I'm Thinking of Ending Things (Charlie Kaufman, 2020)

[criterionsnob]

Netflix on Twitter wrote:

Charlie Kaufman* will write & direct adaptation of the nightmarish road trip novel "I'm Thinking of Ending Things" for Netflix

*the depressingly hilarious/hilariously depressing force behind Eternal Sunshine, Being John Malkovich, Adaptation, Anomalisa, and Synecdoche, New York

[mfunk9786]

He has the lead blurb in the paperback:

"I'm Thinking of Ending Things is an ingeniously twisted nightmare road trip through the fragile psyches of two young lovers. My kind of fun!"

[Red Screamer]

Between this, Meyerowitz, Mudbound, Wormwood, and some of their better TV shows, Netflix has certainly earned my respect (and subscription). These are original voices with ambitious projects, and the company doesn't appear to get in the filmmakers' way. This is especially welcome news after hearing how hard it's been for Kaufman to get anything funded in Hollywood the past decade.

[Ribs]

Between this, Meyerowitz, Mudbound, Wormwood, and some of their better TV shows, Netflix has certainly earned my respect (and subscription). These are original voices with ambitious projects, and the company doesn't appear to get in the filmmakers' way. This is especially welcome news after hearing how hard it's been for Kaufman to get anything funded in Hollywood the past decade.

But all of these projects you've listed were acquisitions, not productions - they would have been released anyway. Don't really see why them buying movies and preventing them from being really released is something that earns them respect.

[domino harvey]

Brie Larson will star in Charlie Kaufman's next movie, an adaptation of the novel I'm Thinking of Ending Things

[mfunk9786]

As long as Netflix keeps funding stuff like this, I'm having a harder time complaining about their involvement in the feature film racket than most

[Boosmahn]

This sounds interesting, but I'd rather have another company behind it...

[mfunk9786]

Case in point.

I'd rather have it, you know, exist

[domino harvey]

Cold War’s Oscar-nominated cinematographer Lukasz Zal will be shooting this, his first American picture

[Persona]

oh damn

if it's over our heads at least it will be over the heads of the people in it, too!

[AWA]

I'm looking forward to seeing this and what Kaufman finally does after 11 years (!!!) since Kaufman directed his first and what was beginning to look like his last feature film. Synecdoche, New York was a gigantic mess (albeit an interesting one) and I thought after a while that the total bomb of that project had destroyed what was once one of the most unique talents in modern American cinema. Really hope this is a success for him and we get to see more Kaufman feature projects in general going forward (either as writer/director or just as writer).

[Saturnome]

I'm looking forward to seeing this and what Kaufman finally does after 11 years (!!!) since Kaufman directed his first and what was beginning to look like his last feature film.

Anomalisa does not count?

[knives]

Oscar nominated movies don't exist.

[AWA]

I'm looking forward to seeing this and what Kaufman finally does after 11 years (!!!) since Kaufman directed his first and what was beginning to look like his last feature film.

Anomalisa does not count?

It could... but it wasn't written for the screen and he was "co-director". Kaufman initially balked at the idea of making that into a movie at all.

[Cremildo]

Not sure I follow - the screenplay for Anomalisa is an adaptation (of Kaufman's own audioplay), so it's less of a movie? I don't see what's the problem with the co-directing credit, either. No one thinks Heaven Can Wait or West Side Story should be omitted from Beatty's or Wise's filmographies because they were co-directed by someone else. I'm hardly a fan, but I see no reason to think Anomalisa isn't a legit Charlie Kaufman work. He wrote, co-directed, and co-produced it, period.

[swo17]

It's true though--it's like how when authors get married, their books no longer count

[dda1996a]

Is this really an argument? Anomalisa is classic Kaufman brilliance, just used in a slightly different medium of film. It's like Burton's Frankenwinee or Anderson's two animated features. The co-directing was because of the animation iirc?

[AWA]

Not sure I follow - the screenplay for Anomalisa is an adaptation (of Kaufman's own audioplay), so it's less of a movie? I don't see what's the problem with the co-directing credit, either. No one thinks Heaven Can Wait or West Side Story should be omitted from Beatty's or Wise's filmographies because they were co-directed by someone else. I'm hardly a fan, but I see no reason to think Anomalisa isn't a legit Charlie Kaufman work. He wrote, co-directed, and co-produced it, period.

I should maybe rephrase it to say that this will be the first new feature project to get greenlit that Kaufman ***wrote intentionally for the screen***. Kaufman was opposed to the idea of adapting Anomalisa for the screen as that was not his original vision for it. That's not a slight against Anomalisa, but it's genesis wasn't with cinema in mind. This new project is. PIty about Frank & Francis as well.

[Persona]

I really enjoyed the book, it is a dark breeze of a read, but it's tough to imagine how Kaufman is going to adapt this as SO much of how and why the book works is dependent on its first-person narration.

I greatly look forward to the attempt, though, and if anyone's going to adapt it, Kaufman's probably the best possible choice. Aside from Toni Collette, the cast is definitely odd in trying to line them up with how the characters are portrayed in the book, especially difficult to see any relation between Jesse Plemmons and the Jake character, so that kind of makes me wonder if Kaufman is just using the book as a basic launch pad for whatever it is that he wants to do with the story/premise.

Also greatly looking forward to seeing what Zal and Kaufman cook up together visually.

[dda1996a]

I'll never have any fear about adapting a book from the guy who made adapting and writing the unadaptable.
Can't wait for this, there's probably no other screenwriter I rever as much as Kaufman

[knives]

I really enjoyed the book, it is a dark breeze of a read, but it's tough to imagine how Kaufman is going to adapt this as SO much of how and why the book works is dependent on its first-person narration.

This how.

[Persona]

I'll never have any fear about adapting a book from the guy who made adapting and writing the unadaptable.
Can't wait for this, there's probably no other screenwriter I rever as much as Kaufman

I got to meet him after a writer's panel in LA, it was right after Eternal Sunshine (Zach Braff was there to talk about Garden State, lol). He was very gracious and we talked for a while.

Also talked to Zach Braff, he was also super nice and gracious even though he could probably tell I didn't much like his movie, ha.

[dda1996a]

I've learned how to fake liking people work when I talk to them after attending a Q&A with both Reygadas and Athina Tsangari who I don't like.

[mfunk9786]

Jesse Plemons said shooting this film made him "delirious"

Anyway, it also stars David Thewlis, Toni Collette, and Jessie Buckley and will be coming next year.

[Peter-H]

Kaufman did a 20 minute interview on an Irish radio show for this film.