Charlie's WGA Q&A thingy at the Sammy Goldwyn Theater went down well, and reports are filtering in.

From Tim:

Charlie started off a bit nervous and somewhat anguished, but fairly quickly loosened up after he got a few laughs (which were copious throughout the evening). The interview (conducted by a moderator) lasted about an hour and a half, followed by a 30-40 minute audience Q&A (I was happily able to squeeze in three questions). Except for a few oddball or unclear questions, his interaction with the audience was very friendly and truthful; no bullshit pre-packaged answers; he genuinely thought over every question and answered sincerely. Overall, a great time was had by most, if not all.

From Scott:

Charlie totally copped to writing “Anomalisa”. He didn't directly say he was
Francis Fregoli, but he commented on the “two plays I wrote and directed
recently.” Then, later in the evening, responding to a question about whether he
wrote for actors, he said he usually doesn't, but he did for the second play
he wrote for “Theater of the New Ear.” So, if the issue wasn't settled
already, there you have it.

From Rancette, who's typed up a full report here:

…in the interview, Charlie Kaufman said that in other interviews he joked about being married to Mercedes Ruehl (he asked her if that was okay, and she said “yes”. Then he sent her flowers for an opening night on Broadway and never heard back!).

billgbg adds:

somebody else mentioned the “douche-twats” who post on IMDb (the guy was way angry that “Ed Wood” is mentioned as a contributer to the Spike Jonze/Kaufman project among other names) and Charlie convincingly bowed out of that area, “I…I don't know about that.” he quickly deflected interest in that area.

I'm down with the douche-twat thing. The let's-submit-fake-info-to-the-IMDB thing got old a while ago. JOKE'S OVER. LET IT DIE WITH A LITTLE DIGNITY.

Still on the horror movie:

[Charlie] is bored with the current screenplay he's writing but has to finish it, because he already spent the advance money.

Hmm. I read a rumour a couple of weeks ago, that the horror project might be dying. But I took it with a heavy dose of salt, since the rumour isn't from an official source or anyone who's provided me with confirmed info in the past. So if any of you guys can shed a little light, that'd be good.

And, uh… Okay, BCK got a mention at the Q&A, and I've been getting emails about it, because it was apparently the source of an awkward moment. Back to Scott for his take:

At these sort of things, there's always a couple of embarrassing or awkward
questions from the audience, and I'm afraid you were the inspiration for one of
them.

One person from the audience asked Charlie if he had “anything to say to
Mick.” Charlie stares. Silence. Finally: “I don't know what that means.” “He
runs the beingcharliekaufman.com website.” More silence. Charlie shrugs,
shakes his head, saying “I don't, uh…” and then trailing off. Really awkward
sighs and groans from the audience.

Ah well. Sounds like the question put Charlie on the spot a bit; maybe it came across as confrontational or something, eh? But I wasn't there, so I dunno. And we know from a few older interviews that Charlie isn't sure what to make of BCK, even on a good day. Still, it drove up the site's hit counter yesterday, so there's a plus!

I'll probably be back later, if I hear from more dudes or dudettes who were at the event.