C.J.: Minnetonka grad's in the 'viz' biz on Braff film

Zach Braff is a hugger, according to Ari Feblowitz.

A 2009 graduate of Minnetonka High, Feblowitz got plenty of hugs while working on "Wish I Was Here," a movie screened at Sundance and controversially financed through the Kickstarter website. Braff directed the movie he co-wrote with his brother Adam Braff.

From Feblowitz, I learned to say "viz," as in visualization.

"I worked in preproduction in something called previsualization," the son of photographer Gary Feblowitz and real estate agent Sonja Dalbey told me. "It's a process of planning out the movie, in digital storyboards. You animate everything, set up the camera, put the lights in and film a whole scene in a computer before they ever film it. And Zach would be like, Oh, what if we move the camera and what if we move this guy over and set up a light here?" said Feblowitz, who said his title was "lead post-viz artist."

Feblowitz told me he landed this job after interning with Trevor Tuttle, "the pre-viz and post-viz supervisor for 'Oz, the Great and Powerful.' "

Feblowitz came off the set with stories.

"I talked to Kate Hudson. It was one of those scenes where the actors were wearing not a lot of clothing. Everyone had to clear the set. I had to hide in a closet, 'cause I had to be on set to make visuals come up on a screen. At one point Kate Hudson poked her head in the closet and said, Are you OK in there?"

"[With] Zach, the personality you know him for in the TV show [NBC's 'Scrubs'] is very accurate to how he is in real life. Really, really funny. Always telling jokes. Very open arms. Down to earth. He'll just go grab you food. … He just like gives you big hugs. I am pretty sure every set I was on in college the director never gave you the time of day. But [Braff] would come up, pat you on the back and say How are you doing? I would think but not say out loud, 'You're directing a movie right now.' "

Get ready for the second coming of Pat Miles.

Word around Fox 9 is that Kelcey Carlson will remind viewers of the former WCCO-TV and KARE 11 anchor who charmed the Twin Cities.

A North Carolina anchor whose first day on the air is Sunday, Carlson hasn't a hint of prima donna in her, plus she has blue eyes that pop and a twang in her voice reminiscent of Miles'. Carlson was also well-versed about this market during interviews. Could she have been helped by a news colleague in Michigan, Mark Albert, late of KSTP-TV?

"I just told her what I really enjoyed about the Twin Cities was that everyone consumes news, it's a great news town. I was kind of giving her the lay of the land," Albert said Wednesday, taking no credit for Carlson knocking her interviews out of the newsroom. "Kelcey is a smart cookie. I'm sure she did her own homework."

St. Paul's X is showing its appreciation for the Sunday stop on his "20/20 Experience" tour with some special JT-inspired cupcakes from Buttered Tin, 100 packs of golf tees inscribed with the name of this tour and a donation on behalf of the avid golfer to the First Tee St. Paul, a charity that provides facilities and educational programs to improve the lives of young people.

I hope that the insanely talented JT brings his Ely native wife, actor Jessica Biel, and that she's caught dancing at the X in a photo that is then e-mailed to me.

C.J. can be reached at cj@startribune.com and seen on Fox 9's "Buzz."