Charlie Kaufman Quotes

United States, Screenwriter
November 19, 1958

Charles Stuart Kaufman (born November 19, 1958) is an American screenwriter, producer, director, and lyricist. He wrote the films Being John Malkovich (1999), Adaptation (2002), and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004). He made his directorial debut with Synecdoche, New York (2008), which was also well-received; film critic Roger Ebert dubbed it "the best movie of the decade" in 2009. It was followed by Anomalisa (2015).

Also known as Producer, Director, Lyricist

I've had to deal, a lot, with my own sense of intimidation at meeting famous people - especially actors, but really any famous people.

Charlie Kaufman
- People
- Famous
I graduated from college in 1980.

Charlie Kaufman
- College

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
- Life
- Writing
- Trying
As a writer, or as a filmmaker, you have to present yourself, and part of what yourself is is what you're interested in, or what you think is funny, or what you think is sad, or what you think is horrible.

Charlie Kaufman
- Funny
- Present
- Sad
I have a tendency to hire people who tend to be unattractive to the studios. Maybe this is a bad idea.

Charlie Kaufman
- People
- Bad
I'm trying to tell a story and do it truthfully.

Charlie Kaufman
- Trying
In a lot of movies, especially big studio ones, they're not constructed in any other way than to get people to like them and then tell their friends. It's a product.

Charlie Kaufman
- People
- Friends
I think of myself as a guy who tries to write screenplays and now has tried to direct one. Anything more than that is meaningless and it gets in the way of being a real human being.

Charlie Kaufman
- Real
- Guy

I do have some theatrical background. I've written plays and seen plays and read plays. But I also read novels. One thing I don't read is screenplays.

Charlie Kaufman
I want to try it to see what it's like and see what my stuff looks like when I take it from inception to completion.

Charlie Kaufman
I do have, at different times, a certain kind of self-consciousness in the world, an insecurity.

Charlie Kaufman
I studied acting at Boston University. I was in the theater department there. Somewhere in there I decided that wasn't what I was going to do and I went to the B.F.A. film program at N.Y.U.

Charlie Kaufman
There's theater in life, obviously, and there's life in theater.

Charlie Kaufman
- Life
I can talk endlessly about characters, or why someone did this or that, and what that dynamic and interaction is. I really love it, and I think that actors really respond positively to the fact that I like to talk about that stuff, because I'm not sure that all directors do.

Charlie Kaufman
- Why