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New York Times polled readers and filmmakers for their top films of the 21st Century so far, and Charlie pops up on both lists, hooray!

In the Filmmakers' list, Charlie appears twice: Adaptation at #27 (between The Dark Knight at #28--hoo boy, I'll bet it's a thrill for Charlie to sit beside Nolan's work, HA!-- and Anatomy of a Fall at #26), meanwhile Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind came in at #7 (between Get Out at #8 and No Country For Old Men at #6).

In the Readers' poll, Eternal Sunshine came in 9th (between Spirited Away at #8 and The Social Network at #10). Synecdoche, New York popped up at #101, Adaptation at #135, I'm Thinking of Ending Things at #494. I'm surprised Synecdoche was higher than Adaptation!

Here's the Filmmakers' Top 20: (via No Film School)

 1. Parasite (Bong Joon Ho)
2. Mulholland Drive (David Lynch)
3. There Will Be Blood (Paul Thomas Anderson)
4. In the Mood For Love (Wong Kar Wai)
5. Moonlight (Barry Jenkins)
6. No Country For Old Men (Joel & Ethan Coen)
7. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (Michel Gondry)
8. Get Out (Jordan Peele)
9. Spirited Away (Hayao Miyazaki)
10. The Social Network (David Fincher)
11. Mad Max: Fury Road (George Miller)
12. The Zone of Interest (Jonathan Glazer)
13. Children of Men (Alfonso Cuaron)
14. Inglourious Basterds (Quentin Tarantino)
15. City of God (Fernando Meirelles)
16. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (Ang Lee)
17. Brokeback Mountain (Ang Lee)
18. Y Tu Mama Tambien (Alfonso Cuaron)
19. Zodiac (David Fincher)
20. The Wolf of Wall Street (Martin Scorsese)

Readers' Top 20: (via No Film School)

1. Parasite
2. Mulholland Drive
3. No Country for Old Men
4. There Will Be Blood
5. Interstellar
6. The Dark Knight
7. Mad Max: Fury Road
8. Spirited Away
9. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
10. The Social Network
11. Inglourious Basterds
12. In the Mood for Love
13. Everything Everywhere All at Once
14. The LotR: The Fellowship of the Ring
15. The LotR: The Return of the King
16. La La Land
17. Get Out
18. Moonlight
19. Whiplash
20. Arrival

Well, that was quick. From World of Reel, the site that first brought us news of an upcoming CK feature called Later the Water (reports later confirmed by Deadline) comes this disheartening update:

Production has shut down on Charlie Kaufman’s ”Later the War,” no clear reasons were given to me, but cast and crew have left, and one of the Polish producers bailed.

Actors Eddie Redmayne, Tessa Thompson and Patsy Ferran were in Poland for this one, but have now left, which means we’re probably never going to see this film get made, unless the entire thing gets recast.

“Later the War” was supposed to be an adaptation of Iddo Geffen’s short story “Debby’s Dream House,” and would have continued Kaufman’s fascination, and blurring, of dreams with reality in cinema. The story follows a man who manufactures dreams for people but ultimately begins creating nightmares for them.

The project had gotten a grant from the Polish Institute of Film, and comes more than five years after the release of Kaufman’s last film “im thinking if ending things.” (Source)

Given the filming location, the shutdown could be related to Trump's tariff on American films being made overseas.

The first news about this film came less than 3 months ago. Take today's news with a pinch of salt until we hear anything else, but World of Reel are the ones who broke news of the film in the first place.

Duke Johnson's new film, The Actor, is an adaptation of Donald Westlake's novel Memory. (The novel was written in 1963, and published posthumously in 2010.) I'm a big fan of Westlake--he's a legendary crime writer, though Memory is more of an introspective thing for him. Charlie Kaufman is on board with The Actor as an executive producer, though I suspect he's been largely hands-off.

Reviews so far are not terrible.

In an interview with The Playlist, Duke talks a little about what he has learnt from CK:

Alright, so how does this one come together, how does the book fall in your lap and what strikes a chord?
I read the book while making “Anomalisa” with Charlie Kaufman; he recommended the book to me, and I loved it. We optioned it and my writing partner and I did a draft of the screenplay very quickly, but it was just the book in screenplay format.

[...]

Charlie Kaufman is another executive producer on the film, he urged you to read the book cause he knows you like Kafka and it has that feeling, I’m curious about what you learned from him and what it was like working with him?
Yeah, Charlie and I directed “Anomalisa” together, and he’s a hero of mine. And he’s really just a dear friend and mentor. He’s just somebody that I look up to greatly and call when I need advice, or I’m in trouble, and he’s very generous with his time. He’ll read my script, and he’ll just help me achieve my goals by offering and giving sage advice when needed.

I’ve learned so much from Charlie, and he’s told me so many wonderful things. Like, “Don’t let anybody tell you that you have to direct a movie in a certain way. You should feel empowered to direct a movie in any way that you think a movie should be directed,” which is great conceptually, but very hard to actually do. Because when you’re making a movie, you’re like, “So I want to do this,” And people are very often, to me, especially because I came from animation or whatever, they’re like, “Well, we don’t do that. That’s not how we do things in live action,” or, “You can’t do that,” or you’re met with a ton of resistance when you have any outside of the box ideas.

Charlie, as an artist in general, is extremely brave, and he takes chances, and that’s scary because you make something and then you expose it to the world to be judged. Art is an intuitive, creative process, and especially as a sensitive person, not everybody’s going to love what you do. Some people are going to hate it, and it’s scary.

So, it’s easy to fall into fear and try to pander. It’s hard to stay the course and say, “For better or worse, I have to I have to stick to this. Whatever this feeling is that’s propelling me forward and what I’m trying to do, I have to stay true to it, and I’m going to live and die by the results.” (Source)

Deadline comes through with more info on last week's rumour:

Oscar-winner Charlie Kaufman has found his next project as he is set to write and direct Later The War and tapped Eddie Redmayne, Tessa Thompson and Patsy Ferran to star. Kaufman adapted the script from the short story Debby’s Dream House by acclaimed author Iddo Gefen from his short story collection titled Jerusalem Beach.

The original short story follows a man who manufactures dreams for people but ultimately begins creating nightmares for them. Exact plot details of the feature adaptation are unknown. (Source)

Of course, Frank or Francis had a "who's who" cast lined up, How and Why filmed a pilot, so who knows how far this will go, but fingers crossed! And we have The Memory Police on the way, which does seem like it's going places, and hopefully Charlie's next novel--no news on that one, but Antkind took years to materialise after its announcement, so I don't doubt he's writing something.

And if you're particularly curious about "Debby's Dream House," u/pavingmomentum found this.

I don't know what it is, I don't know if he wrote it, and I don't know if this is legit, but World of Reel's Jordan Ruimy reports that Charlie is lined up to direct a film called Later the War with Sarah Green linked as a producer.

Two notable pieces of evidence have Kaufman’s “Later the War” starting production in 2025. Sarah Green is being linked as producer on this new film which might have gotten a grant from the Polish Institute of Film. Word is that it was secretly shopped around this month at EFM Berlin. (Source)

Personally I wish his take on IQ83 would go into production. Technically it's an adaptation, but really it's an original script with the novel as a loose inspiration.

Thanks u/pavingmomentum and Bart!

Charlie's Orion and the Dark script took home the Best Writing TV/Media award, last week at the Annies! These awards are given out annually by ASIFA Hollywood, the LA branch of the International Animated Film Association. Charlie didn't attend the presentation, so Sean Charmatz accepted for him.

Meanwhile Orion also won "Best Special Production" (a standalone animated production that isn't part of a larger series or film).

In the Best Writing TV/Media category, Charlie was up against...

I mean, you can probably guess.

On the publicity trail for Inheritance recently, Rhys Ifans spoke to Collider's Steven Weintraub. (Click through to watch the video.) His answer to this question was maybe surprising but definitely cool:

COLLIDER: There are going to be people out there who have never actually seen your work before. If someone's never seen anything you've done, what is the first thing you'd like them to watch and why?

RHYS IFANS: I would like them to watch a film called Human Nature, directed by Michel Gondry, written by Charlie Kaufman, starring Tim Robbins, Patricia Arquette and myself, and many other great actors. It was a film that kind of came and went a little bit, but it's a film I'm very, very proud of. I'm constantly bumping into people all over the world who've just happened upon it and love it. It's a really lovely film. So off the top of my head, that one. (Source)

It's really not bad, you know.

I think part of the problem was that Michel Gondry wasn't great with English, and at that point in his career Charlie was a little too polite to assert himself and clarify what he wanted. Example: there's a scene in Human Nature that calls for "flash cards." Gondry had never heard of flash cards, so he assumed an electronic card that lights up, and Charlie was all "Yeah... Okay."

BCK is 23 today!

We launched at the end of 2001, when fan sites were much more of a thing and social media was much less of a thing--barely a thing at all, really. Somehow we're still here, still terrorising poor Charlie K. Back then, Adaptation, Confessions of a Dangerous Mind and Human Nature were all gearing up to hit screens in 2002. I've seen a lot of up and down in the Kaufman trajectory while I've been sitting here, typing away.

Thanks to everyone who visits the site, shares news and info etc.!

Hopefully 2025 will bring more good news re: The Memory Police, Charlie's next novel, and whatever else is hiding in his pipeline. So to speak.

I hope you all have a great Christmas/holiday and a super 2025!

Synecdoche, New York just featured on the MUBI Podcast, and it's a great look at why the film didn't fare so well when released, despite now being considered by some as one of the "best of the century so far."

When screenwriter Charlie Kaufman started making his epic, heartbreaking directorial debut Synecdoche, New York (2008), he was the toast of Hollywood. Then it flopped, put a pause on his career, and arguably marked the end of the heady “Indiewood” era of the aughts. Host Rico Gagliano talks to one of the film’s stars, Daniel London (Minority Report, 2002), comedian and Synecdoche superfan, Jamie Demetriou (Fleabag, 2016), and LA Times critic Amy Nicholson to learn more about a movie that’s now considered one of the best of the century so far.

The latest season of the MUBI Podcast, Box Office Poison, dives into six visionary films...that were also notorious flops. Inspired by the new book of the same name by Tim Robey, film critic for The Telegraph, each episode takes a wild ride through a great movie’s rise, fall, and rise. (Source)

I don't see any way to embed it here, but you can follow the link and find it on all your regular podcast platforms!

Thx u/pavingmomentum!

Has it been FOUR FREAKIN' YEARS since we heard that Lily Gladstone would be directing Charlie's adaptation of The Memory Police? Jesus.

Well, today in her Instagram story, Morano teased with a Memory Police image:

It ain't much, but it's something.

In case you missed it, this one's for Amazon Studios. Martin Scorsese will be exec. producing, and Lily Gladstone will be starring in the adaptation of  Yōko Ogawa's 1994 science fiction novel. Gladstone has called Charlie her favourite screenwriter.