Zach Braff was wholly unprepared to defeat Quentin Tarantino at the 2004 Grammys.
The “Garden State” actor-writer-director was certainly honored when his collection of alternative music for the film was nominated for Best Compilation Soundtrack Album for a Motion Picture. But he genuinely didn’t think he’d beat Tarantino’s “Kill Bill Vol. 2” — until he did.
“I couldn’t believe it,” Braff told The Ringer for an oral history of the soundtrack Wednesday.
“Tarantino jokingly said, ‘You stole my fucking Grammy, man,’ and then gave me a big smile and a hug,” he continued. “He was super sweet and supportive. I was the kind of film-school kid that would have put a ‘Reservoir Dogs’ poster on my wall.”
Braff had graduated with a film studies degree from Northwestern University and, after nabbing his lead role in the beloved comedy series “Scrubs,” acquired $2.5 million in financing — and landed Natalie Portman as his co-star — for his 2004 directorial debut.
“Garden State” grossed $35 million worldwide, while the soundtrack went platinum.
Braff nonetheless recalled feeling like an underdog at the 2004 Grammys. Tarantino had delivered yet another masterful soundtrack for the final chapter of his “Kill Bill” saga, and had arguably redefined movie soundtracks a decade earlier, with “Pulp Fiction.”
“I certainly didn’t think there would ever be a chance where I would beat Quentin Tarantino at anything,” Braff told The Ringer. “My father wanted to come, and I was like, ‘Dad, there’s no way I’m gonna win a Grammy. Tarantino is winning the Grammy.’”
“And then we fucking won!” he added.
George Pimentel/WireImage/Getty Images
The “Garden State” soundtrack struck an undeniable chord with millennials at the time. With iconic indie rock songs like “Caring Is Creepy” and “New Slang” by The Shins, Frou Frou’s “Let Go,” and the cover of “Such Great Heights” by Iron & Wine, the film’s album sold 1.3 million copies.
Braff recalled hearing that New Yorkers who saw the film at one downtown theater routinely headed directly to a nearby Virgin record store to pick up the soundtrack. The record store “got so tired of it, they put a cardboard sign in the soundtrack section saying, ‘We do not have the ‘Garden State’ soundtrack. Please don’t ask.’”
The film even garnered the attention of Steven Spielberg, who Braff said wrote jo, a letter welcoming him to Hollywood. Braff, who has since framed that document on his wall, told the Ringer that he never expected that “this would happen to this movie.”
“Whether it’s the soundtrack or the film itself, it’s rare that a day goes by that someone doesn’t ask me about it,” he continued. “It was a seminal movie for a lot of people at a time in their life when they really needed to see it.”