After the huge success of his Kickstarter fund drive, Zach Braff was able to round up a cast and crew to shoot his new film, Wish I Was Here, across a couple of weeks last year. Now, after time in post-production, the film premiered at the Sundance Film Festival and has been snapped up by Focus Features for nearly $3 million{
While it scored a mixture of reviews at the festival, it attracted significant attention from buyers, with BS Films and Lionsgate involved in an auction that Focus Features ultimately won.
Produced via a mixture of the Kickstarter cash, his own money and financing from several production companies, Braff co-wrote, directed and starred in the film. He plays Aidan Bloom, a struggling 35-year-old actor who is having trouble finding his identity and providing for his family.
He and his wife (Kate Hudson) are struggling financially and when his father (Mandy Patinkin) falls ill and is unable to pay for his kids’ private schooling, Aidan decides to teach them himself. Yet he’s still got a lot of growing and learning to do himself, especially when he can’t seem to stop leaning on the fantasy character Space-Knight he created as a child.
With Josh Gad as his brother and Joey King and Looper’s Pierce Gagnon as the kids, Wish I Was Here should now hit screens later this year.