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Pretty safe bet I've never linked to the American Bar Assocation Journal before, but here we go!

Philip N. Meyer has a cool essay about how films like Adaptation can help lawyers in a courtroom. Snippet:

Adaptation offers a lesson on how seemingly unstructured narratives can take form. It also provides a timely and ironic meditation on the struggle all lawyers face when repackaging “reality” into stories, especially into courtroom litigation stories.

[...] Years ago, like Charlie Kaufman, I attended Robert McKee’s storytelling course in New York City. Like many lawyers, I hoped to convert experiences from law practice into a screenplay I could sell to Hollywood. (Source)

Meyer has also written a book, Storytelling For Lawyers.

Just a quickie.

David Thewlis starred in Naked, one of Charlie's favourite films, and then worked with Charlie himself three times--in Anomalisa the "sound play", Anomalisa the animated film and then I'm Thinking of Ending Things. Last year Thewlis published a novel -- Shooting Martha (affiliate link!) -- and in an interview with the Guardian he was asked about working with Charlie:

You’ve been in Charlie Kaufman’s last two films. How did that relationship start?
In 2005, my phone rang out of the blue and this voice said: “Hey, this is Charlie Kaufman.” “I went, fucking hell, hi.” I think he’s something of a genius. I was flattered that he not only knew who I was but had written something for me. We did Anomalisa on stage in Los Angeles as a live radio play, years passed, then we got back together to do it as an animation. I’m very proud to say I’m now among his stable of actors. (Source)

HAPPY NEW YEAR.

BCK was launched at the end of 2001, so we're into our 21st year. SOON BCK CAN DRINK IN THE U.S.A. (Our birthday is December 18. I usually post about it on the day. But I was lazy this time. Sue me.)

Anyway. A lot of you have probably seen this, it's meta-meta. Nicolas Cage, who once played Charlie Kaufman in a film about a book Charlie adapted into a film, will star this year in a movie about himself, sort of: The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent.

Personally I think Charlie should've starred as Cage.

Great find by u/udayankaif on Reddit: this Anomalisa making-of featurette from the DVD. (Fun fact: the featurette was made by Keith Clark, a friend-of-a-friend of mine.) If you have half an hour, do check it out:

James Gunn on Twitter reports that Charlie once pitched a Gilligan's Island film, but the show's creator--and, later, his estate-- were having none of it.

A true story: In the late 90’s screenwriting GOAT Charlie Kaufman pitched a movie version of Gilligan’s Island where the islanders, starving & desperate, started killing & eating each other. Warner Bros wanted to do it - but Sherwood Schwartz, the creator, said no way.

— James Gunn (@JamesGunn) October 13, 2021

After Guardians I tried to resurrect the idea & wanted to direct. It seemed Warners & Charlie were interested but, this time, the estate of the late Sherwood Schwartz nixed it. Anyway, if the Schwartz estate changes their mind, I’m here.

— James Gunn (@JamesGunn) October 13, 2021

So. Could still happen? The dream is alive.

(via Collider)

I had to upgrade BCK's backend, and unfortunately the upgrade doesn't play nice with the plugin that was making the site look half decent on mobile. So now I have to find something that'll get BCK looking okay on phones again. Ugh. Not sure how long that'll take, but just so you know: I'm aware that BCK looks sorta crappy on phones.

Antkind is out now in paperback. (Affiliate link!) Check out the new cover:

Sexy, no?

Here's the Random House page.

Do you like Being John Malkovich? Do you also like podcasts? And do you enjoy minutes? HAVE I GOT THE THING FOR YOU.

Malkovich Malkovich Minute Minute is Austin Prior's podcast delving into Being John Malkovich, and each episode covers 1 minute of the film. More than that, though, it includes conversations with cinephiles, critics and occasionally folks who worked on the movie. It's really fun and thoughtful. 26 episodes so far! Here are the first two eps:

Apologies to Austin, too, because I have taken waaaaaaay too long to post about it. Real life got in the way!

For no particular reason that I can think of--but I'm all for it!--Screen Rant gives us 10 behind-the-scenes facts about Synecdoche, New York. We know most of this, but what the hell:

[...]Synecdoche was the first film that Kaufman directed himself, and that’s clear from the beginning. The movie is full of dreamlike absurdities and watching it feels like living inside the mind of Kaufman, which makes for some fascinating behind-the-scenes facts. From the crew almost getting decapitated in an elevator to shooting during a heatwave, the facts are almost as bizarre as the movie itself.

5/10: The Crew Were Almost Killed In An Elevator

At the end of a long day, some of the crew, including Kaufman, had to pick up a last-minute shot in a building, and all of the crew piled into a tiny elevator. Before the elevator could reach the floor they were going to, it got stuck and came to a stop.

Kaufman recalls that they all thought they were going to plummet to their deaths, and when they managed to open the doors of the elevator, it was stuck between two floors. Each member of the crew plucked up the courage to jump out, risking getting decapitated. (Source)

Redditor u/evilex_8 got themselves a Tulsey Town tatto inspired by I'm Thinking of Ending Things. Observe: