Charlie Kaufman on his latest film & why "movies are dead"

[@lasaboteuse]

I feel better about the fact that I cannot for the life of me look someone in the eye when I'm talking to them now that I see that a genius like Charlie Kaufman can't either.

[@ToshiroHoshi]

I can relate. When I'm looking people in the eyes, I am thinking about the fact that I am looking into their eyes; it's totally distracting. Looking away is distracting also because I'm wondering what they're thinking about me looking away; do they think it's rude or, are they mature enough to focus on the content of what I'm saying and are they gracious enough to allow a person to be a little awkward or, do they demand everyone jump through their social behavior hoops before respect is administered....... I'm looking away as I type this, just kidding

[@nocaptostop]

ToshiroHoshi Yeah same here, it makes me feel, "eeesssh" in a way. I don't know haha.

[@aniokay]

Asperers, friends. Check it out ;-) I have it (maybe), and I am very proud of it...

[@tiesthijsthejs]

@@aniokay Not necessarily, really not, but yeah possibly somewhere on the autism spectrum.

[@lasaboteuse]

@@guilhermem4996 dude I was already being self-effacing, no need to rub it in

[@simonsmith5101]

Synecdoche New York stuck with me for days after I finished it, I couldn’t stop thinking about what it all meant. This was a powerful film that made me feel so small and depressed. Films can make me cry and keep me up at night but Synecdoche New York just stained my mind and I keep going back to it. Brilliant

[@christopher2013]

This comment make me want to watch the movie . Thanks.

[@brianminsk8]

and how do you feel now? This film filled me with joy and made me feel the expanse and hope that is existence. You must have been in a dark place a year ago Simon.

[@JoeJoe-nb3lt]

Depressed ? shit that movie lift my depression bro , was on verge of icing myself , but seeing was like looking at a mirror sometimes , anxiety , doubt , uncertainty , worth , legacy, mortality. Never saw anything quite like this the most human piece of art i ever experience. for me it was a wake up call , a cautionary tale about the thing we miss in life trying to get control on everything and not succeeding it

[@GSBA009]

Charlie Kauffman is a GOD of writing, his work its just magnificent, period

[@hchappy125]

I feel like Charlie Kaufman and Neil Brien are alternate reality versions of one another

[@Varooooooom]

Man I’m so happy this comment exists. Now I can’t not imagine what a conversation between those two would be like.

[@1997residente]

I knew yms loved them for a reason...

[@giuliettuh]

PLEASEEE OMG

[@ElijahHalford]

I am Ellen... NOW

[@welfaiewfb8802]

EYES ON BREEN

[@ConnyBoyful]

Synecdoche..... definitely in the top ten most brilliant films ever made!!

[@lordmajd]

best writer alive?

[@qwertyfla]

his movies are masterpieces. i always experience something new when i watch eternal sunshine. my favourite film ever. i really look up to this guy. he should write a book.

[@palbo4]

Heyy your wish came true

[@martitinkovich4489]

@@palbo4 Better late than never, huh?

[@jems5403]

This guy. He's awesome. Really threw away the rulebook as far as narrative is concerned (along with Woody Allen and Tarantino, he uses the most interesting narrative approach)

[@jems5403]

You are right, as was Fellini!

[@jems5403]

I've heard how crazy Synecdoche is, haven't seen it yet but I am definitely interested (it has one of my favorite actors, Hoffman, in addition to being written/directed by Charlie). I'm looking forward to the day he reunites with Jonez, I'm not going to lie.

[@Mutusandu]

Jem S I think most would agree that Synecdoche, New York is his Opus, but it's definetly not for everybody. There is so many themes and metaphors crammed into one movie, that after rewatching it 100 times, you could still find some new dimensions to it. While his other movies also has a mainstream appeal, Synecdoche is more for people who at least knows of or can appreciate high brow cinema.

[@jems5403]

Mutusandu I watched it this summer, and I think I'm somewhere between liking it and loving it. But not "love" in the way somebody becomes emotionally attached to a film. I was in awe of the ambition that went into it. Probably not my favorite of his but it is pretty much his Opus.

[@starark]

Mutusandu I think it contains his most profound message and he cannot top it in terms of scope. That being said the second viewing for me was horrible, it's such a bleak experience that I'm looking forward to Charlie entertaining me again and not making me wanna quit trying to be an artist myself

[@Flymehomegiantswan]

Synecdoche was freaking amazing, it threw me into an existential depression! :D

[@Domonkoss]

my thoughts exactly. Just finished Adaptation again, simply a powerhouse of a movie.

[@james77se7en]

Everytime I finish watching a film that Charlie Kaufman worked on I just I sit back in silent awe.

[@OmegaStarScream1]

Thank you Mr. Kaufman for one of the best movies ever made. Seriously, what an incredible movie.

[@regmunday8354]

Have you noticed that 99% of the people who teach screenwriting and write 'How To' books about it have NEVER WRITTEN A SCREENPLAY FOR EVEN ONE SUCCESSFUL MOVIE ? Conclusion: they are charlatans!

[@paullogan3008]

Reg Munday ummm Lynch and Scorsese

[@CannibalWHORE22]

You are right! The ones who tear up the rules made the great films like Charlie Kaufman. His films are amazing and bring on a new life each revisit

[@juxe411]

@@CannibalWHORE22 In order to break the rules you first have to know the rules, learn the rules and master the rules

[@deepdream19]

Synecdoche, New York was a movie I never forgot and I wont in my whole lifetime, from time to time, when its late in the night, I have to think about it and returning mentally to the experience watching it. When I watched it the first time years ago it totally blew my mind and I thought about it for weeks.

[@toopoable]

This man is a giant.

[@girlspooptoo8567]

toopoable He is Zeus and no one seems to realize it

[@iDalisMediaTV]

omg. love that he said that it has alot to do with luck...omg I wish more people would talk about that. oh and loved being john malkovich brilliant film

[@bisketmania]

Michael Cera's dad.

[@k9-club212]

😂😂😂

[@SimonRobeyns]

he's just too good of a producer, his movies are so painful to watch it must be even more of a pain to create them wish there were more people like kaufman, writing clever and well thought screenwriting instead of all these lame stupid movies we get on our plate 99% of the time

[@fartquaviasdingle7876]

7 years later and the comment is only more true

[@TheLobstersoup]

Writing is the saddest job in the world. I don't know why it is perceived so wrongly, especially by those who do it when they first start doing it. The paradoxical situation is this: if you succeed (glory and money!), you lose what you thought was bad about writing (the isolation, detachment from real-life, the phantasy world). If you don't succeed or struggle, you can end your own life (Silvia Plath) or have it ended by forces of nature and habit (P.K. Dick). The writer is in himself (or herself) a tragical hero, because unless he lets go of his art he can never become happy. And he can't either, if he does. Writing is always a form of commodification, even this short comment is no exception. But we don't want to be products of our environments, we want to be the masters of it.

[@Nautilus1972]

+TheLobstersoup "commodification" ? First up, just stop writing. If it's that saddening, don't do it. Stop. If you were traumatized as a kid, deal with that first. People don't destroy themselves or commit suicide because they're writers, they were abused as children in some way, it has nothing to do with writing. You can only be a master of yourself, not the environment - master yourself first. Lock down your thoughts. Be the best version of yourself that you can be. That's all.

[@TheLobstersoup]

+Nautilus1972 You sound like a Randian hero, or in other words: a fool. Hemingway was abused as a child or a man and killed himself. Right, we all know that?! E.A.Poe may have had a shitty life, but do you think he wanted to die drunk in an alley, or to rather go and sell some books? He had to watch his wife die, because his writing didn't make the money to sustain them. Writing today is trivial and has always been trivial when it was the most successful. Your sort of positivism doesn't work for a writer, it works for people doing something wrong, who need to convince themselves of the opposite. Writing is a struggle between remembering too much at a time and the risk of forgetting why it was important in the first place. When you keep hundreds of strands of a story and thousands of possible outcomes in your mind and juggle them around each day that's the feeling of being a writer. When you are scared to sit down and write, out of fear to do injustice to any of those ideas. When you prefer looking at a blank page, instead of talking to people, because they would break your concentration and ruin your effort. When you are twice as human inside, but half as human to the outside. When you start hating yourself and everyone around you for things being the way they are. Then the only thing that will bring relief is writing furiously and effortlessly, without plot points or climaxes, but just with one goal: to get it out of your head. I know you'll call this insanity and you are completely right about that. If you are a writer, you'll know it is a struggle and not a pleasant progress. It's entire days spent and wasted, with only the hope to achieve something in the end. And then you have to sell that something and people won't even reply to you and they break your heart more, because what you love is worthless to them. That's all.

[@pliskinn0089]

+TheLobstersoup Im a writer, i haven't publish anything, I have dozens of short stories pilled up. I feel the exact same way as you do. Yet i personally know writers that have fun and enjoy the work. I dont understand those people. Maybe there's something wrong with us.

[@GoemonLovesFujiko]

+TheLobstersoup How is this different from any other labor of passion?

[@samuelbarnes8208]

+TheLobstersoup Thank you for all of this.

[@antyeshtifilm]

Kaufman- ‘cinema is dead’ Also Cinema- is peaking with Kaufman’s existence

[@voteZDLR]

RIP... the great PSH (Edit: was PSR previously... for 3 fucking years)

[@kevinagee4364]

i fucking love phillip seymour roffman

[@voteZDLR]

LOL omg I just noticed that, wow.

[@ejromm]

lollll

[@samus323]

You are such an inspiration to aspiring film students such as myself, Kaufman. I love your films and cannot wait to see your next film.

[@KeymoEmbryo]

SHES A FOUR YEAR OLD . . . SHES A FUCKIN FOUR YEAR OLD ! ! !

[@uzumakikamikaze1654]

Yeah, that was a pretty good movie... Mr... Fetus.

[@jimmytightlips]

Ahhgh what film is that?! i cant remember, yet its so familiar

[@uzumakikamikaze1654]

Le Sploosh Synecdoche, New York

[@jimmytightlips]

Daniel Barrick Lol. Thanks

[@firefury6090]

I have not touched pen to paper, not until there is resolve in my soul. Only then will I attempt to write to tell the story...

[@2flowers116]

Jake Pilich maybe writing could help you reach a resolve. Im only saying this from personal experience, although i write music, but i guess what im saying is that the process of writing something can be the resolution itself

[@Rafman316]

2 flowers Exactly. Writing should be a journey of discovery. If you know the resolution beforehand you are just filling up a glass.

[@sudha4241]

@@2flowers116 exactly....

[@Momokittychow]

i just finished watching this film and i am just speechless. just mindblown and yes i guess i'm about to feel some sort of depression i just dont know. wow. masterpiece.

[@imfa-cinema257]

Charlie Kaufman is right up there with the greats like Steven Spielberg, George Lucas, and Quentin Tarantino. They all belong to a category of filmmaker called "Film Auteur"

[@hypherism]

Wow. He really portrayed himself well in Adaptation.

[@sidetracked2007]

a very inspiring interview. he began writing in obscurity but had to keep doing what he did well.

[@missjoke]

It's good to have a brilliant guy like him, for this, and the upcoming generations.

[@channelnamechannel3189]

Charlie Kaufman's written works and his entire oeuvre are products of the mind of a genius!

[@steelstrings87]

Great movie, but one that I will never watch again, because I agree with you, it was truly a "mindfuck." I felt like I had a psychotic break after I watched it. Truly. Never has a work of art so warped my sense of reality, of mental and emotional stability. Which speaks volumes about Charlie Kaufman's work. I really believe he is a genius, the best, most innovative screenwriter working today.

[@eveterryable]

This just changed my life.

[@nyarlotep]

The subtitle is wrong, Charlie won the Oscar for Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless mind, not Adaptation... even when Adaptation for me is his most unique and original film...

[@samuelbland7357]

I don't really think Synedoche is depressing. It's brutally honest, but it's not stating anything that we don't already know, just stuff we choose to ignore. To me the film was about accepting our "absurd" circumstance, and realizing that worrying only digs a deeper hole. It was about taking charge and doing the things you love. Not really groundbreaking, but the fact that it's on film is probably why it hits home a little harder than Camus.

[@j.goebbels2134]

Charlie Kaufman i one of the best screenwriters -- smartest, funniest, most courageous -- ever.

[@AGentertainmentofficial]

I own this movie. It's a mindfuck if there ever was one. Not a "Last Year in Marienbad" mindfuck, but the kind of mindfuck that really makes you think what you watched, and taunts you to watch it again to make sure you understood what you saw.

[@SillyHello]

Yeah I understand what you're saying, but I don't think this was an oversight, it was definitely intentional. I compare it frequently to Adaptation, because in a lot of ways I see Synechdoche as the movie Kaufman's self character in Adaptation was trying to write. Adaptation in the end 'adapted' to the hollywood formula and let audiences off the hook by giving them a resolution, but life isn't always like that, and I think that's what SNY was doing - intentionally withholding a resolution.

[@bbone610]

Charlie, if you're reading this....people are afraid of you because if you get your way, you're going to put a lot of people out of jobs. You are a genius. I'm your fan, through and through.

[@Flowmotion1000]

He's involved in art movies that are witty,entertaining,moving and unique.What more could you ask for.

[@OGMillwood]

Couldn't have put it better myself. :) Hence why people like Kaufman and the Coen Brothers are so, so important to film as it currently exists.

[@Adrian101882]

Charlie just wants what every great artist wants - to become "timeless".

[@ConnyBoyful]

You are absolutely correct! The film comes in many layers....

[@nyarlotep]

"his speech to the agent about not making a typical hollywood movie led the audience to believe the film (Adaptation) would not fall to the same fate but in the end it did." On the contrary, Everything he says he didn't want the movie to be ends up being... Including the Deus ex machina (The Aligator in the swamp) That is part of the geniality of the film, he took the idea to another level instead of being just another weird movie, he make it a critic on the critic itself. Pure genious!

[@missjoke]

Thank you Charlie Kaufman, just thank you. :)

[@WilkineBrutus]

He is absolutely brilliant!

[@TheJoyfulPianist]

One of the most beautiful and creative looks at the post-modern condition. I don't even like that label "post-modern" but its the best thing we have to describe it.

[@69mustang]

100% with you man! I can talk about me.. I sometimes want to see a movie with my mind turned off like CRANK for example. BUT I REALLY LOVE movies that make you think. Those movies can make you a better person.

[@Chequimorena]

I love him.

[@minxlabrada]

Love what he says about exploring truthfully.

[@Fatpie42]

@AJedProduction I agree. It suggested to me that Kaufman has benefitted from the interpretations and expectations of the directors he's worked with. I didn't get the impression that he couldn't direct (hence the quality acting), but rather that his scripts benefit from having someone else to pull them back to earth. And yes, there are plenty of directors out there who are making great works. I wonder what Duncan Jones would do with a Kaufman script?

[@pburns6961]

4:52 this is so hard to say, it's like something that makes people take you for granted more, you gain nothing exterior from saying stuff like this. It's just really honest

[@wombathijs4560]

He's a genius.

[@thecartoonboy9999]

The dude needs more attention. He's written so many great films

[@Nautilus1972]

Just watched Anomalisa. Charlie Kaufman is officially off his rocker.

[@brighterwest]

charlie kaufmann movies are like theater. they are different everytime i watch them over again but always amazing

[@jmb83y]

The king of abstract screenwriting.

[@StrangelyFamilliar]

no,this page is for people who are planing to see the movie and want to have an idea of it,or people who just wanna watch an interview with kaufman like my case,if you want to share your thoughts and emotions about the movie there is forums for that or you can just warn people of spoiler befor starting mentioning thing that happend in the movie...and no i didn't complete reading the comment .

[@aaravjohri5166]

What he talks about is exactly what happened to me after I decided to watch eternal sunshine after a long time.

[@TheReal7Bit]

His comment on why movies are dead is brilliant, 100% true.

[@daniellos333]

Nice click bait. Nothing he said in this interview had anything to do with "movies being dead," he even said he loved movies.

[@TheVivalabadass]

It wasn't a click bait. He explained what he meant by theater is alive while movies are dead. Movies are set in stone but theater if you go every night it's done differently.

[@bravetherainbow]

I went back and watched the movie a second time and thought "oh hey her house is on fire! subtle foreshadowing!"

[@Madbandit77]

Great advice, Mr. Kaufman.

[@unfortunatebeam]

Wow, I never talked to someone from 7 years ago, how are you?

[@jayaprakash387]

Wow I have never talked to someone from 13 years, how are you?

[@Madbandit77]

@@jayaprakash387 Is that supposed to be a joke? It's not very good.

[@jayaprakash387]

You seem a little grumpy but I guess you are alright

[@MattieCooper10000]

Thank you Charlie!

[@robbyalp]

I greatly respect this guy, his work and advice is brilliant, but i really don't know what he means when he says films are made in such a specific way.

[@77Fortran]

Thank you for telling me the answer!

[@thedeparted2006]

He won the Oscar for best original screenplay for ESotSM. The Pianist won best adapted screenplay in 2003.

[@philipsmog]

I loved this movie, have to see it again, I've liked the movies he's written only that I've seen, missed a couple i think, but not so much as this one. He must have had a small team of technical directors helping him on this one though.

[@PotatoesForYourFace]

I love Synecdoche New York, even if it does make me feel completely devastated by the end of it.

[@MoonlinerPictures]

What he says about structure there, perfect. Roughly all films each year end up with some huge plot failure in the last quarter of the film, a wonderful resurrection, such narrative flows are getting tiring. Irony is sadly just becoming predictable. "Oh, that was the girl from the beginning!" as the big twist, it has to be broken while still keeping the audience engaged. Indulgent writers like Kaufman are the last hope for cinema.

[@molloyx]

An extra-ordinary self indulgent mess which nonetheless expressed more raw creativity per scene than any film I've seen in ages.

[@jessicawarrior6439]

This movie is the best movie ever! It's truely a movie about life!

[@andrewwashiku]

Wonder what he'd say now

[@fabiobonetta5454]

The only true screenwriting genius at work today

[@ChikeCheeke]

I have no advice for young writers trying to tell unusual stories: (Proceeds to give extensive advice for young writers trying to tell unusual stories)

[@dovic86]

Could you explain, please? I don't get how this is supposed to be related to the movie.

[@Pining_for_the_fjords]

Being John Malkovich and Eternal Sunshine - Masterpieces Adaptation - Very clever Human Nature - Quirky and fun Synecdoche - Couldn't get into. Watching Philip Seymour Hoffman all I could think of is his character in Happiness.

[@chelseapoet3664]

I don't know if you will see this as it's so many years later, but maybe give it another go. I had a whole different experience watching it after many more years of life.

[@legendsxdie123]

Its unfortunate that it didn't win any awards. I guess a lot of masterpieces get overlooked at first though.

[@HateLandCo]

@stevenas135 I love that you talk about existentialism, in the same sentence as the words "like a caveman or someshit" whoever said it is incomprehensible is in some way correct because the movie is so open to interpretation and you can derive whatever you like from it, in terms of existentialism it is only the character's arc that really touches on that, instead of the whole film. As for the last part no one person can "understand" the film as there is so many different outlooks...

[@Trelli28]

every story has a three acts, it's just that some of them switch up the way it's presented and it's also possible you haven't recognized the subtely of act changes. In any event, Adaptation has a 3 act structure, a bad one but still...

[@politeista12]

have you seen eternal sunshine of the spondless mind, that is a work of a genius,

[@michaelmattice4986]

Thank you for sharing:)

[@kevinsmellls]

@nubtuberable Charlie Kaufman himself said that whatever reaction an audience member has to Synecdoche, is the right reaction, because it's their own. So I don't see how anyone could not "get it"... I think it's kind of ironic that a fan of his wouldn't extend the same to other people...but then again I guess even that's an okay reaction (given that it's what you really feel)

[@IAEMThatIAEM]

He said this coming off of The Dark Knight, There Will Be Blood, for all of you marks Ironman, 2008 was a great year for movies very interesting

[@Just.Kidding]

Movies are dead because he made Synecdoche, New York. The more time goes by, the more I believe nothing will ever surpass that movie.

[@InstantKarmaAndroid]

haha! nah i think they're both great films. i mean i adore eternal sunshine, but i don't really have anything bad to say about synecdoche, i did enjoy it. it is a peculiar film though. i look forward to his future projects!

[@davidaaronartist]

Gracias Carlos eres mi héroe

[@bravetherainbow]

He loves art so fucking much or its potential, at least

[@nyarlotep]

"The irony was lost on the audience..." Not, what you mean is that you were lost on the irony. All the people that I have spoken with about the film understod it pretty well... In fact, like I stated before, is a very rear thing in the cryptic movies Kaufman write that something be as clear and easy to understood as this particular aspect from Adaptation... But hey, don't feel bad about!

[@themaybatatter]

I kinda didnt want to watch this movie. then I forced myself to and i cried 3 times

[@girlspooptoo8567]

themaybatatter This shit don't play

[@dovic86]

Alas in Synecdoche no expedient is present, things just get worse and worse, as you said, more and more intricated, so by the end everything gets ridiculous and you feel frustrated. This is what I experienced. I wasn't expecting a comedy, so Kaufman could have done even something tragic to give the movie a good twist and maybe I could have liked it, but he didn't.

[@soadaholic2000]

What films did they make?

[@sanleerussell8534]

Of course, Charlie Kaufman is completely right, as usual.

[@AnnaLVajda]

Yeah how does one separate the writing from the directing?

[@luismarioguerrerosanchez4747]

Kauffman himself has exploded it on other interviews. When you're writing the potential is limitless as you can imagine whatever happens in your head and put into words. Directing on the other hand, implied a more grounded and logical reasoning where you have to think how you're going to film a scene with a given schedule and budget.

[@levijm825]

Love the music by slade backburn, just top notch stuff

[@SillyHello]

Personally I relish a good resolution, no matter how cheesy; good guy gets the girl, defeats the villain, overcomes obstacles. But this movie was something different, and I loved it. But like you said, it's not to everyone's taste - no one movie is, except maybe Toy Story? hah

[@iamthepeppernator]

Well....while this isn't a huge response (I'm not one of those people who likes to go on for awhile), I would say he may be considered a genius of today because, while somewhat pretentious, he tries to make us think in a different light while mostly avoiding cliches that many other directors fall into, and during the times he may use a cliche, he does it in such an original fashion that it isn't so tedious.

[@McNugget06]

@Fudgeyer Haha well I think that's the beauty of his work. Jean-Luc Godard is certainly not for everyone either, for far different reasons of course.

[@moseley101]

Unfortunately Hollywood demands interviews from it's protagonists, whether they want to or not.

[@m420carbine4]

hire me charlie i can bring storytelling back to the the masses

[@cybersuz1981]

I had to take 1 day off work just to digest this movie. Brilliant...it just pulled away all my protective layers...leaving me nude

[@deepdream19]

Suzanne du Toit This comment is 10 years old but I feel you, I feel exactly the same. What a masterpiece.