Hey folks, Harry here.... and the following film is looking like it's going to be set up with Singer directing... Mike Myers as Chuck Barris... but George Clooney as a Cia type (I believe) we'll see... The script is amazing... I've read it, Sister Satan is currently reading it... and of course Moriarty loves it. Here's what a Disturbed mind thought of it....
Charlie Kaufman is the most exciting screenwriter since...er...someone really exciting. A week or two ago I reviewed his masterpiece ADAPTATION, and decided I had to get a hold of CONFESSIONS. When I first heard the premise of this script, I had it figured as a flat out (albeit dark) comedy. I couldn't have been more wrong. Kaufman's talent for funny, awkward dialogue comes through, here, and contributes some wonderful comic relief, but the script as a whole is pitch fucking black.
CONFESSIONS OF A DANGEROUS MIND is based on the "Unauthorized Autobiography" of the same name by Chuck Barris, creator of such puerile "entertainment" as The Dating Game, The Newlywed Game, and The Gong Show among many others (it's good to know that the creator himself finds The Dating Game to be as wretched as I do). It also reveals Barris' secret -and presumably apocryphal- life as a CIA hitman. We first come upon Barris huddled naked in the corner of his hotel room after he shoots the TV. He's holed up, miserable with the life he wasted putting nothing but garbage into the world as he tried to attain his dreams. He's hit rock bottom, and decides to write his confession.
The script talks about Barris' odd relationship with his mother, his desperate need to be loved, the horrible way he treats women, the inexplicable rage he feels inside him, and the sense of relief he gets from killing perfect strangers. There is surprisingly graphic violence. There are scenes of absolute heartbreak and uncomfortable sadness. There are laughs that get caught halfway in your throat as you realize what you're laughing at.
Chuck Barris is a wonderfully three dimensional character, whose company you manage to enjoy through the course of the story despite what a truly fucked up person he is. All the bitterness and anger Barris feels is clearly sketched here, but it's made to seem almost understandable. You end up with a lot more sympathy for the hitman than the game show creator. I think it's intended that way. I have to assume that Chuck Barris never really killed anyone, and his autobiography served as a metaphor for how he sees his life, as well as an opportunity to put something of real worth into the world (in the script Barris is portrayed as quite the literary buff, and I presume he is in real life as well).
A common thread through the three Kaufman works I've been exposed to thus far is the ability to blend his truly bizarre and often brilliant humor with true (not manipulative) poignancy and sadness (other threads being some interesting themes dealing with women and self-image). I watched BEING JOHN MALKOVICH just the other night and was struck by the bit near the end where Craig finally leaves the Malkovich body, and Malkovich looks in the mirror saying "I'm back," before "Dr. Lester" and the rest take him over once again. Metaphysical can of worms indeed. The sadness of the scene and the realization that the people you were rooting for really aren't any better than the "villain" (if there even is one) is terrific. And the final scene, of course, is as sorrowfully perfect as the last line of this script. Kaufman plays with perceptions and expectations a lot in all three of these works; in ADAPTATION you forget that most of t! he! ! story is made up; and in CONFESSIONS you come to believe, for a while, that Barris really did kill people for the CIA. ADAPTATION is heavier on the ungainliness and loneliness than the humor, but still has a similar balance. I've spoken of this blend that impresses me so much before, in my ROYAL TENENBAUMS review. I think it takes a damn good writer to pull it off, and Kaufman has.
The last line of the film is one of the most perfect final lines I've ever read. This is a script that knocks the wind out of you. It's one that you put down and let out a sigh like you've been hit in the stomach. It's that good. Singer is attached to direct, and I'd love to see what he could do with it. Mike Myers' involvement gets me even more excited, though. He will blow this role clean out of the water. He is absolutely perfect. 54 showed that he's definitely got some chops, and he is genius casting for the role of this thoroughly broken, lonely, tortured and miserable man who feels wholly beyond redemption. He'll bring out both the cold hitman and the coked up Gong Show host. I can't wait.
I hope Charlie Kaufman reads the site, just so he'll see me expressing what a fan I am of his work. What his work has done for screenwriters is great. He is a true talent, and the screenwriter whose career I watch above all others. This is going to be a good one.
