Charlie Kaufman

Charlie Kaufman

Birth : 1958-11-19, New York City, New York, USA

History

Charles Stuart Kaufman (born November 19, 1958) is an American filmmaker and novelist. He wrote the films Being John Malkovich (1999), Adaptation (2002), and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004). He both wrote and directed the films Synecdoche, New York (2008), Anomalisa (2015), and I'm Thinking of Ending Things (2020). In 2020, Kaufman made his literary debut with the release of his first novel, Antkind. One of the most celebrated screenwriters of his era, Kaufman has received an Academy Award, three BAFTA Awards, two Independent Spirit Awards, and a Writers Guild of America Award. Film critic Roger Ebert called Synecdoche, New York "the best movie of the decade" in 2009. Three of Kaufman's scripts appear in the Writers Guild of America's list of the 101 greatest movie screenplays ever written.

Profile

Charlie Kaufman

Movies

Full Transparency
Thanks
In a near-future Boston, an amateur stand up comedian with memory problems struggles to maintain his sobriety as he falls for his transgender best friend. After she rejects his affection, he hears of a company that can give him another chance with her. Introducing NuYou: a business that creates human clones for the modern day consumer.
I'm Thinking of Ending Things
Producer
Nothing is as it seems when a woman experiencing misgivings about her new boyfriend joins him on a road trip to meet his parents at their remote farm.
I'm Thinking of Ending Things
Screenplay
Nothing is as it seems when a woman experiencing misgivings about her new boyfriend joins him on a road trip to meet his parents at their remote farm.
I'm Thinking of Ending Things
Director
Nothing is as it seems when a woman experiencing misgivings about her new boyfriend joins him on a road trip to meet his parents at their remote farm.
Beth Stelling: Girl Daddy
Thanks
Comedian Beth Stelling takes the stage at Minneapolis’ Varsity Theater to talk sex, drugs, and babies in her hilarious new special Beth Stelling: Girl Daddy. Musing on the ways that sexual pleasure is different for men and women, Stelling’s not ashamed to admit that she always thinks her massage therapist is falling for her – and is not afraid to call male comedians out for making lazy #MeToo jokes. Stelling also shares her takes on being a relationship person, having reverse body dysmorphia, alternative wedding traditions, her relationship with her Orlando-based actor father whose personality is “Fox News,” talking sex with her may-as-well-be-virginal mom, and how her sisters just love to make babies.
Ad Astra
Script Consultant
The near future, a time when both hope and hardships drive humanity to look to the stars and beyond. While a mysterious phenomenon menaces to destroy life on planet Earth, astronaut Roy McBride undertakes a mission across the immensity of space and its many perils to uncover the truth about a lost expedition that decades before boldly faced emptiness and silence in search of the unknown.
None of Them Are You: Crafting Anomalisa
Self
A behind-the-scenes documentary on the making of Charlie Kaufman and Duke Johnson's 2015 stop-motion animated drama Anomalisa.
Anomalisa
Producer
An inspirational speaker becomes reinvigorated after meeting a lively woman who shakes up his mundane existence.
Anomalisa
Director
An inspirational speaker becomes reinvigorated after meeting a lively woman who shakes up his mundane existence.
Anomalisa
Theatre Play
An inspirational speaker becomes reinvigorated after meeting a lively woman who shakes up his mundane existence.
Anomalisa
Writer
An inspirational speaker becomes reinvigorated after meeting a lively woman who shakes up his mundane existence.
Her
Thanks
In the not so distant future, Theodore, a lonely writer, purchases a newly developed operating system designed to meet the user's every need. To Theodore's surprise, a romantic relationship develops between him and his operating system. This unconventional love story blends science fiction and romance in a sweet tale that explores the nature of love and the ways that technology isolates and connects us all.
Kung Fu Panda 2
Script Consultant
Po is now living his dream as The Dragon Warrior, protecting the Valley of Peace alongside his friends and fellow kung fu masters, The Furious Five - Tigress, Crane, Mantis, Viper and Monkey. But Po’s new life of awesomeness is threatened by the emergence of a formidable villain, who plans to use a secret, unstoppable weapon to conquer China and destroy kung fu. It is up to Po and The Furious Five to journey across China to face this threat and vanquish it. But how can Po stop a weapon that can stop kung fu? He must look to his past and uncover the secrets of his mysterious origins; only then will he be able to unlock the strength he needs to succeed.
Waking Up
Thanks
Martin Brown, who dreams he's traveling backwards through time, attempts to fix his relationship with his recently deceased wife, Jennifer.
Synecdoche, New York
Screenplay
A theater director struggles with his work, and the women in his life, as he attempts to create a life-size replica of New York inside a warehouse as part of his new play.
Synecdoche, New York
Director
A theater director struggles with his work, and the women in his life, as he attempts to create a life-size replica of New York inside a warehouse as part of his new play.
Synecdoche, New York
Producer
A theater director struggles with his work, and the women in his life, as he attempts to create a life-size replica of New York inside a warehouse as part of his new play.
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
Executive Producer
Joel Barish, heartbroken that his girlfriend underwent a procedure to erase him from her memory, decides to do the same. However, as he watches his memories of her fade away, he realises that he still loves her, and may be too late to correct his mistake.
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
Story
Joel Barish, heartbroken that his girlfriend underwent a procedure to erase him from her memory, decides to do the same. However, as he watches his memories of her fade away, he realises that he still loves her, and may be too late to correct his mistake.
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
Screenplay
Joel Barish, heartbroken that his girlfriend underwent a procedure to erase him from her memory, decides to do the same. However, as he watches his memories of her fade away, he realises that he still loves her, and may be too late to correct his mistake.
Confessions of a Dangerous Mind
Screenplay
Television made him famous, but his biggest hits happened off screen. Television producer by day, CIA assassin by night, Chuck Barris was recruited by the CIA at the height of his TV career and trained to become a covert operative. Or so Barris said.
Adaptation.
Executive Producer
Nicolas Cage is Charlie Kaufman, a confused L.A. screenwriter overwhelmed by feelings of inadequacy, sexual frustration, self-loathing, and by the screenwriting ambitions of his freeloading twin brother Donald. While struggling to adapt "The Orchid Thief," by Susan Orlean, Kaufman's life spins from pathetic to bizarre. The lives of Kaufman, Orlean's book, become strangely intertwined as each one's search for passion collides with the others'.
Adaptation.
Screenplay
Nicolas Cage is Charlie Kaufman, a confused L.A. screenwriter overwhelmed by feelings of inadequacy, sexual frustration, self-loathing, and by the screenwriting ambitions of his freeloading twin brother Donald. While struggling to adapt "The Orchid Thief," by Susan Orlean, Kaufman's life spins from pathetic to bizarre. The lives of Kaufman, Orlean's book, become strangely intertwined as each one's search for passion collides with the others'.
Human Nature
Writer
A philosophical burlesque, Human Nature follows the ups and downs of an obsessive scientist, a female naturalist, and the man they discover, born and raised in the wild. As scientist Nathan trains the wild man, Puff, in the ways of the world - starting with table manners - Nathan's lover Lila fights to preserve the man's simian past, which represents a freedom enviable to most.
Human Nature
Producer
A philosophical burlesque, Human Nature follows the ups and downs of an obsessive scientist, a female naturalist, and the man they discover, born and raised in the wild. As scientist Nathan trains the wild man, Puff, in the ways of the world - starting with table manners - Nathan's lover Lila fights to preserve the man's simian past, which represents a freedom enviable to most.
Being John Malkovich
Writer
One day at work, unsuccessful puppeteer Craig finds a portal into the head of actor John Malkovich. The portal soon becomes a passion for anybody who enters its mad and controlling world of overtaking another human body.
Being John Malkovich
Executive Producer
One day at work, unsuccessful puppeteer Craig finds a portal into the head of actor John Malkovich. The portal soon becomes a passion for anybody who enters its mad and controlling world of overtaking another human body.
The Incident Report
Executive Producer
Librarian Miriam Gordon lives in a fog of grief while working amidst marginalized members of the public who populate her downtown public branch. When a burgeoning love-affair with Janko, a younger foreign cab driver coincides with her receiving a series of oddly threatening letters addressed to her, Miriam’s sheltered existence is cracked open.
The Actor
Executive Producer
New York actor Paul Cole is beaten and left for dead in 1950s Ohio. Stripped of his memory and stranded in a mysterious small town, Paul struggles to get back home, piece together and reclaim the life and identity he's lost.
The Memory Police
Screenplay
On an unnamed island off an unnamed coast, things have begun to disappear: at first little things: ribbons and then roses. Soon, photographs. However, a rare few are able to remember all that no longer exists – but the Memory Police are determined to make sure that what has been erased, remains forgotten forever. When a young novelist realizes her book editor is one of those able to still remember, she hides him in a room beneath her floorboards. As the world closes in around them, they struggle defiantly to hold onto the truth.