I was trying to write a blog about flowers...
Charlie
"I've written myself into my screenplay."
Donald
"That's kinda weird, huh?"
The above quote from Adaptation (2002) sprang to mind this week when I noticed that I seem to have somehow started following my own blog. So on the back of that, I decide to write about a unique voice in contemporary cinema; a rare beast, a screenwriter autuer. Few writers (I say few but I can only think of one and it's him, and I just like to be on the safe side, and am more than willing to bow to anyone's superior knowledge) are bestowed with the title autuer. Despite the the fact that that the term translates as author, that high regard is reserved for the directors of film, perhaps not surprising really given the visual nature of the medium.
Kaufman has had his screenplays brought to the screen by a diverse range of directors (Michel Gondry, George Clooney, Spike Jonze and Kaufman himself) the worlds and the characters that inhabit them maintain a consistency that arguably comes straight from Kaufman. The character's in his films struggle with questions of identity, self-doubt, philosophy, insecurity and fear of almost everything (success, failure, love, sex) and are almost instantly identifiable regardless of who plays them: Philip Seymour Hoffman, Jim Carey, Nic Cage, John Cusack, Tim Robbins and Sam Rockwell.
Gondry's wild visuals (although usually wrought in-camera, and therefore, 'real') draw too much attention to much attention to themselves and make everything obviously surreal or imagined. Spike Jonze on the other hand, uses a documentary style (part of his own autuer signature) that grounds all of the elements of Kaufman's characters in a 'real' world. For me Spike Jonze's work with Kaufman is the most successful. Jonze grounds Kaufman's surreal, philosophical musing with very little in the way of visual showboating. The wonderfully rendered worlds in Adaptation and Being John Malkovich (1999), are beautifully gritty, desaturated, even bland; recognisable stages for Kaufman's characters and set ups. It may perhaps be arguable that Kaufman also believes that Spike Jonze has come the closest to his vision. Kaufman's own approach, when he finally stepped up to direct his own stuff, to the wonderful Synecdoche, New York (2008) is probably closer to Jonze's style than anyone else who has tackled his screenplays.
Not for everyone, Kaufman's work can be seen to pretty self-absorbed and even his writing has been argued to be lacking. Robert McKee insisted on a 3rd act rewrite before he would allow himself to played (brilliantly by Brian Cox) in Adaptation and as he thought the script was lacking (to put it mildly), 'The third act of that script was awful. He just ran out of ideas. It was really awful.' (Big Think, 2010) but Kaufman himself says 'I don't know what the hell a third act is,.... It's not a concern of mine.' (Time, 2004) and that's fair enough I think. Just because things have always been done a certain way doesn't mean that's how they should always be done. So a little burning ball of excitement builds in me when I think of the prospect of a new collaboration due next year. As yet untitled it has piqued a giddy anticipation in me, as both filmmakers are part of a very small collection of things I genuinely look forward to, and is listed on IMDb with only this tantalising line of plot summation: 'World leaders convene to discuss the cataclysmic events'. Regardless of who directs his work though it never fails to be challenging, thought provoking, and just bloody funny.
Charlie Kaufman Filmography (excluding TV writing probably why it's a filmography and not teleography)
- Synecdoche, New York (2008)
- Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004)
- Adaptation (2002)
- Confessions of a Dangerous Mind (2002)
- Human Nature (2001)
- Being John Malkovich (1999)
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