HAIRY SITUATION: An interview with Human Nature writer Charlie Kaufman By Warren Curry 4/9/02 Part 1 of 2

Rarely is a screenwriter able to establish such a presence that he/she becomes as synonymous with the identity of a certain film as the movie's director or stars. Charlie Kaufman has become just that screenwriter, due in large part to the success of 1999's Being John Malkovich, which was his first produced feature script and netted him an Academy Award
nomination. In the film, Kaufman, who got his start on the Fox sitcom Get A Life that starred Chris Elliot, distinguished himself as a true innovator in the world of comedy, and with his latest effort, Human Nature, the scribe explores new terrain, while firmly stamping his unmistakable imprint.

Directed by acclaimed French music video director, Michel Gondry, Human Nature focuses on the story of Lila (Patricia Arquette), a woman who suffers from a disorder that results in excessive hair growth. In her quest to overcome this affliction, Lila becomes a best-selling author and also meets what appears to be her perfect mate in behavioral scientist Nathan (Tim Robbins). Life proceeds swimmingly until the couple stumbles across a feral man, who they name Puff (Rhys Ifans) -- a person that Nathan imprisons in his laboratory to use as a research subject, much to the ambivalence of Lila. Throw into the mix Nathan's seductive French assistant, Gabrielle (Miranda Otto), and what results is a film exceedingly original and bizarre, which contains a left-field sense of humor all its own.

Kaufman recently penned Adaptation (re-teaming him with Malkovich director Spike Jonze), Confessions of A Dangerous Mind (George Clooney's directorial debut, based on the "autobiography" of former Gong Show host Chuck Barris) and will again work with Gondry on a project tentatively entitled The Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, which Jim Carrey is attached to star in.

CinemaSpeak had an opportunity to chat with Kaufman at Human Nature's Los Angeles press day. Fine Line will release the film on April 12.

(NOTE: This interview was conducted as part of a press round table, therefore not all questions were asked by CinemaSpeak.)

Where did this script come from?

It came from a bunch of things. I wanted to write about a feral man; I was thinking about those idolized portraits of pure people raised in nature that appear in movies a lot and I wanted to make fun of that. I'd been reading about behaviorism and culture experiments, so I was thinking about that. I also wanted to write about a woman who was on the outside and couldn't get in, so that was the hair thing, which seems to be a large issue in our country.

Do you feel our culture is obsessed with hair?

Yes. (laughs)

In what way?

In every way. You have to have it in certain places and you're not allowed to have it in other places. Especially with women, and it's happening with men now too; the idea that it's unattractive to have hair in places where you naturally have hair, just seems like such a culturally enforced notion.

Recently, it seems that if a screenwriter is successful once, they get to direct their next movie. Is that something you just don't want to do?

No, I'll do it at some point, I think -- just not yet.

What are you waiting for?

Well, I've been busy. I've been writing -- I've had a lot of assignments and things have just been piling up these past few years since before Malkovich. I've been taking care of my obligations. I need to write a spec script, because I think that's the best way to have the leverage to get to direct it. If I write an assignment, they probably won't hire me (to direct).

You don't have a stockpile of scripts?

No, I'm kind of out now. It's been a busy year for me, so that cleans it out.

How did your life change after Malkovich? Did it open doors for you?

You know, I'm sure it did. As I said, I've been working on the same bunch of scripts for the last 3 or 4 years. It's not like I'm going out trying to get new work, so it really hasn't changed. I'm dealing with Human Nature, I'm dealing with Adaptation, I'm dealing with Confessions of a Dangerous Mind. Even this movie that Michel's going to direct next (The Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind), I started writing three years ago. I know (my life) is different, but I pretty much spend time in my room and don't see it.

Were you surprised that Malkovich was such a big hit?

Well, sure -- none of us could have predicted it.

What do you attribute the success to?

I don't know; people like the movie and critics liked the movie, so it got attention. It wasn't an enormous commercial success -- it did fine, but it didn't make a lot of money. It got a lot of critical success and I don't why. People liked it and we were lucky.

What did you study in school? Were you always writing?

I went to film school at NYU, and I've always been interested in theater -- plays and films and characters and comedy.

Death To Smoochy was released recently, which was written by Adam Resnick, a fellow Get A Life alum. Did you learn a lot from working on that series?

Get A Life was my first job, and I think I was hired for that because my sense of humor was similar to the show's. I don't how much it changed me, except getting hired gave me some confidence. I hadn't been working professionally before that. Of the TV shows I've worked on, Get A Life is definitely the one that I'm most attached to. I was a staff writer on the show and Adam created the show, so the show was Adam's voice and Chris's (Elliot) voice certainly more than mine.

Talk about the process of protecting a screenplay from producers and the studio. How do you maintain the integrity of a script, whether it's Human Nature or Malkovich?

I've been very fortunate -- maybe because my stuff is odd -- that executives and producers don't really know what kind of notes to give. They can't really give the standard notes, so they have kind of left us alone.

How involved are you in the actual process of making the films? It seems that you're working in collaboration with the directors.

I think I've been lucky. I was lucky on Malkovich, because I was working with someone who respected me and wanted my opinions and input. On Human Nature, I owned the material, so I made sure that I was a producer and it gave me some sort of official authority. I think it's silly for the director to not go to the person who conceived something -- it doesn't make any sense.

How is it different working on Confessions of a Dangerous Mind, where you are doing an adaptation, as opposed to writing an original script?

That was my first assignment and I took it because it had some kind of resonance with me that this guy was telling this story that might not be true. I felt the freedom, since it might not be true, to play with it and include my own stuff in there. I liked working on the script, but it's not my preference to adapt other people's work.

Click for Part Two

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