Adaptation.
June 25th, 2004
by Leslie S. Russell
Don’t tell me you haven’t read it. It is only the most inventive screenplay written in the last hundred years. That’s right! Not since “Casablanca” has there been such a screenplay. Uhh…ok…maybe I am stretching it a bit, but it is a really good movie.
In the beginning, literally, Kaufman sets himself up as the consummate artist and rule breaker intent on bringing the Seinfieldian spirit of this, book about nothing, to the silver screen in all its “sprawling New Yorker” integrity. Yet, with every turn, he proves himself the true genius, unbound by the confines of his chosen medium; rather, confident because of them. It is this confidence that gives fertile ground to his self-deprecating brand of humor. And it is the humor that helps endear Charlie Kaufman and the fictional Donald Kaufman to the reader.
In the end, the dadaistic work of Kaufman is not so much an adaptation of Orlean’s book as it is of Robert McKee’s “Story”, resulting in a step-by-step how to for the aspiring writer.
http://www.beingcharliekaufman.com/adaptation.pdf
In the beginning, literally, Kaufman sets himself up as the consummate artist and rule breaker intent on bringing the Seinfieldian spirit of this, book about nothing, to the silver screen in all its “sprawling New Yorker” integrity. Yet, with every turn, he proves himself the true genius, unbound by the confines of his chosen medium; rather, confident because of them. It is this confidence that gives fertile ground to his self-deprecating brand of humor. And it is the humor that helps endear Charlie Kaufman and the fictional Donald Kaufman to the reader.
In the end, the dadaistic work of Kaufman is not so much an adaptation of Orlean’s book as it is of Robert McKee’s “Story”, resulting in a step-by-step how to for the aspiring writer.
http://www.beingcharliekaufman.com/adaptation.pdf
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