Zach Braff Embraces Dad Jokes And Hijinks In Disney’s ‘Cheaper By The Dozen’ Reboot

Cheaper by the Dozen is a cut above many reboots, especially ones under the family movie umbrella, but the Disney+ movie’s male lead, Zach Braff, knows this. It’s why he agreed to do it.

“I have so many friends with kids, and they cringe at some of the stuff they have to watch with them,” he admitted. “I said that if I’m going to do a family movie, I want to do one where the parents will be cracking up just as much as children. This is the kind of family movie I’d want to be in.”

The most recent reimagining of the story inspired by the original 1948 novel was led by Steve Martin and grossed $190.5 million against a $40 million budget. The sequel didn’t do quite as well but grossed $135 million against a $60 million budget.

This time Braff and Gabrielle Union play the parents juggling 12 children and a family restaurant on the verge of massive expansion. I caught up with the actor to talk about the movie, Scrubs turning 21 and art imitating life.

Simon Thompson: Before filming started, did you watch the Steve Martin movie or the 1950s version? I didn’t know until recently that, initially, Cheaper by the Dozen was a book.

Zach Braff: I didn’t know it was based on a book that was a true story. I didn’t know anything about that. I wasn’t the target demo age for the Steve Martin version when that came out, so I didn’t see either of them. I thought about watching it. When I read Kenya Barris’ script, I was told it was so different that I thought, ‘I don’t want to have the greatest comic legend’s performance in my head, so I’m not going to watch it.’ I didn’t want to be too neurotic about trying to be like Steve. I was told later that this version was so different that I shouldn’t even think about it, so I put it out of my head.

Thompson: I’m not going to lie to you; I was surprised by how sharp the script was at times. It’s funnier than I was expecting because, like you, I’m not the demographic for this.

Braff: It means so much to me to hear that, and I get it because I have so many friends that have kids, and they cringe at some of the stuff they have to watch with them. I said that if I’m going to do a family movie, I want to do one where the parents will be cracking up just as much as children. As I was reading this thing, I was laughing on every page, so I said, ‘Yes, I want to do this. This is what I’m talking about.’ This is the kind of family movie I’d want to be in.

Thompson: There are plenty of dad jokes in there. I think the dad joke is one of the most unappreciated types of humor. Were they all on the page, or did you throw a few in yourself?

Braff: We improvised a bit. It’s tricky improvising in a kid’s movie when you’re an adult, especially when you’re with the adults. There’s the whole bit about shoe size in this, and you come up with all these funny ideas, but you’re like, ‘Alright, what’s going to make it into a kid’s movie.’ It is tricky. The fun thing improving with the children was I could come up with a funny idea, and Gail, the director, liked it when I did this, but I would give one of the kids a funny line, and we would riff back and forth. Some of that ended up in the movie, which was really sweet. With an adult actor, you would never really say, ‘Okay, you say this, and then I’m going say that.’ On Scrubs, we did because we were best friends, but it also worked with kids and was really fun.

Thompson: At the beginning of Cheaper by the Dozen, there are many earlier photos of all the people in it. How many images did you give them to select from, and how many embarrassing ones did you hide?

Braff: You give them the embarrassing ones. When you get to be an actor of a certain age, at a certain point, you’ve done this so many times with the pictures. They don’t always feature them as they do in this; they’ll put them in the frames around the house, so you have a go-to stack of ones they’re allowed to use. You don’t want anything too embarrassing.

Thompson: I also wanted to ask you about the kind of kid you were. At the beginning of this, all the kids’ characters are laid out with clear descriptions.

Braff: I was a class clown. I had zero interest in sports, so the only way I knew I would make friends was to make people laugh. I was very silly, and I definitely loved making everybody laugh, and then I started getting into like community theater and started auditioning pretty young. I was sort of geeky. I loved video cameras and stuff like that, and I made little short movies with my friends. Basically, anything and everything other than sports.

Thompson: They always say never work with children, but you work with a huge number of kids in this. How exhausting is it? It can be exhausting enough doing your job anyway, and working with one or two kids is hard, but a whole family?

Braff: Well, they’re very sweet kids, they’re very smart, and I love them. Of course, there were days where you’d have to go into parent mode because their guardians, their parents, everyone had left the set so we could shoot, and the crew was doing their job. It was just me and Gabby left, so you have to occasionally be like, ‘Stop hitting him. What did I tell you about hitting him? Come over here, please.’ And I would count because I knew it would make them pay attention.

Thompson: How good are you at that role? I’m always called funcle by my nephews and nieces because I’m the fun uncle. As my brothers always tell me, I have all the fun, wind the kids up, and then hand them back to their parents.

Braff: (Laughs) That’s exactly who I am. I’m the fun one. In fact, Gabby, who has real kids, would be like, ‘Zack, you’re getting them all riled up. You have to get them to bring it right down. Stop helping them try and punch a hole in the wall.’

Thompson: That brings me to this on-screen partnership between you. You play parents and restaurant owners. Gabrielle has kids, and you have money in restaurants. Because of your real-life experiences, did you share tips?

Braff: That’s an interesting question. I was saying at lunch today that I’ve both made money and lost money in restaurants, so I can relate to both feelings. I don’t think Gavin ever chatted about it. Again, when I invest in restaurants, I just handed someone money to someone I trusted. I wasn’t like the chef or anything, which is a lot more stressful.

Thompson: And you’ve worked in a restaurant.

Braff: I was a waiter, yeah. Actually, it was the inspiration for the opening sequence of Garden State when I worked in a French-Vietnamese restaurant, and I was wearing a tunic. I was a waiter at a French-Vietnamese restaurant out here in LA called Le Colonial

Thompson: This year marks 21 years since Scrubs first aired on TV. Do you have any plans for that?

Braff: Donald Faison and I do this podcast has become quite popular called Fake Doctors, Real Friends. We watch an episode every week, and then we laugh about it and tell old stories and old anecdotes. That’s what we’re doing for now. I get asked this all the time. And my answer is, of course, if the creator, Bill Lawrence, was involved, but he is the most popular showrunner in the business now. We’d have to get him off all his projects, but if Bill was involved in some capacity, we could do a TV movie or a limited series or something like that.

Thompson: Talking of movies, you’ve just been shooting another film? Where are you at with that?

Braff: It’s in post-production right now. It’s called A Good Person, and it stars Florence Pugh, Morgan Freeman, and Molly Shannon. It’s a dramedy about a tragedy involving two families, how they reconcile that and stand back up. It’s really about the unlikely friendship between Morgan Freeman and Florence Pugh’s characters. The two of them together are incredible, and their performances are jaw-dropping. Morgan has brought it like people haven’t seen in years. Florence, everybody knows she’s one of the best actresses alive, but she gives a performance like you can’t believe, so I’m really excited. The picture is locked, and we will start sound editing next week.

Thompson: Are you going to hold it for festivals next year?

Braff: We’re not sure if it will be a this year’s festivals movie or a beginning of next year’s festivals movie. It will definitely be this year or Sundance next year or something like that.

Cheaper by the Dozen is now streaming on Disney+.