Over the past few months, we’ve been very quickly getting excited about Wish I Was Here, the project that will see Zach Braff return behind the camera for the first time since his debut, Garden State.
Braff launched the project on Kickstarter earlier in the year, completing his goal and then some, and we’ve heard various amazing pieces of casting news since then.
Most recently, we heard at the start of the month that Joey King, with whom Braff had worked on Oz the Great and Powerful, had joined the cast as his on-screen 12-year-old daughter, Grace.
And now Braff has revealed to his Kickstarter backers, of which I am proudly one, that Pierce Gagnon has been cast in the role of his 6-year-old son, Tucker.
He’ll be starring alongside Braff, Kate Hudson, Josh Gad, Anna Kendrick, Mandy Patinkin, Joey King, Jim Parsons, and Donald Faison, with Braff directing from a script he co-wrote with his brother, Adam Braff.
“WISH I WAS HERE” tells the story of Aidan Bloom, a struggling actor, husband and dad who at 35 is still trying to find his true place in life. He and his wife are barely getting by financially, and Aidan passes his time fantasizing about being the futuristic Space Knight he always dreamed he’d be as a little kid.
When his ailing father can no longer afford to pay for private school for his two kids, and with the only available public school on its last legs, Aidan reluctantly agrees to attempt to home-school them. The result is chaos, until Aidan decides to scrap the traditional academic curriculum and come up with his own. Through teaching them about life his way, he gradually discovers the parts of himself he couldn’t find.
Whilst Gagnon’s name might not be one you immediately recognise, you will certainly remember him if you saw Rian Johnson’s Looper last year, with Gagnon playing Cid, the son of Emily Blunt’s character, Sara.
Fans of One Tree Hill will also recognise him from the final season, and with roles in the upcoming Robin Williams-starrer, A Friggin’ Christmas Miracle, as well as next year’s Rio 2, his slate is looking excellent.
Now add Wish I Was Here to the list, and things are looking even better.
As a huge fan of both Looper and One Tree Hill, I love what I’ve seen of Gagnon so far. He’s got a ridiculously cute/infectious smile, as well as a surprisingly powerful intensity at such a young age. And I can’t wait to see what Braff brings out of him, working with him from both sides of the camera.
Braff says that he first saw Gagnon starring in Looper, and he absolutely blew him away. He paused the movie whilst watching it, and called his brother to tell him he’d found the kid to play Tucker. And he’s made it happen!
Shooting is officially set to get underway on August 5th out in the US, and I’m keeping my fingers tightly crossed for very smooth progress.
