ZACH Braff was on the set of the US comedy hit Scrubs when his mobile phone rang. On the other end of the line was British actor knight Sir Ian Holm. A shocked Braff couldn't believe it. As a first time feature film writer and director, he was amazed that his first choice for the role of his father in Garden State was willing to sign up for the project.

"I've always been an incredible fan of his. I've seen so many of the films he's done, but The Sweet Hereafter is my favourite," he says. "For a man of that stature to take direction from me was incredibly generous of him."

Braff's writing and directorial debut certainly seems to have been blessed. The film was well received at the Sundance film festival and is receiving five-star reviews in advance of its release.

Braff also stars as Andrew Largeman, a moderately successful TV actor who returns home from Los Angeles for the first time in nine years for his mother's funeral. His interaction with old friends and a new girlfriend brings his life into focus and helps him escape his domineering father.

Braff, speaking by satellite in between a break from filming Scrubs, is prepared for questions about how autobiographical the story is. "The movie was based on a lot of anxieties from growing up in New Jersey," he admits. "Things that happened to me, things I read about in the papers, things that happened to friends of mine. I wove them all together. Seventy-five per cent of the movie is true, but didn't necessarily happen to me.

"I was writing down scenarios and things that happened when I was growing up. When I went to film school I ended up with this box of notes and scraps of paper. It was from those stories I wove together to make the movie."

But he can see some of himself in Largeman when he was 26, living in LA and waiting tables. In his circle, people are getting married much later and using their twenties for youthful exploration. He admits that was terrifying for him. "Instead of taking on the possibilities in a positive way, it was daunting. So I felt a little depressed and homesick," he says.

"The guy played by Ian Holm is not my father. There are things in common, that do hit true with my relationship with my father. That time when you're trying to figure out what your relationship with your parents is going to be - are you going to confide in them, tell them everything?.

"It's about a father and mother allowing a son or daughter to make their own choices as opposed to protecting them. All the father does in the film is numb his son to life."

The film also shows how relatives and friends react when someone with a degree of celebrity returns home. They have a false impression of that person's life. "I've done work I was not terrifically proud of. The fame thing when Largeman comes home was inspired by that," he says.

"My friends had a warped view of what fame and celebrity in the movie industry was really like. There I was getting screamed at waiting tables in a restaurant and they have this image of me on ecstasy, hanging out with beautiful people poolside."

Garden State was shot in just 25 days so it actually helped that the director and the leading actor were the same person. "The benefit is that the hardest thing for a director is to convey exactly what's in his head to his lead actor. That was taken out of the mix, all taking place in my head," he explains. "A lot of those conversations could take place while I was lying in a hotel bed. It saved a lot of time.

"I was running pretty much on adrenalin. I didn't sleep for about five months. I knew I would have to go back to Scrubs and wouldn't have much time to cut the movie. So I edited at night and weekends.

"It came out way better than I imagined because I put together my dream team in terms of actors and crew.."

The move from acting in a hit TV series to making his own movies shouldn't be too much of a shock as he's always wanted to be a storyteller. "I come from a family of storytellers," says Braff. "We'd sit around the table telling stories. My father, a lawyer, was a wonderful storyteller. My brother has written his first novel. It felt like a natural thing for me from a young age as I enjoyed telling stories.

" I did go to film school and when I got out started auditioning as an actor in New York City." Being in Scrubs enabled him to get the movie made. Now he doesn't worry that people in New Jersey will feel that he's taking the mickey out of them in Garden State. "I think I show New Jersey in a very great light. It's the butt of all jokes in America. I think it was Woody Allen who called it the armpit of America. I do show that wherever there are human beings, there are shady things - but also a lot of love going on."

* Garden State (15) opens in cinemas tomorrow

Published: ??/??/2004