What do you get when a down-on-his-heels puppeteer working as a file clerk on the seventh-and-a-half floor of a Manhattan office building discovers a secret portal into the brain of John Malkovich? Hilarity, drama, and perhaps the most unique film of the 90s. Being John Malkovich, which stars John Cusack, Cameron Diaz and, of course, John Malkovich as himself, is Charlie Kaufman's screenwriting debut. The movie premiered to universal acclaim and is guaranteed to become a classic of modern cinema.
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"A wonderfully demented fantasia . . . inspired madness . . . a metaphysical journey about identity, gender, creativity and the urge to transform oneself, Being John Malkovich looks as if it were hatched by Terry Gilliam or Lewis Carroll on drugs."
--Edward Guthmann, San Francisco Chronicle
"A clever and outrageous piece of whimsical fantasy that is unique, unpredictable, and more than a little strange. Kaufman . . . has a truly singular imagination."
--Kenneth Turan, The Los Angeles Times
"More than just the latest cool, smart, funny movie. It jumps off the screen with . . . freshness, originality and [a] light-handed stranglehold on the Zeitgeist."
-- Jay Carr, The Boston Globe
"Every once in a long, long while a movie comes along that is like no other. A movie that creates a new world for us and uses it to produce wonderful things."
--Roger Ebert, Chicago-Sun Times
"The most excitingly original movie of the year."--Owen Gleiberman, Entertainment Weekly
--Edward Guthmann, San Francisco Chronicle
"A clever and outrageous piece of whimsical fantasy that is unique, unpredictable, and more than a little strange. Kaufman . . . has a truly singular imagination."
--Kenneth Turan, The Los Angeles Times
"More than just the latest cool, smart, funny movie. It jumps off the screen with . . . freshness, originality and [a] light-handed stranglehold on the Zeitgeist."
-- Jay Carr, The Boston Globe
"Every once in a long, long while a movie comes along that is like no other. A movie that creates a new world for us and uses it to produce wonderful things."
--Roger Ebert, Chicago-Sun Times
"The most excitingly original movie of the year."--Owen Gleiberman, Entertainment Weekly
About the Author
Charlie Kaufman is also the scriptwriter for Adaptation.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Worth it just for the introduction,
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This review is from: Being John Malkovich (Faber and Faber Screenplays) (Paperback)
"Being John Malkovich" is one of the most insanely creative films ever made,and a large portion of the credit for that goes to Charli Kaufman's moody,intimate,and sly script,presented here in pretty much the same form as it is in the finished film.Which is great,but on top of that you get,a stellar,caustic introduction in which the author is told to say a few words to the readers,beacause the readers are"owed...something"."I said I would try" replys our intrepid narrator,and what follows is a darkly hilarious trip through his mind as he tries to come up with something insightful or inspirational to say,all the while revealing his self-loathing and profound contempt.In the end, the best he can manage to come up with is "And if you're going to write a screenplay,try to keep it around one hundred and ten pages".Which when you think about it,is probably the most practical advice he could give.
6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Kaufmanian self-loathing triumphant,
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This review is from: Being John Malkovich (Faber and Faber Screenplays) (Paperback)
The real bonus here is Kaufman's intro--which, rather than explicating the writing or making of this movie, is an anguished, hysterical, can't-take-it-any-more Dance of Despair and Disillusionment that will brighten the day of any struggling scribe. "Wow!" one thinks, avidly turning the pages, "Charlie Kaufman waited five years, got the huge payoff, had a critical and commercial hit...and he's still absolutely bananas! God bless America!"Los Angeles writers will especially enjoy the part about making friends with the take-out bags left on the floor of one's ever-more-apartment-like car. Kaufman's growth proceeds apace: his new script ADAPTATION is like a feature-length expansion of his intro here. You've just got to love a guy who's an addled mess and doesn't try to whittle it into a cutesy Woody Allen persona. He's just cuckoo!
2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Charlie Kaufman is a Genius!,
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This review is from: Being John Malkovich (Faber and Faber Screenplays) (Paperback)
Charlie Kaufman is a very loveable genius! I use "genius" as Emerson defined it: " To trust that was is true for you, in your secret heart, that is genius!" Wow! Kaufman is as vulnerable in his intro to the "Being John Malcovich Screenplay" as his character in "Adaptation". He is in such truth, that even his sad confessions are funny and healing to this reader & millions, who made this original masterpiece a hit! I have seen this movie so many times & reading the dialogue still makes me laugh, because it is so alive! It is great to see where he let the actors improvise, which shows how secure Kaufman is with his self. The actors were appreciated as artists with a great sense of humor & allowed to create & adlib. The end result is one of the greatest intellectual comedies ever made.This book is generous in teaching how to write with complete honesty and wild creativity.If you watch the DVD, while reading this screenplay, you can attain insight on why it is so wise to encourage actors to ad their own words to make a brilliant screenplay come alive! A writer who can let go of their ego, enough to do that is very confident within himself and nurturing to the artist within every being, even the chimp, who was traumatized by childhood memories in the script, but was allowed to make spontaneous chimp sounds. But seriously, Kaufman is a wonderful comic genius & we are lucky if we see his movies & read this special book he authored.
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Inside This Book
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First Sentence:
The montage plays under the opening credits. Read the first page Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
John Malkovich, Craig Schwartz, Captain Mertin, Derek Mantini, John Malpisich New!
Concordance | Text Stats Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
The montage plays under the opening credits. Read the first page Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
John Malkovich, Craig Schwartz, Captain Mertin, Derek Mantini, John Malpisich New!
Concordance | Text Stats Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
Citations (learn more)
36
books
cite this book:
See all 36 books citing this book
- Rebels on the Backlot: Six Maverick Directors and How They Conquered the Hollywood Studio System by Sharon Waxman on 5 pages
- American Independent Cinema: A Sight and Sound Reader by Jim Hillier on page 190, page 191, and page 192
- The Best American Magazine Writing 2000 (Best American Magazine Writing) by Clay Felker on page 301, page 302, and page 304
- Movies and the Meaning of Life by Kimberly A. Blessing in Front Matter, and page 67
- Spiritual Cinema by Gay Hendricks on page 71, and page 104
See all 36 books citing this book
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