Should we be worried? Charlie Kaufman is set to attack the world of online film criticism with his latest directing project Frank or Francis.
After his directorial debut Synecdoche New York won critics over, as most of his films do, Kaufman is turning to Hollywood and making a satire about a movie director who feuds with an online blogger, according to Indiewire who have had a sneak peak at the script. With funny men Nicholas Cage (who starred in the Kaufman written Adaptation about a screenwriter), Jack Black and Steve Carrell on board it was never going to be a conventional drama, now was it?
This being a Kaufman project there will be a lot more going on, but as per usual he’ll be the last person to say exactly what that means. In an interview with Time Out London Kaufman was being as mysterious as ever: “In the broadest possible sense, it’s about online film criticism, but as usual, the world that I’m writing about is not necessarily the world that I’m writing about.”
“There’s a lot in there about the internet and anger; cultural, societal and individual anger”, he continued, “and isolation in this particular age we live in.”
Kaufman is returning to our screens with added vigour it seems as, alongside this project, he has written a political satire for long time chum Spike Jonze that is set to star Jaoquin Phoenix.
His directing capabilities might need his focus though as, even by Kaufman standards, Frank or Francis looks to be a complex undertaking. “If I look at some of the things in the script that I’m about to embark on”, he said, “I’d have to say I don’t really have any idea how we’re going to do it. I’ve been pretty good at keeping logistics away from the writing process.” And that’s just how we like it Charlie.
