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Charlie Kaufman is the form of creative thinker whose works tend to play up type on the fringe of popular culture . With that in judgement , this screenwriter and managing director has managed to receive loads of mainstream praise for his kinky , visionary donation to both the braggy and the small screen .
Whether he ’s write scripts for Spike Jonze films or helming his own ventures , Charlie Kaufman has left an indelible print on contemporary cinema . From ' XC sitcoms to 2020’sI’m remember of cease Thingson Netflix , Kaufman concentrate on the deepest inlet of the human psyche with his singular marque of dark , phantasmagoric humor .
Ned And Stacey (1995 - 1997) - 64%
Kaufman got his start run on TV as a writer and producer on sketch serial likeThe Dana Carvey ShowandThe Edge , as well as short - lived sitcom likeThe Trouble with LarryandMisery have intercourse Company .
One of themore successful sitcomsKaufman worked on isNed and Stacey , which stars Debra Messing and Thomas Haden Church as two New Yorkers who decide to engage in a sham union . Kaufman publish for and produced this long - forgotten Fox serial that lasted two seasons , noted for its telling lean of guest stars .
Synecdoche, New York (2008) - 68%
The first film Kaufman publish and directed , Synecdoche , New Yorkis an ambitious test of the originative process told through the chronicle of a theater director who spends the last half of his life producing an intricate , heroic play . Philip Seymour Hoffmanplays the manager , Caden Cotard , whose yield blurs the note between world and fancy .
Synecdoche , New Yorkincorporates philosophic and literary theory into its narrative , as well as universal symbols and motive . Michelle Williams , Catherine Keener , Tom Noonan , and Emily Watson are among the pic ’s gifted ensemble cast phallus .
Get A Life (1990 - 1992) - 77%
Comedian Chris Elliott , known these days for play Roland Schitt inSchitt ’s Creek , is the star of this Fox sitcom that aired for two season . Kaufman attend to as a author alongside another notable name in clowning : Bob Odenkirk .
Get a Lifesees Elliot toy a 30 - twelvemonth - former paperboy who lives above his parent ' service department . For a sitcom , Get a Lifegoes into surreal , nonsensical soil — make it an outlier for primetime Fox offer . The serial ' dark , outlandish humor may also explain why it was strike down after 35 episode .
Confessions Of A Dangerous Mind (2003) - 79%
Kaufman write the screenplay for this insane biopic about the life of game show host Chuck Barris , who claim he was raise by the CIA to serve as a spy during the Cold War . Sam Rockwell givesa brilliant and crazed performanceas Barris in the celluloid , which co - stars Drew Barrymore , Julia Roberts , and George Clooney .
Clooney is also the theatre director ofConfessions of a grievous psyche , and he made something more mainstream ( but still engulf ) out of Kaufman ’s script . The picture did well both critically and in theatres .
I’m Thinking Of Ending Things (2020) - 83%
Kaufman ’s late venture is a farsighted , roundabout exercise in bring down all narrative arithmetic mean in film . Written and guide by Kaufman , I’m Thinking of Ending Thingsis a Netflix filmthat stars newcomer Jessie Buckley as a young fair sex who agrees to suffer her new fellow ’s parents .
Jesse Plemons Colorado - star as Jake , the woman ’s boyfriend , whose parent are played by Toni Collette and David Thewlis . As these four characters converge around the dinner party table on a snowy night , their memories , tarradiddle , and even appearances begin to shift in unsettling style until the film dives into a dreamlike , never - ending snarl .
Adaptation. (2002) - 91%
Nicolas Cage plays a fictionalise version of Kaufman and his duplicate brother Donald in Spike Jonze ’s layered , data-based take on adapting a book into a screenplay . Kaufman write the handwriting forAdaptation . , which he afterwards admitted resulted from an vivid period of author ’s block .
In the film , Kaufman is tasked with pen a screenplay based on writer Susan Orlean ’s bookThe Orchid Thief , which tells the write up of Florida orchid hunter and horticulturist named John Laroche . Meryl Streep plays Orlean , and Chris Cooper co - stars as Laroche ; their lifetime intertwine with Kaufman ’s in irreversible ways as the screenwriter struggles to come up with a compelling story .
Anomalisa (2015) - 92%
Kaufman flex his block up - motion skills withAnomalisa , which he wrote and directed with the help of manufacturer Duke Johnson . Far from a light animated feature of speech , this picture is a tense psychological drama about a traveling customer help expert who perceives everyone as make the same voice and the same cheek .
sound by David Thewlis , Michael Stone lives a lonely , insipid life until he meets Lisa — who sound and looks unlike than everyone else . Lisa , an insecure char attending a conference where Michael is the keynote speaker , lock in a confusing , tumultuous affair with the sr. man that finally provide more pain than pleasance .
Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind (2004) - 93%
Kaufman ’s rummy take on dear and love affair progress to Modern , hallucinatory top inEternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind . Directed by Michel Gondry and spell by Kaufman , the film genius Jim Carrey and Kate Winslet as a former yoke who decide to have their memories of each other rub out at a peculiar facility .
The result is a nonlinear , memory - based protection to the mussy yet beautiful nature of close , intimate relationships . Kaufman won a Best Original Screenplay Oscar for his refreshfully original take on the romantic comedy .
Being John Malkovich (1999) - 93%
Being John Malkovichis the feature moving picture debut for both Kaufman as author and Spike Jonze as director , who later collaborated onAdaptation . A wizardly , post - modern faery tale , the dark comedy stars John Cusack as a pony - go after puppeteer who give away a concealed threshold in an office building that lead into the psyche ofactor John Malkovich .
Malkovich worried the film would be a full bomb calorimeter due to its absurd secret plan , but the paired turned out to be true . Full of surprises and laughs , Being John Malkovichtopped many Best - Of lists for 1999 .
NEXT:5 Ways I ’m Thinking Of Ending Things Is Better Than Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind ( & 5 agency It ’s high-risk )