5 ms·

Can Charlie Kaufman Get Out of His Head?

48 points by prismatic 6y ago

11thEarlOfMar 6y ago
The off-handed reference to Philip Seymour Hoffman and Synecdoche, New York made me wonder: If I were going to direct a play about my own life, who would I cast to play me? Would it be someone close to me physically and in mannerisms? Or would it I choose an idealized portrayal of myself? What would my choice say about me? I'll think about this for a while and check back in later...
- cafard 6y ago
  I understand that Charlie Wilson thought that Tom Selleck would have been a better choice to play him than Tom Hanks in "Charlie Wilson's War". Was this because Selleck is or looks taller? Or so people didn't mix it up with all the other movies that Hanks is in? Only so many get movies made about them while they are alive, no? I guess there was Cliff Robertson playing the young JFK in "PT-109". But I'm not that much of a moviegoer.
- carlio 6y ago
  Charlie Kaufman seems to have answered that question in Adaptation by casting Nicolas Cage to play him :-) Edit: "him" as in Kaufman, not him as in Cage who will be playing himself in the upcoming "The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent" which looks bonkers.
  - arthurcolle 6y ago
    I found Adaptation so hard to watch (just watched it last night)
- 11thEarlOfMar 6y ago
  Ok. It was between Joe Pesci and Dustin Hoffman. I look more like Joe, both in stature and countenance (ha, always wanted to use that word in context!). But I can't recall a movie where he didn't leverage his New York splutter. I have neither that intensity, nor the wit and it would just not work. Dustin Hoffman is, as many are, better looking than I but still believable as me. The advantage is that as a character actor, he could easily spend a couple of hours with me and get 90% of the way there. I just don't have that big a range of expression. Now, to write the story....
goblin89 6y ago
This article is a review of Kaufman’s novel. While the article was published before I’m Thinking of Ending Things, somehow it managed not to lose a single bit of relevance since the film came out—so much so, I could almost say it’s somewhat of a spoiler. If you have not watched I’m Thinking of Ending Things yet, might be worth watching it before reading. If you have watched it, this article would make a lot of sense to you despite not technically being a review of the film.
- SoSoRoCoCo 6y ago
  > I’m Thinking of Ending Things Watched this over the holidays. I found the third act really deviated from the rest of the story compared to how tight the other mentioned films were. Did you think it seemed out of place? It was a fun watch, and it made me want to watch "Oklahoma" again, but it was somewhere in the middle in terms of rankings. I literally just added the book to my library checkout list, and I'm #22 on 15 copies, so I guess it is popular. :) Can't wait to read Antkind tho.
  - goblin89 6y ago
    > I found the third act really deviated from the rest of the story compared to how tight the other mentioned films were. Did you think it seemed out of place? It was indeed different, if we’re speaking about the same part. I contemplated it after watching and concluded that thought process does not lend itself to being mapped onto a visual sequence, and perhaps those scenes were the best map there could be. (Upon recalling some of my own past ruminations and thinking what they would “look like” to another person, who am I to say they wouldn’t be as cringey as the ballet scene and the speech looked to me.) Consider also protagonist’s personality and interests, and the fact that it took place shortly before a breakdown.
golemotron 6y ago
Charlie Kaufman is a perfect writer for the age. We live in a very self-absorbed time. An antidote might be The Overstory by Richard Powers. Humans are only one piece of the puzzle of life.
chubot 6y ago
Just want to mention that I re-watched Being John Malkovich on Netflix a few weeks ago. This was the movie that made Kaufman famous (along with director Spike Jonze), around 1999. It still holds up! Great movie. To be honest a lot of movies can't hold my attention these days -- they're "thin" and contrived to elicit certain reactions in the audience -- but this movie did after more than 20 years. I rarely rewatch a movie; it's usually one and done for me. This brings to mind this observation by PG: Novels seem so impoverished compared to history and biography. But reading Austen is like reading nonfiction. She writes so well you don't even notice her. http://paulgraham.com/heroes.html http://paulgraham.com/heroes.html Basically I have a hard time with a lot of fictional movies and fictional writing because they seem "impoverished". Kaufman sets up absurd situations, viewed from absurd angles, but they have a realistic texture that you get something out of.
- pgayed 6y ago
  One of Cameron Diaz’s best performances. I forget how talented she is because of how often she gets cast as “the girl in the red dress.”
- enos_feedler 6y ago
  See we are referencing both pg and Being John Malkovich, I can't help but point to his essay where he brings up a scene from the movie in the context of ambitious startup ideas: http://www.paulgraham.com/ambitious.html http://www.paulgraham.com/ambitious.html A great essay to (re)read as well!
  - jb1991 6y ago
    I wouldn’t be surprised if the people who created HEY had seen number two on his list.
StavrosK 6y ago
> in “Being John Malkovich,” the actor John Malkovich (John Malkovich) I can't help but think this is a movie reference.

48 points by prismatic 6y ago

The off-handed reference to Philip Seymour Hoffman and Synecdoche, New York made me wonder: If I were going to direct a play about my own life, who would I cast to play me? Would it be someone close to me physically and in mannerisms? Or would it I choose an idealized portrayal of myself? What would my choice say about me? I'll think about this for a while and check back in later...

cafard 6y ago
I understand that Charlie Wilson thought that Tom Selleck would have been a better choice to play him than Tom Hanks in "Charlie Wilson's War". Was this because Selleck is or looks taller? Or so people didn't mix it up with all the other movies that Hanks is in? Only so many get movies made about them while they are alive, no? I guess there was Cliff Robertson playing the young JFK in "PT-109". But I'm not that much of a moviegoer.
carlio 6y ago
Charlie Kaufman seems to have answered that question in Adaptation by casting Nicolas Cage to play him :-) Edit: "him" as in Kaufman, not him as in Cage who will be playing himself in the upcoming "The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent" which looks bonkers.
- arthurcolle 6y ago
  I found Adaptation so hard to watch (just watched it last night)
11thEarlOfMar 6y ago
Ok. It was between Joe Pesci and Dustin Hoffman. I look more like Joe, both in stature and countenance (ha, always wanted to use that word in context!). But I can't recall a movie where he didn't leverage his New York splutter. I have neither that intensity, nor the wit and it would just not work. Dustin Hoffman is, as many are, better looking than I but still believable as me. The advantage is that as a character actor, he could easily spend a couple of hours with me and get 90% of the way there. I just don't have that big a range of expression. Now, to write the story....

goblin89 6y ago

This article is a review of Kaufman’s novel. While the article was published before I’m Thinking of Ending Things, somehow it managed not to lose a single bit of relevance since the film came out—so much so, I could almost say it’s somewhat of a spoiler. If you have not watched I’m Thinking of Ending Things yet, might be worth watching it before reading. If you have watched it, this article would make a lot of sense to you despite not technically being a review of the film.

SoSoRoCoCo 6y ago
> I’m Thinking of Ending Things Watched this over the holidays. I found the third act really deviated from the rest of the story compared to how tight the other mentioned films were. Did you think it seemed out of place? It was a fun watch, and it made me want to watch "Oklahoma" again, but it was somewhere in the middle in terms of rankings. I literally just added the book to my library checkout list, and I'm #22 on 15 copies, so I guess it is popular. :) Can't wait to read Antkind tho.
- goblin89 6y ago
  > I found the third act really deviated from the rest of the story compared to how tight the other mentioned films were. Did you think it seemed out of place? It was indeed different, if we’re speaking about the same part. I contemplated it after watching and concluded that thought process does not lend itself to being mapped onto a visual sequence, and perhaps those scenes were the best map there could be. (Upon recalling some of my own past ruminations and thinking what they would “look like” to another person, who am I to say they wouldn’t be as cringey as the ballet scene and the speech looked to me.) Consider also protagonist’s personality and interests, and the fact that it took place shortly before a breakdown.

golemotron 6y ago

Charlie Kaufman is a perfect writer for the age. We live in a very self-absorbed time. An antidote might be The Overstory by Richard Powers. Humans are only one piece of the puzzle of life.

chubot 6y ago

Just want to mention that I re-watched Being John Malkovich on Netflix a few weeks ago. This was the movie that made Kaufman famous (along with director Spike Jonze), around 1999. It still holds up! Great movie. To be honest a lot of movies can't hold my attention these days -- they're "thin" and contrived to elicit certain reactions in the audience -- but this movie did after more than 20 years. I rarely rewatch a movie; it's usually one and done for me. This brings to mind this observation by PG: Novels seem so impoverished compared to history and biography. But reading Austen is like reading nonfiction. She writes so well you don't even notice her. http://paulgraham.com/heroes.html http://paulgraham.com/heroes.html Basically I have a hard time with a lot of fictional movies and fictional writing because they seem "impoverished". Kaufman sets up absurd situations, viewed from absurd angles, but they have a realistic texture that you get something out of.

pgayed 6y ago
One of Cameron Diaz’s best performances. I forget how talented she is because of how often she gets cast as “the girl in the red dress.”
enos_feedler 6y ago
See we are referencing both pg and Being John Malkovich, I can't help but point to his essay where he brings up a scene from the movie in the context of ambitious startup ideas: http://www.paulgraham.com/ambitious.html http://www.paulgraham.com/ambitious.html A great essay to (re)read as well!
- jb1991 6y ago
  I wouldn’t be surprised if the people who created HEY had seen number two on his list.

StavrosK 6y ago

> in “Being John Malkovich,” the actor John Malkovich (John Malkovich) I can't help but think this is a movie reference.