Braff spoke to ET about meeting his 'Cheaper by the Dozen' co-star Gabrielle Union's husband after not knowing who the NBA legend was.
Zach Braff finally got to meet his Cheaper by the Dozen co-star Gabrielle Union's husband, Dwyane Wade, after initially not knowing who the NBA legend was. ET spoke with both Braff and Union at the Cheaper by the Dozen premiere on Wednesday, and he talked about being blown away by Wade.
Braff previously admitted on The Ellen DeGeneres Show that he didn't know who Wade was when Union would talk about him. Union later told ET that there were no hard feelings as Wade didn't know who Braff was either. But at the premiere on Wednesday, Wade and Braff met and even posed for a few pictures on the red carpet together.
"She [Union] made me stand next to D-Wade on the red carpet and I was like, I need to get out of this photo ASAP," Braff joked to ET's Lauren Zima. "He's an Adonis. He's the most beautiful man I've ever seen. I understand, I understand."
As for not knowing who he was at first, he explained, "I don't know anything about sports. I'm a musical theater geek."
In his new film Cheaper by the Dozen, Braff plays a father of 12 kids. In real life, the actor says he was more like a "fun uncle" than dad to his young co-stars. Braff opened up about befriending and mentoring the large cast of child actors.
"They're so excited, they're so talented," Braff marveled at getting to share the experience of the premiere.
Braff said he had a particular connection to the young Leo Perry. "I took him to Disneyland, because he'd never been to Disneyland, and he's my favorite," Braff joked. "Don't tell anyone, but he's my favorite."
"I want to be at least a mentor [to Leo], because we especially bonded," he added.
However, when it came to the actual filming, Braff said his co-star and on-screen wife, Union, was the one who actually kept everything in order with the cast.
"Gab had to be bad cop, because she has real kids," Braff said with a laugh. "I don't know anything about that, so I'm just fun Uncle Zach!"
For his role, Braff not only had to learn how to play an authoritative father figure -- he also needed to learn a few dance moves.
"I trained for about two weeks. I had a hip-hop coach," Braff admitted. "Only in Hollywood can you get a hip-hop coach."
The coaching was for a dance-off scene, where Braff's character actually pulls off a move involving the splits -- a move that Braff said he didn't actually do, despite the training.
"The split move in the dance off, a double did. I would have hurt my back, I'm too old," he admitted with a laugh. "But I did do everything else!"
Cheaper by the Dozen begins streaming on March 18 on Disney+.
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