Back when actor Zach Braff of the medical sitcom "Scrubs" was shopping around a movie project, he sent out a screenplay that he'd written and, with it, a mix CD of songs he wanted to use in certain scenes.
The story, as told in show-business circles, is that several studio executives tossed the script and kept the CD.
As if tipping his hat, Braff wound up using a typically wistful Simon and Garfunkel song, "The Only Living Boy in New York," on his soundtrack. Rock band Coldplay, the late English folk singer Nick Drake, and former Men at Work singer Colin Hay also appear on the collection. But most of the 13 tracks are performed by artists with smaller followings: Thievery Corporation, Bonnie Somerville, Iron and Wine, and Brothers.The anecdote could be "myth," says Glen Brunman, chief of the Sony Music division that would eventually put out a more finished version of Braff's mix. But Brunman tells the tale anyway to make the point that Braff's faith was not misplaced. Audiences have not only embraced "Garden State," Braff's debut as a big-screen leading actor, screenwriter and director, but they're still buying the 2004 movie's soundtrack.
Anchored by countercultural bands such as the Shins, Remy Zero and Frou Frou, the "Garden State" album sold more than 650,000 copies in the United States in 2005, according to year-end figures from the research firm Nielsen SoundScan. It has passed the 1 million mark since its release 18 months ago and continues to sell 4,000 to 5,000 copies every week, Brunman says.
For a low-budget independent film with a boutique soundtrack, Braff's offbeat, melancholy love story has become something of a mainstream phenomenon.
"For a lot of kids, it was very a generational film," says singer/songwriter Cary Brothers, whose ballad "Blue Eyes" is in the movie and on the album.
Like "The Graduate" (1967) and "Pulp Fiction" (1994), "Garden State" makes virtual co-stars of its songs, which double as atmosphere and as commentary on scenes and characters.
In "Garden State," Braff plays Andrew, a depressed young man who fails at acting in Los Angeles and bottoms out on a dismal trip home to New Jersey. Then he meets a vivacious young woman, Sam, played by Natalie Portman. Their halting, sometimes comical progress as a couple is not unique to boy-meets-girl movies, but the depiction of it often has the submerged, unreal air of a dream.
The music Braff chose — from the abstract lines and swirls of the Shins' "Caring Is Creepy" to the whispery vocals of Frou Frou's "Let Go" — contributes to that sensation, and sometimes creates it.
Well before he found backing and a distributor for the movie, Braff was casting around for the right songs and thinking about movies such as "The Graduate," which showcased Simon and Garfunkel, and the oddball romance "Harold and Maude" (1971), featuring songs by Cat Stevens. Brothers says that he and Braff were "music-geek friends" in Los Angeles at the time and "talked a lot about those films."
As if tipping his hat, Braff wound up using a typically wistful Simon and Garfunkel song, "The Only Living Boy in New York," on his soundtrack. Rock band Coldplay, the late English folk singer Nick Drake, and former Men at Work singer Colin Hay also appear on the collection. But most of the 13 tracks are performed by artists with smaller followings: Thievery Corporation, Bonnie Somerville, Iron and Wine, and Brothers.
Sony Music, a blockbuster-obsessed major label on most days, took a low-key approach to promoting the soundtrack, which was doing well by word of mouth in the summer and fall months of 2004 that "Garden State" spent in theaters.
Sony did give the soundtrack a push, however, through the "Garden State" DVD, which came out at the end of 2004. The DVD includes a music video of the Shins, a promotional spot for the soundtrack and, of course, all the music in the movie itself.
Source: http://www.azstarnet.com
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