Being?

by William Speruzzi on 03/19/2008

malkovichA case of the chicken or the egg. I was watching Being John Malkovich the other night and one thing always perplexed me about the film’s concept. The Charlie Kaufman/Spike Jonze strange creation seemed like a film that was virtually impossible to green light but somehow slipped through the cracks. Aside from the fact that I am in awe every time I see it I always wondered how this actor dependent screenplay was approached in the writing stage. Did Kaufman originally think of Malkovich when writing it? Was the deal struck before a page was written? What if he backed out? After all, it’s his heeeeeead! Could this concept have worked with say Al Pacino? Tom Cruise? Or what I think could have been another, just as wacky alteration on this theme; Being Christopher Walken!

There are 5 comments in this article:

  1. 03/19/2008pacheco says:

    I think part of the beauty of the concept of the film is that it’s not a Pacino, Cruise, or Walken. Malkovich is one of those guys that you know, but you don’t feel that you know. Kind of obscure to the general public, and you have to wonder, why Malkovich? Of all the people, why him? And I think that’s what Kaufman was thinking. Seeing how offbeat he is, I would think that his first concept wasn’t “A portal into a celebrity’s head” but specifically “A portal into John Malkovich’s head.” That’s what makes the concept even funnier and more interesting. I believe that Kaufman specifically chose Malkovich, which, again, makes you laugh and say, “Why him?”

    But throughout the movie, there are jokes about how people don’t really know who John Malkovich is. Nobody can quite place his name, they congratulate him on roles in films that he didn’t actually play, and no one wants to admit that the only thing they really know about him is what they’ve heard from other people. I think that’s a great part of the idea, that here’s a respectable actor, sure, but why would anyone want a portal into his head, of all people? If you were to ask people whose brain they’d want a portal into, they’d name someone glamorous or Einstein-esque. If you say, “What about John Malkovich?” they’d say, “Who?” or “Eh.” But as we see in the film, it really doesn’t matter who it is, it’s the fact that you’re being someoneelse.

    I have to believe that Kaufman had that in mind from the beginning, or at least near the beginning.

  2. 03/19/2008Chris Hansen says:

    I actually read an interview with Kauffman back when the movie came out in which he said that he wrote it as Malkovich without any deal in mind, but his backup plan was “Being Steve Buscemi” since he figured it wouldn’t be hard to get the ubiquitous Buscemi in an indie film.

  3. 03/20/2008William Speruzzi says:

    The film is pitch perfect in every way. Everything from the low ceilings to the Jersey Turnpike portal exit to the earnest, introspective title. It would definitely be a different film with Buscemi but I’m sure just as entertaining.

    It could be an indie version of the Bond series. You can just keep making a new installment to the series every year with a different actor.

  4. 03/20/2008Chris Hansen says:

    LOL. Yeah, the Buscemi version would be funny, but I’m not sure he would have the iconic value that Malkovich does as a “weird actor whose head we all would love to get into once or twice.”

  5. 03/23/2008mutinyco says:

    It was written for Malkovich. But at one point when Kaufman wasn’t sure that he could actually get Malkovich, it occurred to him to cast Tcheky Karyo as Malkovich, because his face resembled Malkovich on the video box of Nostradomus.

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