In 2004 Zach Braff made Garden State and was instantly hailed as some sort of directorial wunderkind. Everyone waited eagerly with baited breath to see what he’d do next and so… he did a bunch of cartoon voiceovers and continued starring on a television series which probably should have been cancelled three years ago. That Zach Braff fever I had back in 2004 has sort of died down in the interim and these days I wonder if Garden State was really as great as I remember it, or if it just had a good soundtrack. At last though, we’ll find out if the whole thing was just a fluke because Braff has finally gotten around to helming another movie.

Variety says he’s in negotiations to direct the Paramount Pictures film Swingles. You’ve probably already heard a lot about this one, we’ve been reporting Swingles casting on this site for what seems like months now. As such, it comes loaded with baggage which Braff will inherit, and that that baggage’s name is Cameron Diaz.

Diaz is already attached to star in this project. She’s not going anywhere which means this won’t be the auteur film Braff’s first movie was. He’s tacking on someone else’s script, someone else’s stars and trying to make something out of it. Maybe he’ll pull it off, but I’d much rather see him doing another, more personal project in the vein of Garden State. It’s not like we need another big-budget, star-fucking studio director. Hell they’ve even got Kevin Smith now. Come on Braff, do something that’s all your own. We could do with more of that.

Since it seems extremely likely he’s doing Swingles even over my objects, I guess I should tell you what it’s about. In it, a bachelor teams up with a sassy chick to meet babes. Yeah, in spite of the title, it’s not a swinger movie. It’s a safe bet that Diaz, will play the sassy Chiquita. That’s all she plays these days.