Big Screen Little Screen

”I have no interest in the mob. I never did. I was offered the job because gangster movies were not particularly hot, and they took a chance on a young Italian-American director. When I make a movie I try to find something about it that I can love. When you’re paid to do something, you can either be hating it, or you can find something about it.” Francis Ford Coppola , as told to The Miami Herald. When asked for thoughts about HBO’s now-defunct mob-workhorse, Coppola said, “I never saw The Sopranos, but I like that actor.”

“Spike [Jonze] and Michel [Gondry] have been very generous in allowing me to be a part of their movies. Most often, that is not the case. There tends to be a competitiveness between writers and directors on some projects. I must say, I do like the idea of making all the decisions.” Screen Daily with celebrated screenwriter (Being John Malkovich, ), now first-time director, Charlie Kaufman , as he began production for Synecdoche, New York in late May. Spike Jonze is producing, and was originally intending to direct Kaufman’s script for the film. As Kaufman tells it: “What happens is that this script took quite a while for me to write and directors usually have to wait for me because I take a while. Meanwhile Spike was developing Where The Wild Things Are and that came into a definite state of being first. So I asked if he would mind if I could direct this. Very graciously, he let it go.” Synecdoche stars Philip Seymour Hoffman as a theater director who, amidst a life crisis, dreams to create a life-size replica of New York city in a warehouse (Leave it to Kaufman to script such a logistically nightmarish narrative. Toss in the notion that the story begins in 2005, and according to Kaufman, spans 40 years.) for a new play, while trying to juggle the many women in his life. Completing the dream cast are Catherine Keener, Michelle Williams, Tilda Swinton, Samantha Morton, Hope Davis, and Jennifer Jason Leigh.