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Here's a bit of a downer profile about Charlie for ya.

“I feel like I’ve changed a lot in the last 10 years,” he said. “I don’t have the same kind of bitterness or ambition. I don’t feel the frustration of not being able to force my stuff to be made.”

[...] I asked him how he looks back on those days. He won an Oscar for “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind,” one of his four nominations; surely that was a great moment. But no. “It felt like nothing,” he said. “It did nothing.”

[...] For a while, as the conversation advanced beyond the polite ask-and-answer rhythm of most interviews, we talked about how fame and critical regard had surprised him. His nervy, melancholy time in quarantine seemed to hover in his silences. At last he found the words for what he wanted to say about success: “It solves nothing whatsoever.”

It was a bracingly definite answer from such a careful thinker. [It was also] the first time that he’d sounded, to me, like the specific sort of person who discovers that there are no answers and then sets out to look for them alone: a novelist.(Source)

Bonus: in an article the other day, Spike Jonze compared Charlie to Kanye West. In this one, Charlie gets compared to Gwyneth Paltrow.

Two more Antkind reviews, both heavy on the spoilers. Anita Felicelli from the LA Review of Books loved it:

Like his films, Kaufman’s tremendous, bonkers first novel Antkind is an artistic consideration of consciousness, of whether our engagement in the world is truly just an engagement with our own minds, whether an escape from our own endlessly repeating preoccupations is possible.

[...] Antkind is Kaufman pushing himself to every formal and social limit, no holds barred, bleak and devastating, yet marvelous. (Source)

Felicelli also uses that review to draw connections between themes in each of Charlie's films, and in the novel.

Alex McLevy from A.V Club? Not a fan:

[...] And after giving it a good amount of thought, my strongest belief is that despite the book’s various likable qualities, Charlie Kaufman has disappeared up his own ass with this novel.

[...] Given free rein to dump the contents of his mind into prose, Kaufman crams into Antkind as many one-joke premises, surrealist curlicues, superficial lampoons, and Pynchon-esque reworkings of his premise. The result is bloated and frustrating—less an embarrassment of riches than a dearth of restraint. (Source)

Tomorrow night Charlie talks to Greta Johnsen as part of the Chicago Humanities Festival, and Greta is currently open to question/conversation ideas via Twitter. Got a question you'd like Charlie to answer? (Particularly if it relates to Antkind, but other stuff as well.) Head on over!

Here's an hour-long interview with author Jane Smiley and Charlie Kaufman. Antkind spoilers ahoy, so if you want to go into the book blind, be wary. Charlie's as thoughtful and interesting as always. Plus he's rocking a great 'stache.

Among other things in the interview:

- Charlie's Lucille Ball-esque moment working in a Christian bakery.
- Why his next book (if he writes one) will be shorter than Antkind. (Spoiler: copyediting this one was a bitch.)
- His time at the Macdowell Colony. (Bonus: here's where he stayed.)
- Charlie would like to write another book. (CHARLIE. FROM THE BOTTOM OF MY HEART, PLEASE DO.)

Bits about Ending Things are scattered throughout, but the bulk of it probably pops up around the 43 minute mark.

Thanks to Lasse!

EDIT: I just noticed, this is the event that was originally supposed to be Charlie in conversation with Susan Orlean.

ONE MORE DAY.

You can read an excerpt here.

Fair warning: the voice Charlie uses in the Prologue is not the voice used for the rest of the novel.

If you feel like preordering/buying via this link, BCK gets like 1/2 a cent per sale, or something. It's available for preorder at all the other usual places, too.

Page 8 remains my favourite, because there's mention of a fictional fast food joint called Mick Burger, which is probably coincidence, but I'm telling everybody it's not.

Good interview with Charlie over at the Wall Street Journal. It's largely about Antkind, but Ending Things gets a mention as well. Couple of snippets:

Your new film is adapted from a novel. How did that project come to you?

I was looking for something that somebody would let me direct and it’s easier to get something made if it’s based on a book or a comic book or a movie that’s already existed. The producer I work with happened to have a deal with Netflix. I don’t know that Netflix knew going in that I was going to make it into something that was less of a thriller than the book, and I don’t think I knew that either. The book is leading you to a reveal, and I felt like that might be obvious and disappointing in the movie. Things are more mysterious in words than they are in images.

[...]

Was it easier to get an original screenplay made earlier in your career?

Definitely. Earlier in my career, I could play around and experiment, but the business has changed enormously, and it all happened around 2008 when studios stopped making movies and started making tentpoles. The reason something like Netflix attracts filmmakers is because there’s nowhere else to make those things. It’s infuriating to me when people say Netflix is ruining movies because—no, movies ruined movies, studios ruined movies, and that’s the truth. (Source)

That is all.

Here's a great longread from the New York Times, put together over the course of several interviews with Charlie while the pandemic has been going on. Needless to say it's an interesting read and there are a few particularly interesting (though admittedly trivial) nuggets.

1. He's moved to New York.
2. He has been making felt portraits.
3. Charlie calls his adaptation of I'm Thinking of Ending Things “odd, small and a little complicated[...] I honestly approached it as my last directing job.”
4. Spike Jonze compares Charlie to Kanye West. (While hesitating to compare him to Kanye.)
5. "In April, he busied himself a little, taking a job adapting a short story for Ryan Gosling’s production company." (WHAT IS THIS? ANYONE HAVE INFO?)

There's a bonus anecdote in the comments section of the article, regarding a near death experience Charlie mightn't know that he had:

Mr. Kaufman doesn't know it, but he was nearly run over back in Pasadena years ago. He was jogging next to the Arroyo Seco. I was in my car, stopped at the side of the road as I was out photographing homes, including his I think, for a local business to use in its marketing campaign.

I did not see Kaufman as he jogged up behind me, and I almost did not see him as I moved to resume my journey just as he was skirting my car. Lucky for him (and you, and all of us), I glanced in the rear view mirror one last time and - YIKES! - there was Charlie Kaufman about to jog past me.

So glad I didn't kill him.

 THANKS FOR NOT KILLING CHARLIE, INTERNET COMMENTER!

Antkind is available IN A FEW DAYS!! (July 7.) (That's an affiliate link to the book. Amazon occasionally kicks me a few cents if people buy stuff via a link on BCK.)

We have a release date, and it's September 4! This was announced on @NetflixFilm a few hours ago.

No trailer yet, but we can probably expect one soonish.

"Inspired by" is worth noting here, suggesting that Charlie's film strays somewhat from Reid's book. Says Chris Evangelista at /film:

I’ve read the Iain Reid book that inspired the film, and it’s quite good, and pretty creepy. But based on Netflix’s description above – “an exploration of regret, longing & the fragility of the human spirit” – it sounds like Kaufman has changed the story up a bit. Because not once while reading the book did I stop and think, “Wow, this is an exploration of regret and the fragility of the human spirit!” (Source)

September 4! And of course Charlie's novel, Antkind, is due for release July 7.

Got word today that Charlie's July 8 event for the Chicago Humanities Festival will be going ahead--online instead of in person, for obvious reasons. Yay!

Details:

• All tickets to this conversation come with a copy of Antkind: A Novel. With your purchase, you save 20% on the cost of the book and directly support independent bookselling in Chicago through our partner, Seminary Co-op. CHF does not earn any revenue from book sales.
  The Book + Ticket price includes shipping, and all pre-ordered books will be shipped to buyers within 48 hours of the event date by our partner bookseller, Seminary Co-op.
• If you're one of the first 200 buyers, you'll receive a signed copy of the book straight to your door! Any purchases after that point will receive a regular unsigned copy of the book.
• The live stream link will be shared with registered guests in advance of the program. Please consider supporting our events by paying what you can for a digital ticket when registering, or by making a donation in any amount. Your support makes our programming possible.
• This event will have a live Q&A. (Source)

I'm guessing Charlie's other Antkind promo appearances will make a similar change.

More details at the link, thanks to Stephanie!