans to direct a remake of a Danish film by Susanne Bier, Open Hearts.
The High Cost of Living opens in theaters on April 22.