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Charlie Kaufman

Charles Stuart Kaufman (/ˈkɔːfmən/; born November 19, 1958) is an American screenwriter, film director, and novelist. He wrote the films Being John Malkovich (1999), Adaptation (2002), and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004). He both wrote and directed the films Synecdoche, New York (2008), Anomalisa (2015), and I'm Thinking of Ending Things (2020). In 2020, Kaufman made his literary debut with the release of his first novel, Antkind.

Charlie Kaufman
Kaufman at the 2015 Fantastic Fest
Born
Charles Stuart Kaufman

(1958-11-19) November 19, 1958 (age 65)
Alma materNew York University (BFA)
Occupations
  • Screenwriter
  • producer
  • director
  • novelist
Years active1983–present
SpouseDenise Monaghan
Children1

One of the most celebrated screenwriters of his era,[1][2][3][4] Kaufman has received an Academy Award, three BAFTA Awards, two Independent Spirit Awards, and a Writers Guild of America Award. Film critic Roger Ebert called Synecdoche, New York "the best movie of the decade" in 2009.[5] Three of Kaufman's scripts appear in the Writers Guild of America's list of the 101 greatest movie screenplays ever written.[6]

Early life and education edit

Kaufman was born in New York City to a Jewish family[7][8][9][10] on November 19, 1958, the son of Helen and Myron Kaufman.[11] He grew up in Massapequa, New York, before moving to West Hartford, Connecticut, where he graduated from high school.[12][unreliable source?] In high school, Kaufman was in the drama club, performing in numerous productions before landing the lead role in a production of Play It Again, Sam during his senior year.[12]

After high school graduation, Kaufman attended Boston University before transferring to New York University, where he studied film. While attending NYU, Kaufman met Paul Proch, with whom he wrote many unproduced scripts and plays.[12]

Career edit

Early comedy work (1983–1997) edit

Between 1983 and 1984, Kaufman and Proch wrote comedic articles and spoofs for National Lampoon. His work included parodies of Kurt Vonnegut and the X-Men.[13] Kaufman and Proch tried to get their screenplays produced, sending them to many people in the film industry. The only response the two ever received was a supportive letter from Alan Arkin about their screenplay Purely Coincidental.[14] In hope of finding a talent agent, he began to write spec scripts based on television series such as Married... with Children, Newhart, It's Garry Shandling's Show and The Simpsons. While pursuing his writing career, he began working odd jobs in customer service to support himself and his wife, Denise.[15] During the late 1980s, Kaufman lived and worked in Minneapolis, answering calls about missing newspapers at the Star Tribune.[12]

In 1991, one of Kaufman's spec scripts finally got attention, and he gained a talent agent. The agent suggested Kaufman move from Minneapolis to Los Angeles in search of more job prospects. He moved to Los Angeles alone for two months, interviewing for a variety of different television writing jobs. The only offer he got was a Comedy Central series titled Access America, hosted by actor Fred Willard, which coincidentally was being filmed in Minneapolis. Kaufman was prepared to accept the job and move back to Minneapolis until he was offered a job by David Mirkin, writing for the second season of his and Chris Elliott's sitcom Get a Life, starring Elliott.[12] He wrote two episodes of Get a Life before its cancellation in 1992. At first, Kaufman found the experience of working on a writing staff nerve-wracking and did not speak in the writer's room for the first few weeks. After his work was well received by other members of the staff, Kaufman overcame his timidity and became more amenable to showing others his work.[15]

After Get a Life's cancellation, Kaufman pursued work on series such as Seinfeld, The Larry Sanders Show, The Simpsons and Mr. Show, but to no avail. He continued to work on other comedic series: Fox's sketch comedy show The Edge, The Trouble with Larry and Ned and Stacey, the last of which he also produced. The most notable series he worked on in this period was The Dana Carvey Show, which featured writers and performers such as Louis C.K., Robert Smigel, Greg Daniels, Stephen Colbert and Steve Carell. On all these series, Kaufman struggled to keep his material from being adulterated or not produced at all, because of his unconventional writing and his quiet nature.[15]

Kaufman also wrote some pilot scripts of his own, but none of them was produced.[12][16] These included two pilots for Disney, Depressed Roomies and Rambling Pants (the former a surrealist take on the "buddy sitcom" and the latter focused on the adventures of a time-travelling poet named Pants) and a pilot for HBO, In Limbo, a naturalistic look at a romantic relationship devoid of the usual tropes of romantic films.[15]

Transition to films (1999–2004) edit

Kaufman first came to mainstream notice as the writer of Being John Malkovich, directed by Spike Jonze, earning an Academy Award nomination for his effort and winning a BAFTA. He wrote the script on spec in 1994, sending it to many companies and studios, all of which turned it down. The script eventually reached Francis Ford Coppola, who passed it on to his then-son-in-law Jonze, who agreed to direct the film.[17]

After the success of Being John Malkovich, another of Kaufman's screenplays was produced: Human Nature, which was directed by Michel Gondry and produced by Kaufman and Jonze.

Kaufman and Jonze reunited yet again as the screenwriter and director of Adaptation, which earned him another Academy Award nomination and his second BAFTA. Adaptation featured a fictionalized version of Kaufman and his fictional brother, Donald, who is credited as writer of the film along with Kaufman. The idea came to Kaufman while attempting to adapt Susan Orlean's book The Orchid Thief into film. Struggling with writer's block, Kaufman turned the script into an exaggerated account of his struggles with adapting the screenplay.[18]

Kaufman wrote the screenplay for Confessions of a Dangerous Mind, a biopic based on the "unauthorized autobiography" of Chuck Barris, the creator of such popular game shows as The Dating Game and host of The Gong Show. The film focuses on Barris's claim to have been a CIA hit man. It was George Clooney's directorial debut. Kaufman criticized Clooney for making drastic alterations to the script without consulting him (instead, Clooney consulted Barris). Kaufman said in an interview with William Arnold: "The usual thing for a writer is to deliver a script and then disappear. That's not for me. I want to be involved from beginning to end. And these directors [Gondry and Jonze] know that, and respect it."[19]

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, released in 2004, was Kaufman's second pairing with director Michel Gondry. Kaufman won his first Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay and third BAFTA for the film together with Gondry and French artist Pierre Bismuth. The trio also received the prestigious PEN American Center 2005 prize for screenplay for the film.[20] David Edelstein described the film in Slate as "The Awful Truth turned inside-out by Philip K. Dick, with nods to Samuel Beckett, Chris Marker, John Guare—the greatest dramatists of our modern fractured consciousness. But the weave is pure Kaufman."[21]

Directorial debuts and career struggles (2005–2014) edit

After agreeing to participate in Carter Burwell's Theater of the New Ear, a double bill "sound play", Kaufman wrote and directed the audio play Hope Leaves the Theater, while the other play in the production, Sawbones, was written and directed by the Coen Brothers. Hope Leaves the Theater follows a middle-aged woman, dissatisfied with her life and relationships, watching a play-within-the-play, and featured performances by Hope Davis, Peter Dinklage and Meryl Streep.[22] Theater of the New Ear debuted in April 2005 at St. Ann's Warehouse in Brooklyn, New York.[23] Due to scheduling conflicts, later productions of Theater of the New Ear did not feature the Coens' play, replacing it with Anomalisa, which Kaufman wrote under the pseudonym "'Francis Fregoli". Anomalisa centers on a man (David Thewlis) who perceives everyone in the world to be the same person (Tom Noonan) until he meets an exception (Jennifer Jason Leigh).[24]

Kaufman made his directorial film debut with the postmodern film Synecdoche, New York, starring an ensemble cast led by Philip Seymour Hoffman.[25] It premiered at the Cannes Film Festival in 2008. The idea for the film came when Kaufman and Spike Jonze were approached to direct a horror film. Rather than make a conventional horror film, the two agreed to have the film deal with things they found frightening, such as mortality and life's brevity.[26] Kaufman decided to direct the film after Jonze left the project to direct Where the Wild Things Are instead. The film premiered at the 2008 Cannes Film Festival where it split critics, with some calling it the best film of the year and others finding it pretentious.[27][28] In the years since its release, it has appeared on multiple lists ranking the best films of the 21st century.[29][30] The film's poor box office resulted in Kaufman finding it difficult to gain funding for scripts to which he has attached himself as director.[31]

Kaufman was slated to write and direct a film with the working title Frank or Francis. Few details have been confirmed about the plot, except that it is a musical comedy about internet anger culture and was set to star Jack Black, Nicolas Cage, Steve Carell, Kevin Kline, Catherine Keener, Paul Reubens, Jacki Weaver and Elizabeth Banks.[32] In July 2012, Black said that funding for the project had fallen through, as the studio was unsure about its chances for success after the financial failure of Synecdoche, New York. Although the future of the project is not certain, Kaufman says "It could still happen. It would have to be reinvented, though. We had a whole cast and we were headed into pre-production. So, I'd have to get people back and who knows if they would be interested anymore. But at this point, we don't have any money, so that's a secondary concern."[31]

Trying to make a return to television when the funding for Frank or Francis fell through, Kaufman sold a series to HBO in the May 2012 with Catherine Keener attached to star, but the series did not get past the scripting stage.[33] Kaufman also directed and wrote a pilot for FX titled How and Why in 2014. The plot was described as being about a "man (played by John Hawkes) who can explain how and why a nuclear reactor works but is clueless about life". Along with Hawkes, the pilot co-starred Michael Cera, Sally Hawkins, Catherine Keener and Tom Noonan. FX decided to not pick up the pilot.[34]

While struggling to get his directorial work made, Kaufman continued to work as a writer for hire, writing numerous unproduced screenplays. These included a satire set on a planet inhabited by everyone who ever lived, to be directed by Spike Jonze; an adaptation of George Saunders's book CivilWarLand in Bad Decline, to be directed by Ben Stiller; and an adaptation of Arthur Herzog's novel IQ 83, starring Steve Carell.[35][36] He later attempted to develop his IQ 83 screenplay into a limited series for HBO, to no avail.[37] He also did uncredited rewrites on films such as Kung Fu Panda 2 and Ad Astra.[35]

In April 2012, Kaufman was hired to adapt Patrick Ness's Chaos Walking book series, of which he wrote the first draft before leaving the project. After multiple rewrites by other writers, the film was released in 2021 with Kaufman uncredited.[38]

Continued film work and debut novel (2015–present) edit

 
Kaufman (left) and Duke Johnson accepting the Grand Jury Prize for Anomalisa at the Venice Film Festival in 2015.

Dino Stamatopoulos, a former colleague of Kaufman's from The Dana Carvey Show, became interested in adapting Kaufman's Anomalisa play script into a stop motion animated film. With Kaufman's permission, Stamatopoulos turned to the crowdfunding website Kickstarter to fund the film. The Kickstarter page was set up in August 2012 and by the time funding had ended $406,237 was pledged.[39] The rest of the $8 million budget was funded by the film's production company, Starburns Industries.[40] Kaufman co-directed the film with Duke Johnson, who had previous experience in stop motion filmmaking, and the original cast of the play production returned to reprise their roles. It had its world premiere at the Telluride Film Festival on September 4, 2015,[41] receiving universal acclaim from critics.[42] The film went on to win the Grand Jury Prize at the Venice Film Festival and was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Animated Feature, but like Synecdoche, it did poorly at the box office.[43]

 
Kaufman at the 2020 Dublin International Film Festival

Kaufman's debut novel, Antkind, was released in July 2020. Kaufman said in 2016 that the novel was being written so as to be unfilmable, and is itself about "an impossible movie".[44] In Antkind, film critic B. Rosenberg attempts to recall a three-month long stop-motion animation film that perished in a fire. Believing the film to be his last chance at achieving the respect and admiration of his peers, B. embarks on an absurdist journey that explores comedy, film theory, philosophy, and social commentary across Antkind's 706 pages.[45]

In January 2018, it was announced that Kaufman was working on writing and directing an adaptation of Iain Reid's 2016 novel I'm Thinking of Ending Things.[46] In December 2018, it was announced that Brie Larson and Jesse Plemons were signed to co-star as the leads; the film was described as "the story of a woman's trip to a family farm that leads to an unexpected detour leaving her stranded, [and] a twisted mix of palpable tension, psychological frailty and sheer terror ensues."[47][48] The project began filming in March 2019, with Jessie Buckley having replaced Larson, and Toni Collette and David Thewlis joining the cast, and was released on Netflix in September 2020 to positive reviews.[49][50]

In 2023, Kaufman directed his first short film, Jackals & Fireflies. Based on a poem by Eva H.D., who also portrays the lead character, the film was shot entirely on a Samsung Galaxy S22 smartphone by cinematographer Chayse Irvin.[51]

Kaufman has written a script about dreams for Ryan Gosling's production company that Gosling may star in and an adaptation of the novel The Memory Police that Reed Morano is slated to direct.[52]

Themes and influences edit

Kaufman's works explore such universal themes as identity crisis, mortality, and the meaning of life through a metaphysical or parapsychological framework. While his work resists labels, it is sometimes described as surrealist.[53] He uses metafiction as a literary device, and sometimes includes fictionalized "facts" about his life in his work, notably Adaptation., Hope Leaves the Theater, and Antkind. Gender identity is also a recurrent theme in his work.[54]

Apes recur in Kaufman's early work: in Being John Malkovich, Lotte has a pet chimp named Elijah; in Human Nature, Puff was raised as an ape; in Confessions of a Dangerous Mind, Penny dreams about an ape; and in Adaptation, the original deus ex machina was a swamp ape.[55]

Some writers and directors Kaufman has named as favorites of his, or as influences, are Franz Kafka,[33] Samuel Beckett,[56] Eugene Ionesco, Stanisław Lem,[57] Flannery O'Connor,[58] Shirley Jackson,[58] Philip K. Dick,[59] Patricia Highsmith,[59] Stephen Dixon,[59] David Lynch,[33] Lars von Trier,[33] Roy Andersson,[33] Woody Allen,[60] and the Coen brothers.[61] He has also mentioned Tom Noonan's What Happened Was... as a favorite of his.[62]

Personal life edit

As of 2020, Kaufman lives in Manhattan,[63] having lived in Pasadena, California, since 1998.[64][16] He is married to Denise Monaghan,[65] with whom he has a daughter, Anna.[63][66]

Works edit

Film edit

Year Title Director Writer Producer Notes
1999 Being John Malkovich No Yes Executive
2001 Human Nature No Yes Yes
2002 Adaptation No Yes Executive
Confessions of a Dangerous Mind No Yes No
2004 Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind No Yes Executive
2008 Synecdoche, New York Yes Yes Yes
2015 Anomalisa Yes Yes Yes Co-director with Duke Johnson
2020 I'm Thinking of Ending Things Yes Yes Yes
2023 Jackals & Fireflies Yes No Yes Short film
2024 Orion and the Dark No Yes No Post-production

Executive producer only

Television edit

Year Title Director Writer Producer Notes
1991–1992 Get a Life No Yes No 2 episodes
1992–1993 The Edge No Yes No 20 episodes
1993 The Trouble with Larry No Yes No Also story editor
7 episodes
1995 Misery Loves Company No No Yes 6 episodes
1996 The Dana Carvey Show No Yes No 8 episodes
1996–1997 Ned and Stacey No Yes Yes 3 episodes
2014 How and Why Yes Yes Executive Also creator
Unaired pilot[67]

Plays edit

Year Title Director Writer Notes
2005 Hope Leaves the Theater Yes Yes
Anomalisa Yes Yes Under the pseudonym Francis Fregoli

Literature edit

Year Title Publisher ISBN Length
2020 Antkind Random House 978-0399589683 Novel

Awards and nominations edit

References edit

  1. ^ Ebert, Roger (November 5, 2008). "Synecdoche, New York Movie Review (2008)". Retrieved October 16, 2015. "Charlie Kaufman is one of the few truly important writers to make screenplays his medium."
  2. ^ "Charlie Kaufman Is The 21st Century's 'Mad Genius Of Cinema'". GQ. June 3, 2016. Retrieved January 9, 2017.
  3. ^ "Charlie Kaufman: Screenwriters Lecture". British Academy of Film and Television Arts. Retrieved October 16, 2015. "One of modern cinema's most celebrated writers"...
  4. ^ Ulin, David L. (May 14, 2006). "Why Charlie Kaufman Is Us". The Los Angeles Times. Retrieved October 16, 2015. "In exploring our inner selves, he's become one of the best writers of his generation, David L. Ulin argues."
  5. ^ Ebert, Roger. (December 13, 2009) The best films of the decade – Roger Ebert's Journal May 28, 2010, at the Wayback Machine. Blogs.suntimes.com. Retrieved on 2010-12-19.
  6. ^ . Writers Guild of America, West. Archived from the original on August 13, 2006. Retrieved September 13, 2015.
  7. ^ Applebaum, Stephen (May 7, 2009). "It's not easy being Charlie Kaufman". The Jewish Chronicle. Retrieved April 27, 2018.
  8. ^ Feinstein, Howard (December 28, 2009). "Decade: Charlie Kaufman on "Synecdoche, New York"". IndieWire. Retrieved April 27, 2018.
  9. ^ Solomons, Jason (March 17, 2016). "Tradition? No, I just want to write what I think is funny". The Jewish Chronicle. Retrieved April 27, 2018.
  10. ^ Bloom, Nate (February 25, 2016). "The tribe at the Oscars, 2016". Times of Israel.
  11. ^ LaRocca, D. (2011). The Philosophy of Charlie Kaufman. University Press of Kentucky. p. 3. ISBN 9780813133928. Retrieved October 15, 2014.
  12. ^ a b c d e f "Biography". BeingCharlieKaufman.com. Retrieved August 28, 2012.
  13. ^ "Scans of said articles". Beingcharliekaufman.com. Retrieved December 4, 2017.
  14. ^ . Archived from the original on February 10, 2017.
  15. ^ a b c d "Charlie Kaufman: Confessions of an Original Mind". GoodRead.com. Retrieved January 18, 2020.
  16. ^ a b "Salon.com Interview by Michael Sragow". November 11, 1999. Retrieved May 15, 2007.
  17. ^ Kobel, Peter (October 24, 1999). "FILM; The Fun and Games of Living a Virtual Life". The New York Times. from the original on November 28, 2010. Retrieved November 4, 2010.
  18. ^ Claude Brodesser (November 10, 1999). "Scribe revisiting reality". Variety. Retrieved December 5, 2017.
  19. ^ "Kaufman interviewed by William Arnold". Seattle Post-Intelligencer. March 18, 2004. Retrieved May 19, 2007.
  20. ^ . Archived from the original on November 25, 2006. Retrieved January 12, 2007.
  21. ^ David Edelstein (March 19, 2004). "Forget Me Not: The genius of Charlie Kaufman's Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind". Slate. Retrieved July 24, 2016.
  22. ^ . Archived from the original on April 29, 2007.
  23. ^ . Archived from the original on January 7, 2007. Retrieved January 12, 2007.
  24. ^ "Theater of the New Ear". Retrieved July 30, 2015.
  25. ^ . Archived from the original on December 5, 2017. Retrieved December 5, 2017.
  26. ^ "Synecdoche, New York: A Great Film About the Upcoming Zombie Apocalypse? | Blog | WorldMaker.net". Blog.worldmaker.net. May 18, 2009. Retrieved November 27, 2012.
  27. ^ [1] January 2, 2009, at the Wayback Machine
  28. ^ Kois, Dan (January 5, 2009). "Vulture's Critics' Poll: The Complete Ballots". Vulture.com. Retrieved November 17, 2015.
  29. ^ "The 100 best films of the 21st Century". The Guardian. September 13, 2019. Retrieved September 13, 2019.
  30. ^ "The 21st Century's 100 greatest films". BBC. August 23, 2016. Retrieved September 8, 2016.
  31. ^ a b Jagernauth, Kevin (November 12, 2015). . Indiewire. Archived from the original on December 30, 2015. Retrieved December 9, 2015.
  32. ^ "Is this the plot of "Frank or Francis"?". BeingCharlieKaufman.com. July 30, 2011. Retrieved August 28, 2012.
  33. ^ a b c d e "IN CONVERSATION: CHARLIE KAUFMAN". Vulture.com. December 16, 2015. Retrieved March 8, 2017.
  34. ^ "FX's Charlie Kaufman Pilot Not Going Forward". Deadline Hollywood. July 21, 2014.
  35. ^ a b "Charlie Kaufman on his new film, a metaphysical time-hopping thriller". Dazed and Confused. September 4, 2020.
  36. ^ "Steve Carell, Charlie Kaufman Lock 'I.Q. 83'; Viral Outbreak Dumbs Down World". Deadline Hollywood. October 22, 2014.
  37. ^ "'I'm Thinking of Ending Things' Director Charlie Kaufman Isn't Trying to Mess With Your Mind". Variety. August 27, 2020. Retrieved October 8, 2020.
  38. ^ "Daisy Ridley-Starring 'Chaos Walking' will Shoot in Canada". Backstage.
  39. ^ "Charlie Kaufman's Anomalisa". Kickstarter.
  40. ^ Starburns Industries (May 22, 2014). "Kickstart Update #39: Anomalisa Timeline". Kickstarter. Retrieved June 11, 2018.
  41. ^ Kohn, Eric (September 5, 2015). "Telluride Review: Charlie Kaufman's Marvelously Strange 'Anomalisa' is An Animated Identity Crisis". Indiewire.com. Retrieved December 9, 2015.
  42. ^ "Anomalisa (2015)". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved December 9, 2015.
  43. ^ "Anomalisa". Box Office Mojo. IMDb. Retrieved February 21, 2016.
  44. ^ "Charlie's novel has a title! And maybe a release date? And a blurby thing". Being Charlie Kaufman. February 18, 2019. Retrieved April 4, 2019.
  45. ^ "Antkind by Charlie Kaufman review – absurdism ad infinitum". the Guardian. August 2, 2020. Retrieved October 27, 2020.
  46. ^ "Charlie Kaufman Adapting Novel by Canadian Author Iain Reid for Netflix". The National Post. January 25, 2018. Retrieved July 31, 2018.
  47. ^ "Brie Larson to Star in Charlie Kaufman's Netflix Movie 'I'm Thinking of Ending Things'". Collider. December 4, 2018. Retrieved December 5, 2018.
  48. ^ "AQUAMAN 2 IS IN THE WORKS, AND MORE MOVIE NEWS'". Rotten Tomatoes. December 7, 2018. Retrieved December 8, 2018.
  49. ^ Howland, Jack (March 21, 2019). "Charlie Kaufman movie for Netflix filming in Fishkill, Hudson Valley". Poughkeepsie Journal. Retrieved March 22, 2019.
  50. ^ . Being Charlie Kaufman. March 28, 2019. Archived from the original on April 4, 2019. Retrieved April 4, 2019.
  51. ^ Erbland, Kate (February 10, 2023). "Why Charlie Kaufman Made a Short About Human Connection on a Cell Phone". IndieWire. Retrieved May 26, 2023.
  52. ^ "I'm Thinking of Ending Things Director Charlie Kaufman Isn't Trying to Mess With Your Mind". Variety. August 27, 2020. Retrieved October 8, 2020.
  53. ^ . Archived from the original on September 24, 2005.
  54. ^ "How to Be Someone Else: Transgender Themes in the Work of Charlie Kaufman". Crooked Marquee. September 7, 2020. Retrieved October 3, 2020.
  55. ^ . Archived from the original on March 28, 2009.
  56. ^ "Charlie Kaufman interview: Life's little dramas". Scotsman.com. Retrieved March 8, 2017.
  57. ^ . The L Magazine. October 22, 2008. Archived from the original on March 9, 2017. Retrieved March 8, 2017.
  58. ^ a b "Being Charlie Kaufman". Salon. November 11, 1999. Retrieved March 8, 2017.
  59. ^ a b c "Being Charlie Kaufman". Salon. November 11, 1999. Retrieved June 24, 2020.
  60. ^ "The Filmmakers @KVIFF 2016: Charlie Kaufman". YouTube.
  61. ^ Sternbergh, Adam (December 16, 2015). "In Conversation: Charlie Kaufman". Vulture. Retrieved June 24, 2020.
  62. ^ ""Anomalisa" Star Reveals E-Mail Trail Sparked Close Bond To Hollywood Great Charlie Kaufman". April 2016. Retrieved May 5, 2023.
  63. ^ a b Mooallem, Jon (July 2, 2020). "This Profile of Charlie Kaufman Has Changed". The New York Times.
  64. ^ David, Mark (April 22, 2019). "Charlie Kaufman Lists Arts and Crafts Bungalow in Pasadena". Variety. Retrieved June 30, 2021.
  65. ^ Logan, Degen Pener,Chris Godley,Bryan; Pener, Degen; Godley, Chris; Logan, Bryan (October 7, 2011). "Hollywood's Biggest Real Estate Deals of the Week: Matthew Perry, Ellen DeGeneres, Sacha Baron Cohen". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved June 30, 2021.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  66. ^ "An interview with the artist Denise Monaghan, Pasadena, California". Quixotic. Retrieved June 30, 2021.
  67. ^ Andreeva, Nellie (January 14, 2014). "John Hawkes & Michael Cera To Star In Charlie Kaufman's FX Comedy Pilot". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved January 14, 2014.

External links edit

charlie, kaufman, redirects, here, children, books, wonder, books, charles, stuart, kaufman, ɔː, born, november, 1958, american, screenwriter, film, director, novelist, wrote, films, being, john, malkovich, 1999, adaptation, 2002, eternal, sunshine, spotless, . How and Why redirects here For the children s books see How and Why Wonder Books Charles Stuart Kaufman ˈ k ɔː f m e n born November 19 1958 is an American screenwriter film director and novelist He wrote the films Being John Malkovich 1999 Adaptation 2002 and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind 2004 He both wrote and directed the films Synecdoche New York 2008 Anomalisa 2015 and I m Thinking of Ending Things 2020 In 2020 Kaufman made his literary debut with the release of his first novel Antkind Charlie KaufmanKaufman at the 2015 Fantastic FestBornCharles Stuart Kaufman 1958 11 19 November 19 1958 age 65 New York City U S Alma materNew York University BFA OccupationsScreenwriter producer director novelistYears active1983 presentSpouseDenise MonaghanChildren1One of the most celebrated screenwriters of his era 1 2 3 4 Kaufman has received an Academy Award three BAFTA Awards two Independent Spirit Awards and a Writers Guild of America Award Film critic Roger Ebert called Synecdoche New York the best movie of the decade in 2009 5 Three of Kaufman s scripts appear in the Writers Guild of America s list of the 101 greatest movie screenplays ever written 6 Contents 1 Early life and education 2 Career 2 1 Early comedy work 1983 1997 2 2 Transition to films 1999 2004 2 3 Directorial debuts and career struggles 2005 2014 2 4 Continued film work and debut novel 2015 present 3 Themes and influences 4 Personal life 5 Works 5 1 Film 5 2 Television 5 3 Plays 5 4 Literature 6 Awards and nominations 7 References 8 External linksEarly life and education editKaufman was born in New York City to a Jewish family 7 8 9 10 on November 19 1958 the son of Helen and Myron Kaufman 11 He grew up in Massapequa New York before moving to West Hartford Connecticut where he graduated from high school 12 unreliable source In high school Kaufman was in the drama club performing in numerous productions before landing the lead role in a production of Play It Again Sam during his senior year 12 After high school graduation Kaufman attended Boston University before transferring to New York University where he studied film While attending NYU Kaufman met Paul Proch with whom he wrote many unproduced scripts and plays 12 Career editEarly comedy work 1983 1997 edit Between 1983 and 1984 Kaufman and Proch wrote comedic articles and spoofs for National Lampoon His work included parodies of Kurt Vonnegut and the X Men 13 Kaufman and Proch tried to get their screenplays produced sending them to many people in the film industry The only response the two ever received was a supportive letter from Alan Arkin about their screenplay Purely Coincidental 14 In hope of finding a talent agent he began to write spec scripts based on television series such as Married with Children Newhart It s Garry Shandling s Show and The Simpsons While pursuing his writing career he began working odd jobs in customer service to support himself and his wife Denise 15 During the late 1980s Kaufman lived and worked in Minneapolis answering calls about missing newspapers at the Star Tribune 12 In 1991 one of Kaufman s spec scripts finally got attention and he gained a talent agent The agent suggested Kaufman move from Minneapolis to Los Angeles in search of more job prospects He moved to Los Angeles alone for two months interviewing for a variety of different television writing jobs The only offer he got was a Comedy Central series titled Access America hosted by actor Fred Willard which coincidentally was being filmed in Minneapolis Kaufman was prepared to accept the job and move back to Minneapolis until he was offered a job by David Mirkin writing for the second season of his and Chris Elliott s sitcom Get a Life starring Elliott 12 He wrote two episodes of Get a Life before its cancellation in 1992 At first Kaufman found the experience of working on a writing staff nerve wracking and did not speak in the writer s room for the first few weeks After his work was well received by other members of the staff Kaufman overcame his timidity and became more amenable to showing others his work 15 After Get a Life s cancellation Kaufman pursued work on series such as Seinfeld The Larry Sanders Show The Simpsons and Mr Show but to no avail He continued to work on other comedic series Fox s sketch comedy show The Edge The Trouble with Larry and Ned and Stacey the last of which he also produced The most notable series he worked on in this period was The Dana Carvey Show which featured writers and performers such as Louis C K Robert Smigel Greg Daniels Stephen Colbert and Steve Carell On all these series Kaufman struggled to keep his material from being adulterated or not produced at all because of his unconventional writing and his quiet nature 15 Kaufman also wrote some pilot scripts of his own but none of them was produced 12 16 These included two pilots for Disney Depressed Roomies and Rambling Pants the former a surrealist take on the buddy sitcom and the latter focused on the adventures of a time travelling poet named Pants and a pilot for HBO In Limbo a naturalistic look at a romantic relationship devoid of the usual tropes of romantic films 15 Transition to films 1999 2004 edit Kaufman first came to mainstream notice as the writer of Being John Malkovich directed by Spike Jonze earning an Academy Award nomination for his effort and winning a BAFTA He wrote the script on spec in 1994 sending it to many companies and studios all of which turned it down The script eventually reached Francis Ford Coppola who passed it on to his then son in law Jonze who agreed to direct the film 17 After the success of Being John Malkovich another of Kaufman s screenplays was produced Human Nature which was directed by Michel Gondry and produced by Kaufman and Jonze Kaufman and Jonze reunited yet again as the screenwriter and director of Adaptation which earned him another Academy Award nomination and his second BAFTA Adaptation featured a fictionalized version of Kaufman and his fictional brother Donald who is credited as writer of the film along with Kaufman The idea came to Kaufman while attempting to adapt Susan Orlean s book The Orchid Thief into film Struggling with writer s block Kaufman turned the script into an exaggerated account of his struggles with adapting the screenplay 18 Kaufman wrote the screenplay for Confessions of a Dangerous Mind a biopic based on the unauthorized autobiography of Chuck Barris the creator of such popular game shows as The Dating Game and host of The Gong Show The film focuses on Barris s claim to have been a CIA hit man It was George Clooney s directorial debut Kaufman criticized Clooney for making drastic alterations to the script without consulting him instead Clooney consulted Barris Kaufman said in an interview with William Arnold The usual thing for a writer is to deliver a script and then disappear That s not for me I want to be involved from beginning to end And these directors Gondry and Jonze know that and respect it 19 Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind released in 2004 was Kaufman s second pairing with director Michel Gondry Kaufman won his first Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay and third BAFTA for the film together with Gondry and French artist Pierre Bismuth The trio also received the prestigious PEN American Center 2005 prize for screenplay for the film 20 David Edelstein described the film in Slate as The Awful Truth turned inside out by Philip K Dick with nods to Samuel Beckett Chris Marker John Guare the greatest dramatists of our modern fractured consciousness But the weave is pure Kaufman 21 Directorial debuts and career struggles 2005 2014 edit After agreeing to participate in Carter Burwell s Theater of the New Ear a double bill sound play Kaufman wrote and directed the audio play Hope Leaves the Theater while the other play in the production Sawbones was written and directed by the Coen Brothers Hope Leaves the Theater follows a middle aged woman dissatisfied with her life and relationships watching a play within the play and featured performances by Hope Davis Peter Dinklage and Meryl Streep 22 Theater of the New Ear debuted in April 2005 at St Ann s Warehouse in Brooklyn New York 23 Due to scheduling conflicts later productions of Theater of the New Ear did not feature the Coens play replacing it with Anomalisa which Kaufman wrote under the pseudonym Francis Fregoli Anomalisa centers on a man David Thewlis who perceives everyone in the world to be the same person Tom Noonan until he meets an exception Jennifer Jason Leigh 24 Kaufman made his directorial film debut with the postmodern film Synecdoche New York starring an ensemble cast led by Philip Seymour Hoffman 25 It premiered at the Cannes Film Festival in 2008 The idea for the film came when Kaufman and Spike Jonze were approached to direct a horror film Rather than make a conventional horror film the two agreed to have the film deal with things they found frightening such as mortality and life s brevity 26 Kaufman decided to direct the film after Jonze left the project to direct Where the Wild Things Are instead The film premiered at the 2008 Cannes Film Festival where it split critics with some calling it the best film of the year and others finding it pretentious 27 28 In the years since its release it has appeared on multiple lists ranking the best films of the 21st century 29 30 The film s poor box office resulted in Kaufman finding it difficult to gain funding for scripts to which he has attached himself as director 31 Kaufman was slated to write and direct a film with the working title Frank or Francis Few details have been confirmed about the plot except that it is a musical comedy about internet anger culture and was set to star Jack Black Nicolas Cage Steve Carell Kevin Kline Catherine Keener Paul Reubens Jacki Weaver and Elizabeth Banks 32 In July 2012 Black said that funding for the project had fallen through as the studio was unsure about its chances for success after the financial failure of Synecdoche New York Although the future of the project is not certain Kaufman says It could still happen It would have to be reinvented though We had a whole cast and we were headed into pre production So I d have to get people back and who knows if they would be interested anymore But at this point we don t have any money so that s a secondary concern 31 Trying to make a return to television when the funding for Frank or Francis fell through Kaufman sold a series to HBO in the May 2012 with Catherine Keener attached to star but the series did not get past the scripting stage 33 Kaufman also directed and wrote a pilot for FX titled How and Why in 2014 The plot was described as being about a man played by John Hawkes who can explain how and why a nuclear reactor works but is clueless about life Along with Hawkes the pilot co starred Michael Cera Sally Hawkins Catherine Keener and Tom Noonan FX decided to not pick up the pilot 34 While struggling to get his directorial work made Kaufman continued to work as a writer for hire writing numerous unproduced screenplays These included a satire set on a planet inhabited by everyone who ever lived to be directed by Spike Jonze an adaptation of George Saunders s book CivilWarLand in Bad Decline to be directed by Ben Stiller and an adaptation of Arthur Herzog s novel IQ 83 starring Steve Carell 35 36 He later attempted to develop his IQ 83 screenplay into a limited series for HBO to no avail 37 He also did uncredited rewrites on films such as Kung Fu Panda 2 and Ad Astra 35 In April 2012 Kaufman was hired to adapt Patrick Ness s Chaos Walking book series of which he wrote the first draft before leaving the project After multiple rewrites by other writers the film was released in 2021 with Kaufman uncredited 38 Continued film work and debut novel 2015 present edit nbsp Kaufman left and Duke Johnson accepting the Grand Jury Prize for Anomalisa at the Venice Film Festival in 2015 Dino Stamatopoulos a former colleague of Kaufman s from The Dana Carvey Show became interested in adapting Kaufman s Anomalisa play script into a stop motion animated film With Kaufman s permission Stamatopoulos turned to the crowdfunding website Kickstarter to fund the film The Kickstarter page was set up in August 2012 and by the time funding had ended 406 237 was pledged 39 The rest of the 8 million budget was funded by the film s production company Starburns Industries 40 Kaufman co directed the film with Duke Johnson who had previous experience in stop motion filmmaking and the original cast of the play production returned to reprise their roles It had its world premiere at the Telluride Film Festival on September 4 2015 41 receiving universal acclaim from critics 42 The film went on to win the Grand Jury Prize at the Venice Film Festival and was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Animated Feature but like Synecdoche it did poorly at the box office 43 nbsp Kaufman at the 2020 Dublin International Film FestivalKaufman s debut novel Antkind was released in July 2020 Kaufman said in 2016 that the novel was being written so as to be unfilmable and is itself about an impossible movie 44 In Antkind film critic B Rosenberg attempts to recall a three month long stop motion animation film that perished in a fire Believing the film to be his last chance at achieving the respect and admiration of his peers B embarks on an absurdist journey that explores comedy film theory philosophy and social commentary across Antkind s 706 pages 45 In January 2018 it was announced that Kaufman was working on writing and directing an adaptation of Iain Reid s 2016 novel I m Thinking of Ending Things 46 In December 2018 it was announced that Brie Larson and Jesse Plemons were signed to co star as the leads the film was described as the story of a woman s trip to a family farm that leads to an unexpected detour leaving her stranded and a twisted mix of palpable tension psychological frailty and sheer terror ensues 47 48 The project began filming in March 2019 with Jessie Buckley having replaced Larson and Toni Collette and David Thewlis joining the cast and was released on Netflix in September 2020 to positive reviews 49 50 In 2023 Kaufman directed his first short film Jackals amp Fireflies Based on a poem by Eva H D who also portrays the lead character the film was shot entirely on a Samsung Galaxy S22 smartphone by cinematographer Chayse Irvin 51 Kaufman has written a script about dreams for Ryan Gosling s production company that Gosling may star in and an adaptation of the novel The Memory Police that Reed Morano is slated to direct 52 Themes and influences editKaufman s works explore such universal themes as identity crisis mortality and the meaning of life through a metaphysical or parapsychological framework While his work resists labels it is sometimes described as surrealist 53 He uses metafiction as a literary device and sometimes includes fictionalized facts about his life in his work notably Adaptation Hope Leaves the Theater and Antkind Gender identity is also a recurrent theme in his work 54 Apes recur in Kaufman s early work in Being John Malkovich Lotte has a pet chimp named Elijah in Human Nature Puff was raised as an ape in Confessions of a Dangerous Mind Penny dreams about an ape and in Adaptation the original deus ex machina was a swamp ape 55 Some writers and directors Kaufman has named as favorites of his or as influences are Franz Kafka 33 Samuel Beckett 56 Eugene Ionesco Stanislaw Lem 57 Flannery O Connor 58 Shirley Jackson 58 Philip K Dick 59 Patricia Highsmith 59 Stephen Dixon 59 David Lynch 33 Lars von Trier 33 Roy Andersson 33 Woody Allen 60 and the Coen brothers 61 He has also mentioned Tom Noonan s What Happened Was as a favorite of his 62 Personal life editAs of 2020 update Kaufman lives in Manhattan 63 having lived in Pasadena California since 1998 64 16 He is married to Denise Monaghan 65 with whom he has a daughter Anna 63 66 Works editFilm edit Year Title Director Writer Producer Notes1999 Being John Malkovich No Yes Executive2001 Human Nature No Yes Yes2002 Adaptation No Yes ExecutiveConfessions of a Dangerous Mind No Yes No2004 Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind No Yes Executive2008 Synecdoche New York Yes Yes Yes2015 Anomalisa Yes Yes Yes Co director with Duke Johnson2020 I m Thinking of Ending Things Yes Yes Yes2023 Jackals amp Fireflies Yes No Yes Short film2024 Orion and the Dark No Yes No Post productionExecutive producer only The Incident Report TBA The Actor TBA Television edit Year Title Director Writer Producer Notes1991 1992 Get a Life No Yes No 2 episodes1992 1993 The Edge No Yes No 20 episodes1993 The Trouble with Larry No Yes No Also story editor7 episodes1995 Misery Loves Company No No Yes 6 episodes1996 The Dana Carvey Show No Yes No 8 episodes1996 1997 Ned and Stacey No Yes Yes 3 episodes2014 How and Why Yes Yes Executive Also creatorUnaired pilot 67 Plays edit Year Title Director Writer Notes2005 Hope Leaves the Theater Yes YesAnomalisa Yes Yes Under the pseudonym Francis FregoliLiterature edit Year Title Publisher ISBN Length2020 Antkind Random House 978 0399589683 NovelAwards and nominations editMain article List of awards and nominations received by Charlie KaufmanReferences edit Ebert Roger November 5 2008 Synecdoche New York Movie Review 2008 Retrieved October 16 2015 Charlie Kaufman is one of the few truly important writers to make screenplays his medium Charlie Kaufman Is The 21st Century s Mad Genius Of Cinema GQ June 3 2016 Retrieved January 9 2017 Charlie Kaufman Screenwriters Lecture British Academy of Film and Television Arts Retrieved October 16 2015 One of modern cinema s most celebrated writers Ulin David L May 14 2006 Why Charlie Kaufman Is Us The Los Angeles Times Retrieved October 16 2015 In exploring our inner selves he s become one of the best writers of his generation David L Ulin argues Ebert Roger December 13 2009 The best films of the decade Roger Ebert s Journal Archived May 28 2010 at the Wayback Machine Blogs suntimes com Retrieved on 2010 12 19 101 Greatest Screenplays List Writers Guild of America West Archived from the original on August 13 2006 Retrieved September 13 2015 Applebaum Stephen May 7 2009 It s not easy being Charlie Kaufman The Jewish Chronicle Retrieved April 27 2018 Feinstein Howard December 28 2009 Decade Charlie Kaufman on Synecdoche New York IndieWire Retrieved April 27 2018 Solomons Jason March 17 2016 Tradition No I just want to write what I think is funny The Jewish Chronicle Retrieved April 27 2018 Bloom Nate February 25 2016 The tribe at the Oscars 2016 Times of Israel LaRocca D 2011 The Philosophy of Charlie Kaufman University Press of Kentucky p 3 ISBN 9780813133928 Retrieved October 15 2014 a b c d e f Biography BeingCharlieKaufman com Retrieved August 28 2012 Scans of said articles Beingcharliekaufman com Retrieved December 4 2017 Journey Into Madness Archived from the original on February 10 2017 a b c d Charlie Kaufman Confessions of an Original Mind GoodRead com Retrieved January 18 2020 a b Salon com Interview by Michael Sragow November 11 1999 Retrieved May 15 2007 Kobel Peter October 24 1999 FILM The Fun and Games of Living a Virtual Life The New York Times Archived from the original on November 28 2010 Retrieved November 4 2010 Claude Brodesser November 10 1999 Scribe revisiting reality Variety Retrieved December 5 2017 Kaufman interviewed by William Arnold Seattle Post Intelligencer March 18 2004 Retrieved May 19 2007 PEN Center USA 2005 Literary Awards Winners Archived from the original on November 25 2006 Retrieved January 12 2007 David Edelstein March 19 2004 Forget Me Not The genius of Charlie Kaufman s Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind Slate Retrieved July 24 2016 Creative Screenwriting Magazine on Hope Leaves the Theater Archived from the original on April 29 2007 The Body Projects Theater of the New Ear Archived from the original on January 7 2007 Retrieved January 12 2007 Theater of the New Ear Retrieved July 30 2015 Kaufman s Directorial Debut Lands Williams Hoffman Archived from the original on December 5 2017 Retrieved December 5 2017 Synecdoche New York A Great Film About the Upcoming Zombie Apocalypse Blog WorldMaker net Blog worldmaker net May 18 2009 Retrieved November 27 2012 1 Archived January 2 2009 at the Wayback Machine Kois Dan January 5 2009 Vulture s Critics Poll The Complete Ballots Vulture com Retrieved November 17 2015 The 100 best films of the 21st Century The Guardian September 13 2019 Retrieved September 13 2019 The 21st Century s 100 greatest films BBC August 23 2016 Retrieved September 8 2016 a b Jagernauth Kevin November 12 2015 Charlie Kaufman Explains Why Star Studded Frank Or Francis Fell Apart Says It Could Still Happen Indiewire Archived from the original on December 30 2015 Retrieved December 9 2015 Is this the plot of Frank or Francis BeingCharlieKaufman com July 30 2011 Retrieved August 28 2012 a b c d e IN CONVERSATION CHARLIE KAUFMAN Vulture com December 16 2015 Retrieved March 8 2017 FX s Charlie Kaufman Pilot Not Going Forward Deadline Hollywood July 21 2014 a b Charlie Kaufman on his new film a metaphysical time hopping thriller Dazed and Confused September 4 2020 Steve Carell Charlie Kaufman Lock I Q 83 Viral Outbreak Dumbs Down World Deadline Hollywood October 22 2014 I m Thinking of Ending Things Director Charlie Kaufman Isn t Trying to Mess With Your Mind Variety August 27 2020 Retrieved October 8 2020 Daisy Ridley Starring Chaos Walking will Shoot in Canada Backstage Charlie Kaufman s Anomalisa Kickstarter Starburns Industries May 22 2014 Kickstart Update 39 Anomalisa Timeline Kickstarter Retrieved June 11 2018 Kohn Eric September 5 2015 Telluride Review Charlie Kaufman s Marvelously Strange Anomalisa is An Animated Identity Crisis Indiewire com Retrieved December 9 2015 Anomalisa 2015 Rotten Tomatoes Retrieved December 9 2015 Anomalisa Box Office Mojo IMDb Retrieved February 21 2016 Charlie s novel has a title And maybe a release date And a blurby thing Being Charlie Kaufman February 18 2019 Retrieved April 4 2019 Antkind by Charlie Kaufman review absurdism ad infinitum the Guardian August 2 2020 Retrieved October 27 2020 Charlie Kaufman Adapting Novel by Canadian Author Iain Reid for Netflix The National Post January 25 2018 Retrieved July 31 2018 Brie Larson to Star in Charlie Kaufman s Netflix Movie I m Thinking of Ending Things Collider December 4 2018 Retrieved December 5 2018 AQUAMAN 2 IS IN THE WORKS AND MORE MOVIE NEWS Rotten Tomatoes December 7 2018 Retrieved December 8 2018 Howland Jack March 21 2019 Charlie Kaufman movie for Netflix filming in Fishkill Hudson Valley Poughkeepsie Journal Retrieved March 22 2019 Larson out Toni Collette Jessie Buckley and David Thewlis in for Ending Things Being Charlie Kaufman March 28 2019 Archived from the original on April 4 2019 Retrieved April 4 2019 Erbland Kate February 10 2023 Why Charlie Kaufman Made a Short About Human Connection on a Cell Phone IndieWire Retrieved May 26 2023 I m Thinking of Ending Things Director Charlie Kaufman Isn t Trying to Mess With Your Mind Variety August 27 2020 Retrieved October 8 2020 Indie Wire interview Archived from the original on September 24 2005 How to Be Someone Else Transgender Themes in the Work of Charlie Kaufman Crooked Marquee September 7 2020 Retrieved October 3 2020 Adaptation Draft 2 Archived from the original on March 28 2009 Charlie Kaufman interview Life s little dramas Scotsman com Retrieved March 8 2017 Talking with the Kaufman About Pandas The L Magazine October 22 2008 Archived from the original on March 9 2017 Retrieved March 8 2017 a b Being Charlie Kaufman Salon November 11 1999 Retrieved March 8 2017 a b c Being Charlie Kaufman Salon November 11 1999 Retrieved June 24 2020 The Filmmakers KVIFF 2016 Charlie Kaufman YouTube Sternbergh Adam December 16 2015 In Conversation Charlie Kaufman Vulture Retrieved June 24 2020 Anomalisa Star Reveals E Mail Trail Sparked Close Bond To Hollywood Great Charlie Kaufman April 2016 Retrieved May 5 2023 a b Mooallem Jon July 2 2020 This Profile of Charlie Kaufman Has Changed The New York Times David Mark April 22 2019 Charlie Kaufman Lists Arts and Crafts Bungalow in Pasadena Variety Retrieved June 30 2021 Logan Degen Pener Chris Godley Bryan Pener Degen Godley Chris Logan Bryan October 7 2011 Hollywood s Biggest Real Estate Deals of the Week Matthew Perry Ellen DeGeneres Sacha Baron Cohen The Hollywood Reporter Retrieved June 30 2021 a href Template Cite web html title Template Cite web cite web a CS1 maint multiple names authors list link An interview with the artist Denise Monaghan Pasadena California Quixotic Retrieved June 30 2021 Andreeva Nellie January 14 2014 John Hawkes amp Michael Cera To Star In Charlie Kaufman s FX Comedy Pilot Deadline Hollywood Retrieved January 14 2014 External links editCharlie Kaufman at IMDb Charlie Kaufman at Rotten Tomatoes Charlie Kaufman on National Public Radio Charlie Kaufman lecture on screenwriting BAFTA Lecture Series September 30 2011 1 10 08 hours Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Charlie Kaufman amp oldid 1187734340, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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