Synecdoche, New York

Started by MacGuffin, August 11, 2006, 12:36:05 PM

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Pubrick

Quote from: Production Weekly
"Synecdoche" (snick-do-che)

what the fuck? NO.

this movie is doomed.
under the paving stones.

Bram

I think Kaufman knows what he is doing. But that title, that will give some problems.

MacGuffin

Davis Boards Synecdoche and Genova
Source: Variety

Hope Davis has been set for two films, reports Variety.

She will first join the cast of the Charlie Kaufman-directed Synecdoche, New York, playing the therapist to a theater director (Philip Seymour Hoffman) in crisis over work and the women in his life. The movie begins shooting this month.

Davis will then join Colin Firth in Genova, the next film by Michael Winterbottom (A Mighty Heart). The coming-of-age story concerns a British man who moves with his two American daughters to Italy as he tries to recover from his wife's death.
"Don't think about making art, just get it done. Let everyone else decide if it's good or bad, whether they love it or hate it. While they are deciding, make even more art." - Andy Warhol


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MacGuffin

"Don't think about making art, just get it done. Let everyone else decide if it's good or bad, whether they love it or hate it. While they are deciding, make even more art." - Andy Warhol


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Mesh

Quote from: Meszahline on April 03, 2007, 10:43:32 AM
I think Kaufman knows what he is doing. But that title, that will give some problems.

Nah, they can just put a rebus in the trailers.  Ratatouille's doing fine, they had to phoneticize that.

homesick alien

I read somewhere it's Kaufman's ode to James Joyce, in his attempt to recreate NYC through Caden as Joyce attempted to recreate Dublin through Leopold Bloom.

Pubrick

Quote from: homesick alien on August 02, 2007, 01:15:00 PM
I read somewhere it's Kaufman's ode to James Joyce, in his attempt to recreate NYC through Caden as Joyce attempted to recreate Dublin through Leopold Bloom.

that makes sense given the figurative meaning of the title, and the literal microcosm in the poster.
under the paving stones.

MacGuffin

Cannes Watch: Kaufman's Synecdoche, New York



One of the most anticipated films at Cannes is screenwriter Charlie Kaufman's Synecdoche, New York, starring Philip Seymour Hoffman and Catherine Keener. That's because Cannes is all about auteurs, and Kaufman is one of the few writers whose films are instantly identifiable as his, no matter who directs them, from Michel Gondry to Spike Jonze. (The one director who didn't allow him to collaborate during production, interestingly, was George Clooney on Confessions of a Dangerous Mind.) And Kaufman's the only director making his debut in the Cannes competition. We will find out, finally, if his director chops measure up to his writer skills.

Here's a rare photo of Kaufman, who hates having his picture taken. He plays the game of being very shy and press-averse, but he's actually just as canny about getting attention paid to him as most successful people on Hollywood.

"Don't think about making art, just get it done. Let everyone else decide if it's good or bad, whether they love it or hate it. While they are deciding, make even more art." - Andy Warhol


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modage

In case there was any doubt that Charlie Kaufman was a genius, he has gone and snagged Jon Brion to score his upcoming film SYNECDOCHE, NEW YORK. The film screens on Friday at Cannes.
Christopher Nolan's directive was clear to everyone in the cast and crew: Use CGI only as a last resort.

tpfkabi

Quote from: modage on May 15, 2008, 10:55:35 AM
In case there was any doubt that Charlie Kaufman was a genius, he has gone and snagged Jon Brion to score his upcoming film SYNECDOCHE, NEW YORK. The film screens on Friday at Cannes.

good. i haven't heard from JB in a while (though i think i read something about Largo recently).
i wished he'd put out another non-soundtrack album too.
I am Torgo. I take care of the place while the Master is away.

Redlum

JB's has been/is working on an album with Dido and Largo is moving premises. Looking forward to hearing the responses to this one. Anyone know of a good Cannes blog?
\"I wanted to make a film for kids, something that would present them with a kind of elementary morality. Because nowadays nobody bothers to tell those kids, \'Hey, this is right and this is wrong\'.\"
  -  George Lucas

MacGuffin

Three brief videos pop up online from Charlie Kaufman's latest mind fark, "Synecdoche, New York."

http://www.slashfilm.com/2008/05/20/three-video-clips-from-charlie-kaufmans-synecdoche-new-york/#more-11202
"Don't think about making art, just get it done. Let everyone else decide if it's good or bad, whether they love it or hate it. While they are deciding, make even more art." - Andy Warhol


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diggler

haha "i've never seen that before"

i like the mood of it at least.
I'm not racist, I'm just slutty

MacGuffin

Kaufman defies convention with "Synecdoche"

"Synecdoche, New York" is, by a long shot, the hardest title to pronounce at this year's Cannes film festival, and the movie's writer/director Charlie Kaufman wants it that way.

New York is the easy part. Synecdoche, for the record, is pronounced "sin-ek-duh-kee" with the accent on "ek," and people familiar with the U.S. town of Schenectady, New York, should have little trouble saying it. The rest might need help.

"I like titles that are a little difficult because it's kind of counter-intuitive," Kaufman told reporters on Friday ahead of the Cannes premiere of what is his directorial debut.

The title defies conventional filmmaking. Movie studios and theatre owners have found over more than 100 years of cinema that it is easier to attract audiences with an easy title.

But Kaufman, 49, is known for pushing the boundaries of storytelling and being highly successful at doing so.

He penned "Being John Malkovich," about a man who is able to live inside the head of famous actor Malkovich, and "Adaptation," in which a writer named Charlie Kaufman has difficulty adapting a novel into a movie.

Kaufman is no stranger to offbeat titles either. He penned quirky romance "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind."

"It was really hard to remember, that title. I couldn't remember it for the longest time," he said. "Then, pretty soon I remembered it, and everyone seems to know it now."

That film, which starred Jim Carrey and Kate Winslet as lovers who erase their memories before renewing their bond, was a mild box office success and earned Kaufman a screenwriting Oscar. So, maybe he does know a thing or two about titles.

CAN HE DIRECT, TOO?

"Synecdoche" may well prove to audiences whether the writer also knows how to direct. His previous screenplays have been transformed into movies by directors Michel Gondry and Spike Jonze. The latter is a producer on the new film.

"Synecdoche" stars Oscar winner Philip Seymour Hoffman ("Capote") as a melancholy theatre director, Caden Cotard, whose career takes off after he directs Arthur Miller's "Death of a Salesman" in a small production in Schenectady.

But even as his career soars, Caden finds his personal life unravelling. His artist wife leaves him and takes their daughter to Berlin to pursue a life as a painter. Caden also finds himself afflicted with numerous physical maladies.

Over the years, Caden becomes involved in two serious love affairs and is constantly aware his own death might be near. To audiences, his life appears as if it might be a dream. One of his affairs is with a woman whose house is constantly on fire.

The writer-turned-director said he avoided telling stories that easily fitted into standard genres, such as romantic comedy, crime thriller or action adventure.

"I don't write genre stuff in any form. I'm not interested in it. What I always try to do is the opposite of that, is try not to fit into some pre-designed form," he said.

With that sort of philosophy, it is easier to understand why "Synecdoche" has a hard-to-say title. But there is another commonality between Kaufman's stories and his titles.

Once seen, his movies are hard to stop thinking about.
"Don't think about making art, just get it done. Let everyone else decide if it's good or bad, whether they love it or hate it. While they are deciding, make even more art." - Andy Warhol


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JG

oh my god has nobody heard of the literary device?