Frank or Francis (Kaufman)

[Acapelli]

http://nymag.com/daily/entertainment...s_details.html

If you've been jonesing for a Charlie Kaufman fix, this moment is an indubitably exciting one. The cerebral writer of Being John Malkovich and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind has two projects ready that will shoot soon: a satire about conniving world leaders set to star Joaquin Phoenix and be directed by Spike Jonze, and Frank or Francis, a Hollywood send-up that Kaufman himself will direct (his first behind-the-camera effort since his directorial debut with 2008's Synecdoche, New York). Over the weekend, a wealth of details and new castings emerged on the latter project, and from what we've heard, Frank or Francis is even more out there than you might have dreamed.

1. Steve Carell will play former screenwriter Frank Arder, who's segued into acting and directing with his new movie You, which has been nominated for a ridiculously record-breaking 29 Oscars. Consider Arder the self-important, highbrow version of Eddie Murphy, since in You, he plays each of the roles, including a homeless man, women, children, and African-Americans.

2. We'd heard before that Frank or Francis was about Frank Arder's relationship with this entertainment blogger who constantly insults him online, but it turns out, that isn't quite right: Arder's nemesis is Francis Deems, an entertainment blog commenter. He'll be played by Jack Black.

3. Kaufman's Adaptation star Nicolas Cage is set to play Alan Modell, a comedian on the wane who's hosting the Oscars. Modell's famous credit? A wildly popular movie franchise called Fat Dad, which sounds like the sort of fake credit you might find in Tracy Jordan's 30 Rock filmography.

4. Kevin Kline was just added to the cast, in a bizarre dual role: He'll play the brother of Jonathan Waller, a director whose Oscar-bait movie Hiroshima failed to win Best Picture. Despondent, Waller and his brother (which Kline will also play) create a computer program meant to analyze all previous Oscar winners and spit out the most awards-friendly script imaginable. The result is a perfectly calibrated screenplay named God.

5. Frank or Francis is a musical, with nearly half the dialogue sung: In particular, anything the characters are writing online will be delivered in sing-song. (This particular article has sort of a nineties Britpop sound, if you were wondering.) Oh, and did we mention that there are also two talking thumbs conspiring on behalf of a Romanian political agenda? Sorry, Magic Mike: You've got competition now on our most-anticipated list.

[number8]

Yes.

[Watashi]

Kaufman's turning all David Gordon Green on us.

I excite.

[Ivan Drago]

This might be the greatest movie ever made.

[dreamdead]

Kaufman's turning all David Gordon Green on us.

This is scary.

Has Jack Black delivered an understated performance in the past 3 years? I guess the script to Human Nature was suitably wacky, but I don't envision Black and Kaufman working well together...

Otherwise, it sounds far too insular.

[Qrazy]

It all sounds a bit on the nose to me. We shall see.

[Ezee E]

Hey now, Black was in Dead Man Walking being solemn and stuff.

And he was in that movie that most MCers hate with Nicole Kidman. Margot at the Wedding... Playing a slightly subdued Jack Black I 'spose. I'll take it though.

Hear it's a musical.

[dreamdead]

And he was in that movie that most MCers hate with Nicole Kidman. Margot at the Wedding... Playing a slightly subdued Jack Black I 'spose. I'll take it though.

Ah, that's right. I am, however, one of those that found Black's casting and performance at odds with that film, so much so that it fundamentally damaged my interest in caring.

I don't know if I can buy him in a suitably dramatic performance like I could Carrey in Eternal Sunshine. Not that this film sounds like it's aiming for verisimilitude, but it sounds like Extras. And that's already been done. I guess maybe I expect more from Kaufman.

[number8]

I bet Gondry introduced Black to Kaufman.

[Ezee E]

After that Gulliver's Travels, I think Black is fine with changing it all up.

[Spinal]

6. Charlie Kaufman himself will play a quirky, above-it-all screenwriter named Charlie who is the lone voice of reason in a world populated by coarse mainstream hacks and pretentious arthouse charlatans. Deep down inside, he knows that he has the potential to cut through decades of pseudo-intellectual artistic bullshit in order to expose the manipulations and contradictions of contemporary film. He's even got the perfect weapon, a newly-penned screenplay called Meta that has been identified by the International Genius Society (played by Stephen Hawking, Mark Zuckerberg and chess champion, Garry Kasparov) as the "most brilliant thing that mankind has ever created." But what good is a screenplay if no one will produce it? Lacking sufficient funds to get his project off the ground, Charlie receives help from a most unlikely benefactor. Wealthy Hollywood actor John Malkovich (played by John Cusack) agrees to supply funding for Charlie's new film on one condition ... he must hunt down and destroy every physical copy of Charlie's old film, Being John Malkovich.

[Watashi]

I think #5 is messing me up more than 1-4.

I mean... wut.

[Henry Gale]

I don't know if a summary has ever made me laugh as much as that. Synecdoche, New York was one of my favourites from the last decade, so even if that description wasn't as insane as it was, I'd still have been looking forward to this more than most other things. I don't even know where I'd place my anticipation now.

How meta(tastic) would it be if this then got nominated for tons of Oscars and they got Cage to host?

[Ezee E]

Having just read the loglines, it seems like this is weak-Kaufman to me on the surface. It's all so obvious and easy to make fun of.

[Henry Gale]

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOO.

Postponed. Possibly indefinitely.

[transmogrifier]

Probably for the best - it sounded awful.