Scrubs Actor Talks about Next Day Air

By Broadside Staff Writer Ryan Dempsey

Recently, Broadside got a chance to catch up with Donald Faison and talk with him about his accomplishments, including his upcoming film Next Day Air.

The film is about a delivery driver who accidentally delivers a package containing bricks of cocaine to the wrong address and how the mistake in delivery will change 10 people’s lives forever. The movie, also starring Mike Epps and Wood Harris, will be out in theaters May 8.

Q: What inspired you to become an actor?
Faison: I wanted to be Han Solo growing up, more than anything. And that’s who I wanted to be. I wanted to save the galaxy, save the girl and kick a bunch of ass while doing it.

Q: What interested you most about doing this film as compared to doing a TV show?
Faison: Just the fact that I got to work with Wood Harris again . . . Compared to doing a television show, it’s always cool to play a character that at the end of the shoot you no longer will play.

Q: Your roles usually do not consist of playing a criminal so what preparations did you go to get into the character?
Faison: Well, I went and stole a lot of stuff and started smoking a crap load of weed just to make sure I was in character, and that was about it. No, I’m just playing. I think everybody has someone in their family who’s pretty much some form of criminal and you can act like you don’t but the jailhouses all prove that you do or at least you know somebody who . . . I don’t think it’s that hard to play someone who’s a little bit more edgier. It’s definitely not hard to play someone a little edgier than Turk and Murray from Clueless.

Q: How long did your actual role for this movie take to film?
Faison: Out of those two weeks I maybe worked like six or seven days.

Q: Who’s your favorite person that you worked with so far?
Faison: My person I’ve worked with so far is Denzel Washington just because it’s Denzel Washington alone, you know what I mean? He’s the best.

Q: So, Denzel over Zack Braff?
Faison: Well, Zack Braff’s my best friend, so I can’t sit here and say that I pick Denzel over Zack. But as far as accomplishments for me, Denzel Washington over Zack Braff, for sure.

Q: If you had to pick a scene or an episode of Scrubs over the past seasons what would you say is your favorite?
Faison: I liked getting married on the show. That was a lot of fun. That seemed like an acting adventure. I really enjoyed playing Han Solo and Indiana Jones on Scrubs. And if I had to choose a scene though that I loved the most it’s when J.D. and Turk went testicle shopping to find a new testicle for Turk.

Q: How would you say your relationship is with Zack off the air versus on the air? Do you have the same type of relationship, where you guys are always joking around?
Faison: Yeah, it’s the same relationship. The crazy thing is now that we’re not working with each other every day we’ve gone off to do—live our lives and stuff like that. But, he is my best friend and he and J.D. and myself and Turk are—it’s almost like we’re the same people.

Q: What has been your most challenging role?
Faison: You know what, I’ve been very lucky. I’m gonna be honest with you I don’t think any of the roles that I’ve played so far I’ve had to dig really deep to play them. I think they’ve been pretty straightforward with what I have to do. It’s definitely a challenge to be an actor, for sure. You know what I mean? But, if anything doing Remember the Titans was a challenge because I feel like I’m friends with everybody and it kind of—it’s weird to, at least for me, it’s weird to feel like there are two different sides and two different races of people. You know what I mean? And in Remember the Titans that’s what we kind of had to portray that whites were whites and blacks were blacks and there’s no integration in between.