Inside the mind of Charlie Kaufman

Nice first-person essay by Charlie Kaufman in the Guardian. It covers his first writing job in TV, what he was thinking when he Being John Malkovich, and one key aspect of his philosophy of writing. But what really caught my eye is this story:

I’ll tell you this little story. There’s something inherently cinematic about it. I run in my neighbourhood, and one day I ran past this guy running in the other direction: an older guy, a big hulky guy. He was struggling, huffing and puffing. I was going down a slight hill and he was coming up. So he passes me and he says: “Well, sure, it’s all downhill that way.” I loved that joke. We made a connection. So I had it in my head that this is a cool guy, and he’s my friend now.

A few weeks later, I’m passing him again, and I’m thinking: “There’s the guy that’s cool.” As we pass each other, he says: “Well, sure, it’s all downhill that way.” So I think: “Oh, OK. He’s got a repertoire. I’m not that special. He’s probably said it to other people, maybe he doesn’t remember me … but OK.” I laughed, but this time my laugh was a little forced.

Then I pass him another time, and he says it again. And this time he’s going downhill and I’m going uphill, so it doesn’t even make sense. And I started to feel pain about this, because I’m embarrassed for him and I think maybe there’s something wrong with him. And then it just keeps happening. I probably heard it seven or eight more times. I started to avoid him.

I like the idea that the story changes over time even though nothing has changed on the outside. What’s changed is all in my head and has to do with a realisation on my character’s part. And the story can only be told in a particular form. It can’t be told in a painting. The point is: it’s very important that what you do is specific to the medium in which you’re doing it, and that you utilise what is specific about that medium to do the work. And if you can’t think about why it should be done this way, then it doesn’t need to be done.

Doesn’t that seem like such a Charlie Kaufman story, how he takes a simple little series of incidents in the External World, something as innocent as jogging in the neighborhood, and evolves it into this internalized psycho-drama? With an instinct for such an active life in his mind, it’s no wonder he wrote movies like Adaptation, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, and Being John Malkovich, a film where characters actually go into the consciousness of another character.

For more of the article, go here.

HT to Teddy Pasternak for sourcing the link.

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