Virgin.net
3 September 2000
Virgin.net
3 September 2000
Being John Malkovich is a weird and wonderful journey to the centre of the noted actor's psyche, involving puppeteers, chimpanzees and strange sexual couplings. It's gained unlikely Oscar nominations for its screenwriter Charlie Kaufman and director, Spike Jonze, who was previously known for his acclaimed music videos (Fatboy Slim, Bjork, Puff Daddy) and is married to Sofia Coppola. Virgin Net met up with Jonze and Kaufman to chew the fat.
What attracted you, Spike, to Charlie's berserk script?
[Spike] "It's surreal. I'd rather that word than 'wacky'. Hopefully it's both funny and serious... it was just not like anything else I'd ever read. Which itself is funny, because everybody describes whatever movie they're working on as exactly that. You know? Like when you read an interview with an actor or something? But I'm being sincere.
"Whatever somebody takes away from it is good. If they leave thinking about anything, that's a compliment to us. Or, y'know, if they just enjoy the comedy of it and have fun, that's good too. Now if they don't think about it at all and they don't think it's funny, then..."
[Charlie] "Then that's good too!"
Why John Malkovich? Why not, say, Harvey Keitel? Or Steve Buscemi?
[Charlie] "He just seemed right. Ever since I realised there would be a portal into somebody's brain, it was always Malkovich. He's a bit enigmatic, I guess, but he's not a jokey choice. He's a serious actor, well-respected. Especially for that jewel-thief movie... oh no, I'm quoting my own script, I'd better not continue... but there's an oddness about him, right? You don't know much about his personal life."
[Spike] "There's this high concept joke, but the script has so much more to it than that. And Malkovich as a person and as a great actor is able to pull off the joke and then go past that. Even though he has plenty of fun in there, he makes it compelling and interesting too."
Was he up for it straight away?
[Charlie] "Oh no...I wrote it five years ago. When he first read it, he thought it was funny, but that there was no chance it'd ever be made. And then he had a lot of things to think about. He met us, to sorta assess our intentions. I guess we passed, 'cos he agreed."
[Spike] "And from that moment he was committed. Once he'd got his head around it. For rehearsals, whatever, he was there for however much time we asked. In fact, he said he thought all the humour that was making fun of him could only benefit from being meaner. I can't imagine it being anyone else now."
Is it true that the star chimpanzee attacked you on set?
[Spike] "Yeah, in the first week! He was just playing around, and, uh, bit me. It was a mess. Otherwise the animals were good. It wasn't the kinda movie where the dog has to go over there and fetch something and bring it back to the owner then bark twice, y'know? We'd generally just put them in the scene and let the perfect anarchy of animals take over. It's not like they had to act."
[Charlie] "Except for the chimp's one scene. The flashback. The eyebrow thing."
[Spike] "Oh yeah, that was hard. But he was great in the end, in "his" scene. You should see the out-takes...he picked up a knife by the blade's edge and wouldn't let go of it."
[Charlie] "And yet he enjoyed being locked in a cage with Cameron Diaz. Strange."
Doesn't John Cusack's character, Craig, have rotten luck?
[Charlie] "Them's the breaks! It's not a morality tale. We're not saying he's the villain or anything. It just pretty much works out the way it has to. Maxine (Catherine Keener) and Lotte (Cameron Diaz) do bad things, but come out okay. Malkovich does nothing bad to anybody, but doesn't come out well. I kinda designed the writing process so that it'd surprise me."
How much of a leap was the switch from pop videos to movies?
[Spike] "Umm...a lot of things are the same, y'know? In the sense that you have a certain amount of work you have to get done in a certain amount of time. Practical stuff. But then all the working with actors is different. Although in videos you still want performances that you're happy with, that contribute something to the idea. Every actor's different. I don't think I yell at them, no. All the bands I enjoyed working with were smart, interesting people... the same with actors. Everybody's an individual."
Do you and Sofia talk about directing when you're alone together?
[Spike] "Uuh... yeah, sometimes. If we're both involved in a process like shooting or editing at the same time, then sure."
Did you enjoy acting in Three Kings?
[Spike] "It was long and hard, I went back and forth for five months while I was editing 'Malkovich'. But I did it for the experience, to learn, to go through it... David O. Russell, the director, asked me to read for it, then took the risk and cast me. It was an opportunity. But acting is really hard. I'd do it again, yeah, but not as a priority - I've got enough to focus on doing my own things."
What's next up for you then?
[Spike] "I'm thinking about videos again, and I've done a couple of commercials. There might, just might, be a project based on an F. Scott Fitzgerald story. And I'm co-producing Charlie's next script, which Michel Gondry is directing. He's amazing."
[Charlie] "It's very hard to describe what it's about. There's a woman with head-to-toe body hair, who might be Patricia Arquette, and a man with the smallest penis in the world. It's about four people who are victims of their upbringing, who have hard times of it. It's a romantic tragedy, in the form of a comedy. How's that?"
Would that also be a fair description of Being John Malkovich?
[Both] "Uuh...yeah!"
(Source)