Being Charlie Kaufman | Movies | Confessions of a Dangerous Mind

Confessions of a Dangerous Mind DVD'

"My name is Charles Prescott Barris. I have written pop songs, I have been a television producer. I am responsible for polluting airwaves with mind-numbing, puerile entertainment. In addition, I have murdered thirty-three human beings. I am damned to Hell." - Chuck Barris

I Give It: (film), (Script, 3rd draft)
Release Date: 24 July, 2003 (Australia); 15 August 2003 (LA/NY, re-release). First release was 27th December, 2002 (limited - LA and New Yotk), then wide on January 10, 2003 (was 22nd November, 2002)
Official Site: www.miramax.com/confessions/
Fan Site: By George!, AboutJulia.Com
The Pitch: An adaptation of the "unauthorised autobiography" of Chuck Barris, creator and host of such TV classics as The Dating Game, The Gong Show and others. What makes it interesting is that, in the book, Barris claims to have worked for the CIA as a hitman at the same time that he was working on TV. He doesn't say this as a joke... he tells it with a straight face.
The Buzz: People have been raving about this screenplay for ages. Entertainment Weekly rated it one of the ten best unproduced scripts. Problem is, so many people have been attached to the project, only to drop out, it makes you wonder if there's some fundamental problem somewhere.
Cast:Sam Rockwell (Chuck Barris), Drew Barrymore (Penny Pacino), George Clooney (CIA Agent Jim Byrd), Julia Roberts (Patricia Watson), Chuck Barris (cameo), Matt Damon (cameo, Gong Show contestant), Rutger Hauer (Keeler), Brad Pitt (cameo, Gong Show contestant), Jerry Weintraub (Leonard Goldberg), Fred Savage (bellhop), Kristen Wilson, Jennifer Hallwill, Krista Allen.
Crew: George Clooney (Director, Executive Producer), Steven Soderbergh, Angus Finney, Stephen Evans, Rand Ravich (Executive Producers), Andrew Lazar (Producer), Steven Reuther (Producer), David Holmes (Music)

Trailer/Clips: Here at AboutJulia.Com you can view several clips, including the original trailer. And over here at Apple.com you can view the film's 2nd trailer to coincide with Confessions' re-release.

George Clooney
Clooney in Montreal,
during filming

Screenplay: Charlie Kaufman's highly-acclaimed 3rd draft (revised) of the screenplay is available for download as a PDF file. Clicky. You'll need something like Acrobat Reader to view the file. Many thanks to one of BCK's anonymous sources for converting the script to PDF format.

I Say: This one's been on-again off-again for ages, though by all accounts the script is excellent - even those who HATED Being John Malkovich say this one is brilliant.

The project has had a who's who of names tied to it over the years. Charlie Kaufman apparently wasn't even in on it from the beginning - I'm not sure who might have been initially attached to write the script, though interestingly enough another of my idols, Darin Morgan, wanted to do it.

New Line Cinema owned it, then Mad Chance Productions.

(Teaser poster - click to enlarge)

Among those who were originally considering taking the role of Chuck Barris: Mike Myers, Jim Carrey, Johnny Depp, John Cusack, Ben Stiller, Sean Penn. Variety reported that Sam Rockwell, now confirmed as Barris, beat out Stiller in an audition. Nicole Kidman was originally the front-runner for the part Julia Roberts now has - Kidman had to pass on it because of a hectic schedule, and Julia came on board while working with Clooney on Ocean's Eleven.

As for directors who put their hand up and then passed on the project: David Fincher, Darren Aronofsky (Pi, Requiem for a Dream - "It's one of the few scripts I could go out tomorrow and shoot -- it's that smart," he said of Confessions), Bryan Singer (X-Men).

George Clooney, who was to have played a role in the film under one of these directors, salvaged the film from terminal going-nowhereness and decided to direct the picture himself. From that moment, casting, pre-production and filming have rolled steadily on.

Personally I'd never heard of Barris until I heard about this movie (I'm in Australia and he's a wee bit before my time), so all I know is what I've read since then, including the script's third draft. I had qualms about Clooney helming the movie, concerned that he would take a highly-stylised approach in the film's direction (which I usually loathe). Indeed, most reviews of the resulting movie have said that it is very very stylised. For a more detailed look at my opinion of the script, click here to read a review I wrote for The Trades. (Many thanks to Raul Burriel.)

According to Upcomingmovies, who got the information from Amy Archerd, Chuck Barris is working on a sequel to Confessions called Bad Grass Never Dies.

Replica of the Berlin Wall, in Montreal
(From By George!)

Latest: 2/4/04 - Kaufman Cusses Clooney. Title says it all, really. Heh, go Charlie! Thanks to Catherine and Matt for that one.

30/11/03 - I keep forgetting to mention, Confessions is now available to rent on DVD here in Australia.

9/11/03 - rObix sends streaming audio goodness, via the Charlie Rose site: an hour-long interview with George Clooney about Confessions and other Clooneyness.

12/9/03 - thanks to Jamie for giving me the heads up about this indieWIRE review, circa August 1.

7/9/03 -Happy Easter! WiLL from the BCK Board brings forth an egg. You can find it on the upcoming Confessions DVD, like so:

From the MAIN MENU, go to SPECIAL FEATURES. Highlight the "Gong Show Acts" menu entry and 'left' arrow with your remote. Click on the square to be treated to some behind the scenes footage from the Gong Show set.

And the DVD ain't even out yet! WOW. Boy, is WiLL on top of things! Not least of all the egg. If you haven't already done so, go order it via the BCK store. And if you've already done it, go do it again.

5/9/03 - Weekend gross: $17,053
Theatre count: 2
Per theatre: $8,526
Total gross: $16,003,576
Production: $30,000,000
Advertising: $18,000,000
Weeks in release: 17

Those are Confessions' figures from the 4-day holiday last weekend, courtesy of rObix on the BCK board, in case you were interested. I would've had them up sooner but I haven't been online much. SUE ME.

2/9/03 - The ever-helpful WiLL points out this review of the upcoming Confessions DVD, where among other things you can find out what nifty extras will be included. Or you could just read this:

Theatrical Trailers
Feature commentary with Director George Clooney and Cinematographer Newton Thomas Sigel
Deleted Scenes with commentary
Six Behind the Scene Vignettes
Sam Rockwell Screen Test
"Gong Show" Acts
The Real Chuck Barris Documentary
Still Gallery

Other Specs:

Widescreen (2.40:1) � Enhanced for 16x9 Televisions
Dolby 5.1 Digital Surround Sound
French Language Track
Running Time: 114 Minutes
And a partridge in a pear tree.

(Note: not all DVDs contain partridge.)

The DVD can be pre-ordered right here, by clicking on the Confessions poster at the top of the page you're on now (where it says "PRE-ORDER" in big red letters), or by heading over to the BCK shop. We get a small percentage from each purchase, the better to provide you with more screenplays.

20/8/03 - In this review from back in March, the Guardian gives Confessions 3 stars. Thanks to Madelaine.

19/8/03 - Confessions of a Dangerous Mind re-release blurbage. Thanks WiLL!

18/8/03 -2nd Update: rObix says it best so I'll let him deliver the news:

the answer is 2.

the question?
that would be "how many theaters is confessions rereleased to?"

2 theaters.

UA Union Square Stadium 14
850 Broadway, New York, NY 10003
&
Pacific Arclight Hollywood
6360 Sunset Blvd, Hollywood, CA 90028

There was also a rather colourful piece of phraseology in there that I have omitted only because kids might be reading. But I agree with the sentiments.

1st Update: The re-release is only going down in LA and NY, according to Coming Soon, via rObix. WHAT'S THE POINT, MAN?

17/8/03 - Go here to view Miramax's trailer for the Confessions re-release.

And here's an enlightening quote posted by WiLL a few days ago on the board:

George Clooney's movie Confessions Of A Dangerous Mind is to be given a second run in American cinemas - after the hunky actor begged studio bosses to re-release it. The film, about a famous TV game show host-turned-part-time CIA agent, grossed only $15.9 million at the box office when it first came out. But Clooney - who directed the movie - has since put pressure on film chiefs to unleash it on the big screen again, because he feels the amount of unpaid work he put into the project should warrant him a second chance. The former E.R. star claims the movie took longer to make than he'd expected and cost far more than the budget ($29 million), forcing the actor and his colleagues on the set to take major cuts in their earnings. He says, "I was only playing a supporting role, so taking no money didn't even help because there were still lead characters that were still going to have to be paid. So I figured the only way to do it is take over and say, 'Look, I'm doing this for nothing as a director, as an actor. I'm asking everybody to come in and do it for nothing.'"

15/8/03 - Just a quick reminder that Confessions of a Dangerous Mind gets re-released in selected cinemas today around the US. Assuming, of course, that the power's on.

28/7/03 - 3rd Update: Okay, well, Coming Soon says the re-release is going down on August 15. Thanks rObix.

2nd Update: If you weren't already aware, various Confessions clips are available for download here as well as - I'm assuming - at the official site mentioned below.

For some reason I've been pretty lax with Confessions updates. Possibly the lack of overall buzz has rubbed off on me.

1st Update: Is Confessions still scheduled for re-release in cinemas on August 1? Short answer: yeah. That's according to the official site. But it will only be re-released in selected cities. My assorted US sources tell me the re-release is getting pretty much zip in the way of publicity. If that's the case, WHY BOTHER?! Baaaah.

I also noticed that somewhere along the line, they changed the official site's URL. So my links to that were dead for who-knows-how-long. But now they're fixed.

24/7/03 - Confessions opens today in selected cinemas around Australia. My cinema has thus far not been selected. Naturally.

19/7/03 - WiLL sends in this link to the specs of the upcoming Confessions DVD. Which, by the way, you can pre-order vis the BCK Store. (BCK gets a small percentage from every sale, the better to cover hosting costs or purchase more screenplays for the site.)

16/7/03 - Gary has come through with a bigger pic of the DVD cover. Click on the image in the last update.

12/7/03 - Cover of the upcoming DVD (coming out Sept 9, 2003):

(Clicky)

Mucho thanks rObix. ~~If any of you find a larger pic, you know who to email.~~ (Never mind: Gary came through with the goods. Thanks Gary!)

1/7/03 - Hot Dog magazine's Tom Hawker says Confessions is "confident, funny and fizzing with a bizarre energy." Thanks to WiLL for scanning.

6/6/03 - If you're in Sydney, Australia, on June 15 or 17 (and let's face it: why wouldn't you be?), go visit the Sydney Film Festival, where they'll be screening Confessions at the State Theatre on those days. The Festival itself runs from June 6-20. And if you're in the US, don't forget they're giving the film a second wide release on August 1.

16/5/03 - A few sites are saying Confessions will fiiiinally be released in Australia on July 24. No word on just how wide the release will be, assuming that the July date is right.

15/5/03 - Added a bunch of images to the Confessions gallery.

14/4/03 - For your reading pleasure, Confessions of a Dangerous Mind, 3rd draft revised, in PDF format: clicky. (Obviously, you need something like Acrobat Reader to open it.) Thanks goes to one of BCK's world-famous anonymous sources.

5/4/03 - Once more, with feeling. They're gonna give Confessions a second shot at a wide release on August 1, with a re-vamped ad campaign. So if you missed it in cinemas the first time, here comes your chance to catch it. Thanks rObix.

4/3/03 - Illuminating an Idea, from the March American Cinematographer, scanned and sent along by Tom. Obviously, it's about the cinematography in Confessions of a Dangerous Mind.

29/3/03 - WiLL says the Confessions DVD is due out July 15. The cover looks the same as the movie poster. But if you flick the DVD cover it'll go "tap tap," whereas the poster would make a noise like paper.

16/2/03 - Over at the Berlin Film Festival, Sam Rockwell has taken out Best Actor for his star turn as Chucky baby. More info.

12/2/03 - Voting for the Internet Movie Awards is underway and open to all. Confessions is up for some gongs, so storm the booths and get behind our buddy Charlie! Voting closes at the end of Feb. Thanks to Raul from The Trades for the tip.

13/1/03 - Rolling Stone's Peter Travers gives three stars to Confessions. He calls the casting of Rockwell a "masterstroke" and has good things to say about the rest of the cast.

12/1/03 - And now the review we've all been waiting for. The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops gives the film a big fat zero because it's morally offensive, unappealing, smug and nihilistic. But they dig Clooney's direction and think Julia Roberts is a babe. I know, I know, I'm going to Hell.

8/1/03 - David Sterritt praises Clooney's direction in his review of Confessions, though he wasn't too keen on the jokey tone of the film.

6/1/03 - George Clooney's been nominated in the category of "Most Promising Filmmaker" in the Chicago Film Critics' Awards. Thanks Sis.

George Clooney Talks About "Confessions of a Dangerous Mind", Sam Rockwell Talks About "Confessions of a Dangerous Mind" and Drew Barrymore Talks About "Confessions of a Dangerous Mind", all of them with Rebecca Murray and Fred Topel of About.com.

5/1/03 - 2nd Update: robix sends word of a CNN interview with Kevin Smith over at www.newsaskew.com. Relevant excerpt:

ZAHN: Let's talk about Jack Nicholson. He's out with in a new movie called "About Schmidt," and I guess Oscar talk is really loud on this one.

What did you think?

SMITH: I mean, there ought to be, like, an Oscar category just for Jack Nicholson so that he doesn't have to compete with everybody else. It seems like every time Jack Nicholson comes out in a somewhat dramatic role, people are like, it's Jack's year, he's going to win again. We're like, we know he's a great actor, he's wonderful, but maybe let's give somebody else a shot this time.

It's always a pleasure to watch Jack Nicholson, always a pleasure to watch Kathy Bates. Best picture of the year, "Confessions of a Dangerous Mind."

George Clooney, first-time director, made a better looking movie than my first five movies, far more visually engaged. I know that's really not that great a compliment, because my movies don't look that good, but I thought that movie was incredibly visually accomplished and incredibly well-directed, wonderful performances.

1st Update: If I haven't mentioned it already, Confessions of a Dangerous Mind (the book) has been re-released and has a listing at Amazon. (That link will probably get re-directed to Amazon's main page, cos that's how they've rigged their site, so you may need to look for the listing yourself.)

Lou Lumenick from the New York Post gives Confessions a glowing 3.5 stars.

To quote this piece, the Las Vegas Film Critics have bestowed Best Picture honours upon George Clooney's directing debut Confessions of a Dangerous Mind. Entirely unrelated footnote: U2 took out best song for "The Hands That Built America." I mention this only because U2 are cool.

Two stars are given to Confessions by Chuck Rudolph of Slant Magazine.

Over at the NY Times, Stephen Holden gives us his top 15 films for 2002, including Adaptation (on page 2) and Confessions (page 4). Registration required but it's free and they don't send junk mail.

Also at the NY Times, Elvis Mitchell finds Confessions too cold for its own good, though he has good things to say about Clooney, Rockwell and the film in general.

New pic:

(Enlarge)

30/12/02 - New old images, swiped from By George!, except for the bottom two.

More new-oldness, these behind-the-scenes, likewise swiped from BG:

Some reviews:

The Cranky Critic gongs the film. (ie. he didn't really like it)

"...never fails to entertain and intrigue, says Doris Toumarkine of Film Journal International.

Sean Conover at The Trades hands out an A.

Village Voice's Michael Atkinson has mixed feelings about the film.

I've seen two limited release dates for Confessions: Dec. 27 and Dec. 31. So. I dunno.

27/12/02 - Jeffrey Wells at Movie Poop Shoot took in Confessionss and found it ultra-depressing. Thanks WiLL.

24/12/02 - A new review of the film. Verdict: Sam's ace, the film itself is damn good but not brilliant, and please George - quit going overboard with your assorted directorial flairs and whiz-bangery. (I'm not even gonna say I told you so.)

21/12/02 - Another AICN correspondent takes a look at Confessions. He duggeth neither Clooney's direction, nor Rockwell's bare behind, nor the rest of the main cast. (And he also apparently digs not basic spelling. I don't want to harp on the grammatical shortcomings of AICN's correspondents, cos grammar isn't the point of their site and Lord knows I'm not Shakespeare, but really, it's starting to grate my cheese.)

20/12/02 - 2nd Update: Confessions was nominated for Best First Feature at the Toronto Film Critics Association Awards. Despite not winning, the film did say "It was an honour just to be nominated," before going off to get drunk with the other First Feature nominees.

1st Update: In his review of the film, Christopher Null from filmcritic.com says "Frankly we've come to expect far better from screenwriter Charlie Kaufman." He also says...

"Favoring first-year film school tricks like shooting in dark shadows, using oddball angles, bleaching the film of color, and careless editing, the movie comes off as more of a goofy home video project Clooney made in his spare time than a serious film."

... which is exactly the kind of thing I was worried about back when I was all doom-and-gloom re: Clooney being at the helm. Nonetheless, Null seems to have enjoyed a large part of the movie. I loathe over-directed films, especially if the source material is already weird enough.

11/12/02 - Will (not the usual Will) has found two upbeat reviews of the film. Here's what Hollywood Reporter has to say about the film. (Short version: "It's wonderful.") And here's Variety's take on the film. (Short version: "It's pretty good.")

6/12/02 - The National Board of Review Awards were held a couple of days ago, and George Clooney was given a special filmmaking achievement award for directing, producing and acting in Confessions. More info on the NBR Awards here.

4/12/02 -An AICN correspondent gives his take on Confessions of a Dangerous Mind and briefly talks about a Q&A with Clooney and Sam Rockwell. There's some stuff about film's technical aspects that some of you might be interested in.

Longish gushing review of Confessions.

26/11/02 -I have a feeling this has been around a little while, but it's news to me. Thanks to WiLL, the new Confessions of a Dangerous Mind poster:

(You know what to do)

That's as opposed to the teaser poster we saw a ways back.

19/11/02 - George and Soderbergh briefly discuss Confessions in Entertainment Weekly's summer movie preview. Clicky and start reading from near the bottom of the first column.

5/11/02 - Added a couple of images to the gallery.

26/10/02 - An AICN correspondent has given Confessions the thumbs-up after attending an advanced screening. Review be here.

18/10/02 - If you missed the trailer on ET the other day, or you saw it and dug it so much that you simply have to download the thing, it's now online here at Starring Julia Roberts. Big thanks to Magnetic Monkey for the heads up. The trailer should also be popping up at By George! shortly.

16/10/02 - Did we all tune in to ET for the trailer? Looks pretty damn good, no? WiLL pointed me to a transcript of an interview with Chuck Barris that aired on ET back in February. It's brief, but Chuck talks about his life, his career, and his thoughts on the film. Plus there's a pic of Chuck as he is now. It's worth a read, so go clicky if you're in the mood. Oh, and here's a short article to accompany the trailer they showed today. The trailer isn't on the site, and there's nothing particularly new, but there are a couple of small pics from the film, so I guess that's something.

15/10/02 - Just a reminder to be watching Entertainment Tonight tonight (that sounds weird, but oh well) for a feature on Confessions. Word is they'll be airing the trailer, woo-hoo! I've been told it's either tonight or tomorrow, anyway. Aussies like myself should be able to see it the following day, I think.

13/10/02 - From Nathan comes word that he's pretty sure Tuesday's edition of Entertainment Tonight will feature a segment on Confessions. (For Aussies, I think that'll probably air on Wednesday.)

1/10/02 - Confession is not good for the soul, so says an AICN correspondent who attended a test screening of the film. It's waaaaay past my bedtime, so I haven't read it yet. But I figured I'd update about it now before I go nap-nap. Thanks to the board's hro55a, aka N, for the heads up. Update: Okay, I just read the review. I realise it's only one guy's opinion, but he talks about exactly the kind of thing I was worried about back in the days when I was dissing George: over-directing. I can't stand over-directed films. A neat trick here and there is cool and all... but tricks for the sake of showing people how quirky you can be, endlessly irritate me. It's distracting. So, here's hoping the reviewer was overstating things.

3/9/02 - Katie comes through yet again, with news that Miramax now have a Confessions page on their site. It's pretty bare right now, though. Click here for a peek.

13/8/02 - The ever-dependable Katie from the ever-up-to-date By George! sent a new pic my way. I responded by lifting another three directly from her site. I have no shame.

Katie also pointed me toward Actors Who Call "Action" an article over at Calendar Live, where Clooney discusses his experience working on Confessions. (The article talks about other actor/directors too, but there's enough chatter about Confessions to make it worth a peruse.) From the article, a pic of George checking out dailies:

(Click to enlarge)

Sooooo... up goes the new image gallery, hooray.

And finally, Premiere's entry on Confessions, with a couple of brief quotes from George and Sam Rockwell.

3/8/02 - Test screenings have begun. AICN has posted a spoiler-free review here, and one of Corona Coming Attraction's operatives has a report here (scroll down to near the bottom).

4/7/02 - Got an email from Katie at By George! (as in Clooney, duh) that makes me feel better about George's involvement with this film:

You might be interested to know that Steven Soderbergh's editor, Stephen Mirrone, was with George all the way through shooting ... he works like that with Soderbergh, helping to set the shots, and we should see his find hand in this, as well as a bit of input from Soderbergh himself. Also, Joel Coen helped George storyboard the whole thing -- one of the things George and most all actors love about the Coen brothers is their organization, which starts with very detailed story boards. If you have any doubts about George directing, perhaps knowing all the pro help he had getting it right will alleviate them a bit.

In case you don't know, Rockwell is in Welcome to Collinwood with George -- that opens in the States Oct. 4. It was during that production that George got to know Sam and both he and Barris seem to think he's going to be great in this part.

29/6/02 - My review of the Confessions script (3rd draft) is now here at The Trades.

16/6/02 - The folks over at TNMC have posted this first pic from the film:

Sam Rockwell as Chuck Barris
(click to enlarge)

14/6/02 - Ring the bells, ring the bells. I now have a copy of Charlie's 3rd draft, which has been hailed by one and all as healthier than a tall glass of water and able to cure the common cold. I'll read it shortly and let you folks know all about it.

31/5/02 - Nothing new here. But if you're bored, you can pretend to buy shares in Confessions. What the? Read more on the news page.

20/4/02 - AICN and Dark Horizons have posted pics from the set. Nothing great, mostly George and his moustache walking around. Click here for the AICN pics, or here for Dark Horizons'. Both sets are the same. Here's the most interesting shot:

12/4/02 - In an interview with Town Online to promote Human Nature, Charlie revealed he's not too impressed that George Clooney has re-written his third act. (That is, if rumours are true that George has done so. Kaufman isn't "in the loop" on this film - he wrote the script and that's all.)

2/4/02 - Though filming is underway, so - still - is casting. Right now they're looking for someone who can play "an obese tap-dancer who taps especially loud because of his or her weight, but is not very good," and also a "folk song-singing Chinese woman who'll sport painted-on eyebrows ala Joan Crawford and sing in a depressing monotone." How cliche. These will appear as Gong Show contestants in the movie. So if you're overweight or Chinese, give George and his moustache a buzz, eh? This info came from Coming Soon.

22/3/02 - You'll notice the official movie poster has been officially unveiled. Thanks to Counting Down. And up above there's a shot of a Berlin Wall replica, constructed in Montreal for use in the film. (From George Clooney.org.)

19/3/02 - Okay, this isn't really the latest, but I found a pic of George Clooney lookin' cosy in Toronto. Thanks to Counting Down.

17/3/02 - Upcoming Movies reports that Miramax have pushed back the release date to December 27th.

14/3/02 - I haven't read any of the drafts for Confessions, so I can't comment on the script. But it turns out that George Clooney, renowned screenwriter that he is, has re-written Charlie's 3rd Act. At least, according to a poster at AICN, who incidentally doesn't like Ed Norton.

8/3/02 - I'm so three weeks ago. Found out that the Fred Savage role is that of a bellhop. Thanks to Upcoming Movies, from whence I nick a lot of news.

20/2/02 - TNMC has posted a review of Charlie's script.

18/2/02 - Screenwriter's Utopia confirms that Clooney and co. will release Confessions around Novermber 2002. Click if you love me

- Filming is scheduled to start on Januray 17, 2002, in Montreal.

- George Clooney mentioned on Letterman that Julia Roberts will be in the movie.

If you have any useful info about this movie, or any other comments, please email me.