'How life is lived, you know'

 

“When I'm writing, I'm trying to immerse myself in the chaos of an emotional experience, rather than separate myself from it and look back at it from a distance with clarity and tell it as a story. Because that's how life is lived, you know?” – Charlie Kaufman

Born in New York City in November of 1958, Kaufman is a screenwriter, producer, director, and lyricist who wrote the films Being John Malkovich, Adaptation, and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, for which he won an Academy Award.   All three scripts appear in the Writers Guild of America’s list of the 101 greatest movie screenplays ever written.

 

It’s been a busy 2024 for Kaufman, writing the Netflix animated movie Orion and the Dark and now his second novel This Face Can Even Be Proved by Means of the Sense of Hearing.  He’s also producing the Broadway play Pre-Existing Condition.

  

“I want to create situations that give people something to think about,” Kaufman said about his works.  “When I write characters and situations and relationships, I try to sort of utilize what I know about the world, limited as it is, and what I hear from my friends and see with my relatives.”