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Did you guys see The Rehearsal, Nathan Fielder's recent HBO series? It has things in common with Synecdoche, New York--upon the first season's conclusion, Jessica Winter noted the similarities (and differences) in the New Yorker.

Other viewers, including my colleague Naomi Fry, have pointed out the many similarities between “The Rehearsal” and the 2008 film “Synecdoche, New York,” written and directed by Charlie Kaufman. Both center on a protagonist who is simultaneously passive and a control freak, who directs his actors to stalk the real figures whom they are playing, and who dumps insane amounts of other people’s money on giant film sets that are replicas of actual places. But “Synecdoche” is death-haunted, dirge-like, intentionally airless, whereas “The Rehearsal” is a thrilling paradox: ostensibly designed and mapped and thought through to all logical extremes, and yet it feels as though anything can happen. “Synecdoche,” in a typical flourish, enacts its parental anxieties by making the lead character’s daughter renounce him on her deathbed before expiring of tattoo-ink poisoning; “The Rehearsal,” in contrast, depicts every parent’s worst nightmare, then simply reincarnates the kid. (Source)

Later in the piece, she also brings up Adaptation. Well worth reading... and watching!

I could be wrong, but I don't think we've seen this? It's a great, hour-long "Masterclass" with Charlie at the 2009 Vancouver International Film Festival, moderated by Helen du Toit. (They call it a masterclass. It's an interview.) It's a fun watch, beginning with Charlie's anecdote about going for a walk around Vancouver. Other stuff covered: Adaptation, Malkovich, Eternal Sunshine, Elijah the chimp, Charlie's brief foray into standup, women, Ellen in Synecdoche... Lots of good stuff! Obviously Antkind and Ending Things are not covered, since those came years later.

It popped up in my alerts a couple of weeks ago. I suspect the video was private before then.

Here's another thing CK has signed on for that might happen or quite possibly might not happen: Executive Producer of drama/thriller/romance The Incident Report. It'll be written and directed by Naomi Jaye. It's an adaption of a novel by Martha Baillie.

Says Deadline:

Julie Baldassi of Younger Daughter Films and Brian Robertson of Low End announce Britt Lower (Severance), Tom Mercier (We Are Who We Are), Jean Yoon (Kim’s Convenience) and Sook-Yin Lee (Shortbus) will star in the drama/thriller/romance The Incident Report.

The film is executive-produced by Academy Award-winning Charlie Kaufman (I’m Thinking of Ending Things, Anomalisa), and written/directed by Naomi Jaye’s (The Pin). Principal photography runs from August 2-29, 2022, in Hamilton and Toronto, Ontario.

Librarian Miriam Gordon (Lower) lives in a fog of grief while working amidst marginalized members of the public who populate her downtown public branch. When a burgeoning love-affair with Janko, a younger foreign cab driver (Mercier) coincides with her receiving a series of oddly threatening letters addressed to her, Miriam’s sheltered existence is cracked open. (Source)

Thanks to u/BartonCotard!

Philip Nitschke is a controversial Australian doctor most noted for his longtime advocacy of euthanasia. He also has an art installation in Tasmiania with shades of Dianne Wiest near the end of Synecdoche, New York.

7. My Beautiful Chair, Mona, Tasmania

More poignant than strange, this haunting installation simulates the process of euthanasia in a cosy living room setting and is known for bringing viewers to tears.

It was created by sculptor Greg Taylor and Dr Philip Nitschke, a euthanasia advocate and inventor of “the Deliverance Machine”, which was legal in the Northern Territory between 1995 and 1997. Nitschke’s Deliverance Machine was connected to a computer that asked a series of questions to confirm a person’s wish to die before administering a lethal shot.

The art installation is activated when someone sits on the leather chair and it asks participants the exact same questions as the Deliverance Machine. If consent is given, it describes the body’s physiological response until the very end when the screen displays: “You are now dead.” (Source)

(Emphasis added.)

That's via "The 10 strangest artefacts in Australian museums – sorted" over at the Guardian.

Thanks to Mark for pointing it out, and sorry it took FOREVER for me to post.

Hello! Couldn't access my hosting account for a bit (probably gonna change hosts at the end of the year), but the good news is none of us have missed much. That's also the bad news, because there's nothing CK on the immediate horizon.

However! Antkind was published in France earlier this year and, while doing some press for its release there, Kaufman said he's writing a new novel. Via BCKster Jérôme:

[...] in the magazine "L'Obs", he says he's currently writing a new novel ("I must have liked it [writing the first] because I'm writing a second one").

Jerome notes that you can sp[ot the word "second" in the scan below:

Remember Slammy's, the fictional fast food joint in Antkind? (Not as cool as Mick Burger on p.9, but I digress!) Redditor u/15millionschmeckles created this cool logo for the place:

Slammy’s by day is a whole different creature: a bright, cheerful roadside beacon. Its mascot, a smiling and proud bipedal hammer donning a red superhero cape and blue unitard with a big “Slammy’s” emblazoned across his chest and holding a hamburger and a spatula and seemingly being chased by an unseen assailant… (Antkind)

Here's a half-hour interview with David Ehrlich from August last year. It's an unlisted video and came up in my alerts last week. Keep an eye out for Charlie's passionate defence of Ed Wood around 12:45, probably the highlight of the conversation.

Sweden’s Goteborg Festival runs from Jan 28-Feb 6, and among other things they're gonna try hypnotising an audience.

Says Hollywood Reporter:

After locking audience members in a coffin to test the limits of claustrophobia and taking social isolation to the extreme by stranding a single viewer for seven days on an island in the North Sea, Sweden’s Goteborg Film Festival will use its 2022 event to experiment with mass hypnosis.

At gala screenings for three films at this year’s festival — Apichatpong Weerasethakul’s Memoria starring Tilda Swinton, Shirin Neshat’s Land of Dreams with Matt Dillion and Isabella Rossellini and Christian Tafdrup’s psychological thriller Speak No Evil — a hypnotist will perform a mass hypnosis on the audience, “transforming the audience’s state of mind in accordance with the mood and theme of the film,” organizers said Tuesday. The hypnotist will only break the spell after the screening. (Source)

The trailer for this experience makes it seem pretty wholesome.

Check out this Being John Malkovich miniature shadowbox, created by @marinaminis (Instagram). Freakin' gorgeous!

Adele Lack from that other CK flick would be proud! More pics at the link.

via r/kaufman

Charlie provided a blurb for the new edition of Iain Reid's novel I'm Thinking of Ednging Things, and it looks like this:

via r/charliekaufman
(That sub calls itself "Being Charlie Kaufman" -- which is cool! -- but do note it's not affiliated with this here site)