Mind-bending, surreal, creative, unconventional, self-indulgent, weird – these are probably the most common words that’ve been used to describe the previous cinematic collaborations between director Spike Jonze and screenwriter Charlie Kaufman.
The pair are shopping around a pitch for their next project together, the details of which are being kept tightly under wrap, M. Night Shyamalan style. Whatever those madmen (Jonze and Kaufman, not Jon Hamm) are planning next, you can expect it to be… unusual.
Word from 24 Frames is that the duo are currently selling the mysterious pitch to independent financiers – not a shock, since neither of Jonze and Kaufman’s previous collaborations (Being John Malkovich and Adaptation) were what one would call mainstream fare. Kaufman already has a script for a musical satire titled Frank or Francis in the works, so he may press ahead with that project should he and Jonze be unable to attain proper funding for their new joint effort.Jonze was unable to helm Kaufman’s last script, Synecdoche: New York, so the Oscar-winning writer sat in the director’s chair himself. While that film was overall well received, it did attract criticism for being at times confusingly metaphorical and far too inaccessible – problems that some felt arose from Kaufman not having a director like Jonze or Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind helmer Michel Gondry around to temper his complex mode of storytelling.
Moviegoers also got a taste of the reverse (Jonze sans Kaufman) last year with the big screen adaptation of Where the Wild Things Are – a film that may have lacked the densely-constructed narrative of Jonze’s Kaufman-penned projects, but was still able to achieve cult success thanks to those that admired it for being anything but a standard, family-friendly pic.
No one is expecting Jonze and Kaufman to deliver a movie that appeals to the masses anytime soon, but both are arguably auteurs in their own right and have developed a loyal (if limited) following in the form of moviegoers who love their breed of unorthodox cinema. Whatever their next collaborative efforts ends up being, there will definitely be an audience for it.
We’ll let you know when there’s more concrete information about this new Spike Jonze/Charlie Kaufman Project.
Source: LA Times
No comments:
Post a Comment