Recent General News

Adam Nayman's video essay over at The Ringer attempts to define the word "Kaufmanesque," by taking us through Charlie's entire cinematic ouevre (even Human Nature! even Confessions!) and picking out eight words that fit the bill. (The first two words are anxiety and puppetry.)

Thanks to Tim!

Bit of a shoutout to Charlie over at Scientific American, in an opinion piece with the headline above:

Some of my favorite works of art dwell on the solipsism problem. In I’m thinking of ending things and earlier films, as well as his new novel Antkind, Charlie Kaufman depicts other people as projections of a disturbed protagonist. Kaufman no doubt hopes to help us, and himself, overcome the solipsism problem by venting his anxiety about it, but I find his dramatizations almost too evocative.

[...] We have also invented mythical places in which the solipsism problem vanishes. We transcend our solitude and merge with others into a unified whole. We call these places heaven, nirvana, the Singularity. But solipsism is a cave from which we cannot escape—except, perhaps, by pretending it doesn’t exist. Or, paradoxically, by confronting it, the way Charlie Kaufman does. Knowing we are in the cave may be as close as we can get to escaping it. (Source)

This is the kind of quality content we don't see often enough.

I tried to embed it here, but it wouldn't work for me.

NEAT. Way back in 2014, Charlie was attached to write an adaptation of Arthur Herzog's 1978 science fiction novel I.Q. 83. Six years later we've heard not much else about it until today. Collider reports that Charlie might bring an adaptation of the adaptation to HBO:

In an interview with Collider’s Steve Weintraub about his upcoming Netflix film I’m Thinking of Ending Things, Kaufman revealed that he’s currently developing IQ 83 as a limited series, although he stressed that there’s no telling whether or not the show will actually get made.

“I’m developing this thing for HBO, which is a limited series about a virus that causes stupidity. And it’s based on a screenplay I wrote, which is based on a novel called IQ 83. And I’m actually developing it for them, so it’s possible that it’s going to happen, [but] I don’t know that it’s going to happen. But I’m very interested in it because of the circumstances in which we live. I’m very interested in exploring the notion of that, and treating it as kind of a metaphor.”

The novel follows Dr. James Healey, the head of a group of scientists that conducted DNA experiments which resulted in the release of an airborne disease that gradually lowers the IQ of those infected. Healey is in a race to develop a cure for the virus before succumbing to its effects himself. (Source)

And I mean, no offence everybody, but that sounds pretty damned timely because there's an embarrassing amount of stupid in the world right now.

I can't find that interview with Steve Weintraub, by the way, otherwise I'd link directly to it. Maybe it'll be published closer to Ending Things' release, or maybe I'm just terrible at finding things.

Longtime friend of BCK, Davide Romagnoli has a new book out, Sineddoche, Charlie Kaufman, and you'll never guess what it's about! Says the Amazon blurb:

"Sineddoche, Charlie Kaufman" non è un libro biografico per spiegare chi è Charlie Kaufman, dove è nato e cos'ha fatto. E non è nemmeno un compendio esaustivo o una completa esegesi delle opere del regista, produttore e sceneggiatore statunitense. "Sineddoche, Charlie Kaufman" è un invito a conoscere uno degli artisti più interessanti della sua generazione e rivedere, leggendole, le sue pellicole. Tutti titoli ben noti al grande pubblico, come Essere John Malkovich, Il ladro di orchidee, Synecdoche e Anomalisa. Un libro che racconta i retroscena dei suoi film seguendo il filo rosso delle dichiarazioni più interessanti e geniali dell'autore di Se mi lasci ti cancello. Per approfondire i suoi virtuosismi espressivi o anche scoprirli per la prima volta. (Source)

... which Google Translate turns into:

Synecdoche, Charlie Kaufman "is not a biographical book to explain who Charlie Kaufman is, where he was born and what he did. Nor is it an exhaustive compendium or complete exegesis of the works of the American director, producer and screenwriter." Synodoche, Charlie Kaufman "is an invitation to get to know one of the most interesting artists of his generation and review his films by reading them. All titles well known to the general public, such as Being John Malkovich, The Orchid Thief, Synecdoche and Anomalisa. A book that tells the background of his films by following the red thread of the most interesting and ingenious statements of the author of Se mi mi ti ti cancell. To deepen his expressive virtuosity or even discover them for the first time.

Neat, no? Davide sent me a copy, and I can't read a lick of it, but the cover is great!

Two bits of cool fan-created CK art! First one comes via a Redditor who commissioned this piece:

The artist is tan.drine on Instagram.

Charlie's new look in the City Arts &Lectures interview inspired our friend and BCKster Sarah, whose other work you can check out here:

Nice, eh?!

If you're here for a hard hitting story, keep scrolling. Otherwise, here's something pretty cute:

Redditor 90s-Kid has a story about Charlie doodling on a restaurant menu.

When Synecdoche, New York came out, I was working at an Italian restaurant in Santa Barbara back in 2009 to pay for college. Charlie Kaufman and his family came in to eat. [...] Anyway, I got to wait on his table, being as respectful as possible. I watched as he was illustrating on the back of our menu and couldn’t wait to see what he was drawing purely from his brain with no filter. [...] He was very nice and we spoke for a bit on when I’d start and then he left. I noticed he left the drawing, so I grabbed it and ran after him to sign it. He laughed and said, “you want this??” “Hell ya!” He signed it and waved with a smile. Charlie Kaufman has done so much for my life without knowing. Thank you Charlie Kaufman. (Source)

Full story at the link.

A while ago (I just checked... 5 years!) there was talk that Charlie would be co-producing a TV series for FX (and later AMC) based on the Grady Hendrix novel Horrorstör. Alas, Deadline now reports that New Republic Pictures has optioned the book for a film adaptation.

Formerly set up as a television series with Charlie Kaufman, Gail Berman and Josh Schwartz producing at Fox and then at AMC, Horrorstör is now going the feature route with Hendrix adapting his own material for the first time.

The book is set at the Orsk furniture superstore in Cleveland, Ohio where morning, employees arrive to find broken Kjerring bookshelves, shattered Glans water goblets, and smashed Liripip wardrobes. Sales are down, security cameras reveal nothing, and store managers are panicking. To unravel the mystery, three employees volunteer to work a nine-hour dusk-till-dawn shift with plans to patrol the empty showroom floor, investigate strange sights and sounds, and encounter horrors that defy the imagination. (Source)

Bummer! For Charlie's fans, at least.

At the start of last year, a teaser appeared online for a short film called Hey Charlie, directed by Shaun Irons and starring our Charlie. Apparently it played at the New York Indie Theatre Film Festival at the start of last year, and... that's about all I know. Google tells me nothing useful.

Anybody have more info? A link to the film? Review? Something?

BCKster Tyler emailed me about it, and it's funny because I was thinking about it just a few days ago. The Dublin podcast reminded me of the film when Charlie mentioned starring in his own home-made short films as a kid. Trailer below, plot under that.

"Hey Charlie" is a short hallucinatory film featuring renowned screenwriter and director Charlie Kaufman. Nearing the end of his stay at an artists' retreat, Charlie’s daily ritual walk in the woods turns into an ordeal of repetition and delusion. These interruptions - either real or imagined - break into his consciousness, causing anxiety and panic as he contemplates how much (or little) he has accomplished during his time at the Colony. (Source)

Here's a good way to spend 75 minutes: listening to Charlie's Q&A with Mark O’Halloran at the Dublin Film Fest from earlier this year. It's on Spotify. Lots of interesting nuggets in here that we haven't heard before.

- Charlie used to be a stand-up comedian! (Sort of.)
- He starred as a gangster in a film called Junk Mail! (Sort of.)
- Spike Jonze stood him up on their first date. (We may have heard this before. But it's still funny to hear.)
- Not a big fan of Christopher Nolan.

O'Halloran brings up almost all of Charlie's ouevre. Ending Things comes up at the 64-minute mark. Antkind at the 65ish minute mark.

Big thanks to Terry!

Eternal Sunshine is about memory. Charlie's upcoming Antkind, too, is about memory. "The Case of the Missing Hit" has absolutely nothing to do with Charlie, but it is an episode of the great ReplyAll podcast, and it happens to deal with memory as well. I think a lot of you would dig it.

A man in California is haunted by the memory of a pop song from his youth. He can remember the lyrics and the melody. But the song itself has vanished, completely scrubbed from the internet. PJ takes on the Super Tech Support case.

PJ is one of the show's hosts, and he takes on the job of trying to figure out if this song ever really existed. The episode is fantastic and the conclusion is pretty incredible. Reminds me of Antkind's protagonist, who spends 700 or so pages trying to recall every frame of a movie. The guy in the podcast even goes to the trouble of recreating the entire song, including music and lyrics, himself. And, well...

Vulture calls the episode "instantly legendary" and The Guardian somewhat hysterically wonders if it's the greatest podcast episode ever. I dunno about that. (And don't read those articles yet, cos they'll spoil things.) I'm just putting it here because it's fascinating and amazing and Kaufmanesque.

“The End Is Built into the Beginning”: Charlie Kaufman and the Orderly Disorder of Neuroscience is an essay by Romén Reyes-Peschl that you can sink your brain into, if you have the cash. The abstract reads:

Filmmaker Charlie Kaufman’s evident concern with “mind” is amply demonstrated in two consecutive screenplay titles: Confessions of a Dangerous Mind (2002) and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004). But what of the mind’s supposed material seat, the brain? While Being John Malkovich (1999) leaves the mind/body relationship ambiguous, later works Synecdoche, New York (2008) and Anomalisa (2015) are more neurologically-inflected, subtly referring to rare brain conditions to comment on broader existential issues of the human condition in general. This essay asks why Kaufman repeatedly mines this cognitive/neuro scientific vein in particular; it approaches the question via “convolutions,” a metaphorical nexus of literature and neuroscience ultimately revelatory of one’s own human, writerly, brain-bound self. The essay further assesses how such convolutionary ideas invite empathic readings of Kaufman’s work, and thus how his oeuvre as much colours as it is coloured by considerations of neurological order and disorder. (Source)

It's a little out of my price range, but it sounds neat!

Thanks to Seedi!

Good brief interview on the Irish Times website, including a couple of little nuggets I haven't heard before:

He talks movingly about how, years later, he realised that his late parents had worried when he drifted into creative fields.

“Yeah, but they never said anything. They lent me money when I needed it. But I later learned they believed it wasn’t going to work out.”

Did they live long enough to see his success?

“They did, yes.”

Here's the 'Kaufmanesque' bit:

“I don’t know what it means,” he says. “The stuff that comes out that invokes my name doesn’t feel like stuff I would do. Also, since I arrived on the scene, I have been sent material and people have said: ‘This is perfect for you.’ And it’s just this weird stuff that doesn’t appeal to me. I just don’t know what people mean by ‘Kaufmanesque’. Dreamy? Surreal? Weird?” (Source)

I find it funny (but fitting) that the first novel from the man who inspired the term "Kaufmanesque," has been described at Pynchonesque..

While he's in Ireland for DIFF, Charlie will be holding a Screenwriting Masterclass which is open to "industry professionals – Writers/Directors/Producers – with at least 3 years industry experience and a proven track record with at least 2 professional credits."

It takes place at Light House Cinema, Dublin, 5 March.

This is a fantastic opportunity for screenwriters and filmmakers to gain an insight into how Kaufman successfully navigated the film industry, how he developed such a recognisable and distinctive writing style, as well as how Kaufman's screenwriting career influenced his later directorial work.

This masterclass will focus on Kaufman's unique approach to screenwriting and delve into the various elements that are integral to the delivery of quality work. The overall aim of the class is to help screenwriters and filmmakers hone a distinct voice in their own creative work. (Source)

It'll include a Q&A with Irish screenwriter Mark O'Halloran (Adam and Paul, Garage, Rialto). More info at the link.

It's no secret that Charlie got his "start" writing for sitcoms and other comedic TV series' in the 90s, and it's even less of a secret that most sitcoms from the 80s and 90s were pretty bloody awful, but what was it like writing for those shows?

Jay Abramowitz wrote for Full House, The Hogan Family and Mr. Belvedere, and today he stopped by Reddit for a fun and informative AMA.