Charlie Kaufman
FameRank: 5

"Charles Stuart" ""Charlie"" "Kaufman" is an American screenwriter, producer, director, and lyricist. He wrote the critically acclaimed films Being John Malkovich, Adaptation (film)/Adaptation, and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. He made his directing debut in 2008 with Synecdoche, New York, which was also well received; film critic Roger Ebert called it "the best movie of the decade" in 2009.

Kaufman and his work are often praised for being highly original and imaginative: Being John Malkovich stars John Malkovich as a fictional version of himself, Human Nature (film)/Human Nature is mostly told in flashback, Adaptation tells the story of Kaufman himself, trying to write the film we are watching and to understand the book from which it is adapted with the help of his twin brother Donald Kaufman (credited as a co-writer despite being a fictional character), Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind mainly takes place in the mind of the main character while his memory is erased, and Synecdoche, New York is a Postmodernism/postmodern film with many complex non-realistic elements.

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I'm not a celebrity. I'm intentionally and defiantly not a celebrity. I don't have any interest in it. I don't have any talent for it. I keep my personal life out of my public life as cleanly as I can.

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Of course, the Meryl Streep in the play is nothing like the real Meryl, and the proof of that is that she did it. Otherwise, she would never have allowed herself to be seen that way. And the more we rehearsed and worked the character, the meaner she got. She's very game.

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So when I write characters and situations and relationships, I try to sort of utilize what I know about the world, limited as it is, and what I hear from my friends and see with my relatives.

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We are what we love, not what loves us.

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I was trying to figure out what a memory feels like.

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Constantly talking isn't necessarily communicating.

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These things are important to me, these things I write. I recognize and embrace the notion of collaboration - and other people should, too.

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