Well here we go with a report on a project that I'm sure carries some interest for all of those that are immensely fascinated with the amazing actor going by the name of John Malkovich. Personally, I'm in the theater for any movie that carries the man's name in the credits. And here he joins the elite group of actors acting in movies with their name in the title. Let's see Jackie Chan, Boris Karloff, hmmmmm... I'm drawing a blank. Oh well... Here's the report...
Ray Fasolati is a pen name.
I couldn't find any information on the website about Being John Malkovich, which I thought would've definitely been reported to you by your spies, especially since you have a lot of Malkovich fans out there. Which leads me to believe that you don't have as many spies, who are working in Hollywood in the film industry in the copy machine rooms of the agencies and studios, as you need. Your website is good, Harry, but you need more spies in Hollywood! Anyway, I read the script of Being John Malkovich almost a year ago, and I never thought it would get made, even though it made me laugh out loud, which is pretty rare for what passes for comedy scripts in this town. The basic story (maybe a little spoilers) is that this somewhat deranged guy who is a master puppeteer goes to work as a typist for a company and finds a closet in the offices that somehow leads one into the mind of the famous actor, John Malkovich. As a puppeteer, he can move John Malkovich's body, and speak with his voice, and "become" John Malkovich. Malkovich tries to fight back, but is mostly helpless. After a couple hours, whoever enters the room, and John Malkovitch, is deposited in a sewer tunnel somewhere off the New Jersey turnpike.
The puppeteer and a secretary at the office there, who he has a crush on, decide that they can sell tickets to people who want to be John Malkovich for a couple of hours. John struggles against the various people inhabiting his body. A church of John Malkovichians is formed. The puppeteer's wife joins. The secretary he lusts after, lusts after John Malkovich, and will only get romantic with the puppeteer, who she mostly blows off because he is, well, a puppeteer, when he is inhabiting John Malkovich.
This was one of the most audacious, outrageous, and funny scripts I've ever read, and consequently I thought it would never get made. They would have to get the real John Malkovich to play himself for it to work, and I thought he would sooner slap a restraining order against the scriptwriter. Then I read in the Hollywood reporter that it is being made and directed by Spike Jonze, the inventive Mtv video director who directed that Weezer video that cut an episode of Happy Days with the band playing at Al's so it looked like they were on the show, and he directed that commercial for Levis Jeans which featured surgeons singing Tainted Love to a guy on an operating table.
It is being made by Single Cell Pictures, which is Michael Stipe of R.E.M.'s production company...and starring John Malkovich, plus John Cusack as the puppeteer. I wanted so bad, believe me, to get a job on that set. But alas... That's it for now.
-Ray Fasolati
