Screenwriter and director Charlie Kaufman chatted for a whole hour with reporter Scott Feinberg of the magazine The Hollywood Reporter and visitors to the Karlovy Vary festival at today's KVIFF Talk. During that time he related how he got into scriptwriting and how shy he was at the beginning of his career. "For six whole weeks I didn't say anything in front of anyone. Every day I was afraid they would fire me," he said in recollection of his first job in television.
Kaufman's favourites include the Coen brothers, Monty Python and Woody Allen, though he doesn't watch the latter's new movies. "I like eccentric, personal things," he said. He himself gathers ideas on walks and jots them down on a notepad he carries with him (and which he had in his pocket at the KVIFF Talk as well). "But most of the time I just stare and don't write. I also have the bad habit of spending a lot of time on the internet. Even so I carry my script around in my head. I've come to terms with writer's block. I think there's something going on in you even if it looks like there isn't," said the filmmaker, who also complained about how difficult it is to get funding for his movies. His script Frank or Francis about how people interact on the internet has been stuck for six years now.
Eight years ago the Oscar-winner for the script to Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind also tried his hand at directing, which he enjoyed and wants to continue with. So far he has done two films, Synecdoche, New York and the animated film Anomalisa, which Kaufman himself will present 7 July at 22:30 in the Grand Hall. Between these two works gapes a seven-year break. "Synecdoche lost money. It hit theatres in 2008 when the economic crisis hit - since then they've only been making comic-book garbage," Kaufman sighed. He himself deliberately does not explain anything about his movies. "It wouldn't be fair to the viewer. A film should be their experience."
