Zach Braff had to give himself pep talk while directing Morgan Freeman

Zach Braff had to give himself pep talks to summon up the courage to give Hollywood veterans Morgan Freeman and Harrison Ford direction.

The Scrubs actor, who directed Freeman in 2017's Going in Style and 2023's A Good Person, admitted that the 88-year-old can be "gruff as hell" on a movie set as he only wants to work in the mornings and do one take of each camera setup.

Braff shared that he felt "intimidated" by The Shawshank Redemption star and had to give himself a pep talk to drum up the courage to give Freeman direction and explain why he needed another take, especially when he was getting "tired" later in the day.

"So that was the first example of I was intimidated and I had to give myself a pep talk," he said on the Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard podcast. "But I have to go (to myself), 'If you're a wimp now and don't have the courage to go tell Morgan, even though it's three in the morning and we're outside and it's cold, that we got to go again with the crying scene, he's going to be mad at you a year from now and we're showing this movie and the scene doesn't work. So that's my responsibility."

The Garden State director noted that Freeman questioned the need for a second take every time "no matter what", and Braff had to explain that his acting was "great", but they had to make changes to the look or the emotional register of the scene.

Braff, who also directed Star Wars legend Ford in the TV series Shrinking, added that he's not "teaching them how to act", but is rather the "conductor of the orchestra" who is helping them keep track of where each scene fits into the story as a whole.

Of the experience, he concluded, "It helps though, because once you've had the courage to do that with Harrison Ford and Morgan Freeman, I feel like you can do it with anybody."