Being John Malkovich
Short description
Craig Schwartz is a street puppeteer whose artistry has not brought him a living, and his marriage to Lotte, who works in a pet shop, has grown distant. Strapped for money, he takes a filing job at LesterCorp, an odd firm occupying a cramped floor of a Manhattan office building. Behind a filing cabinet in his office he finds a small door that leads not to a storage space but into the mind of the actor John Malkovich. For roughly fifteen minutes, anyone who crawls through sees the world through Malkovich's eyes before being dropped beside a highway. Craig and his co-worker Maxine Lund turn the discovery into a paid attraction, letting strangers take turns being Malkovich, while Lotte becomes preoccupied with the experience in her own way. The scheme draws attention from other quarters, including the actor himself.
Being John Malkovich is the first feature directed by Spike Jonze, releasing in 1999 ahead of Adaptation., Where the Wild Things Are, Her, Beastie Boys Story and Shape of Dreams. Charlie Kaufman wrote the screenplay. John Cusack plays Craig, with Cameron Diaz as Lotte, Catherine Keener as Maxine, John Malkovich as a version of himself, and Orson Bean and Mary Kay Place also appearing. Made for about 13 million dollars, it returned roughly 23 million worldwide.
On IMDb it holds 7.7/10 from around 369,000 votes, and on TMDB 7.4/10 from nearly 5,000. A critics' rating of 8.9/10 from 133 reviews places it above both audience scores.
What's left behind the scenes
- In the film, John Malkovich's full name is John Horatio Malkovich. In reality, his name is John Gavin Malkovich.
- The director's father-in-law, Francis Ford Coppola, helped with the creation of the film; he personally convinced Malkovich to participate in the filming.
- John Malkovich was repeatedly asked about participating in the project, but the actor refused each time. Malkovich stated that he would be better off as a producer of the film and would assist director Spike Jonze in every way. A couple of years later, he finally agreed to act for Jonze.
- According to John Malkovich, he approached his character 'John Malkovich' as he would any fictional hero, and the only authentic element of the image he created on screen was the actor's wardrobe.
- Screenwriter Charlie Kaufman sent the script to Francis Ford Coppola. Coppola liked the script and showed it to his nephew – Spike Jonze. Jonze was so delighted that he directly contacted Kaufman with an offer to direct a film based on the script.
- Spike Jonze initially didn't want to film the scene where John Malkovich is hit in the head by a half-empty beer can thrown from a passing car, but he gave his approval, and the scene was filmed on the first take, hitting the actor directly in the head.
- Kevin Bacon was originally cast as John Malkovich's friend in the initial script, but Malkovich recommended replacing him with Charlie Sheen.
- Screenwriter Charlie Kaufman later recounted that when he presented the script to John Malkovich's representatives, they mistook him for a stalker – based on an incorrect address they provided him with – perceiving his inquiries as obsessive attention and harassment (stalking is understood as intrusive attention and pursuit, potentially violating personal boundaries and even posing a threat to the pursued person's life).
- To prepare for his role, John Cusack took several lessons from professional puppeteers.
- Charlie Sheen was in rehab when he learned that up-and-coming director Spike Jonze wanted to cast him in his debut film. Sheen agreed to the role without even reading the script.
- In the first version of the script, Dr. Lester, played by Orson Bean, and his friends did not use the portal in Malkovich's head to prolong their own lives, but with the aim of seizing power over the whole world.
- Charlie Kaufman's screenplay couldn't find a producer willing to finance such a risky project since 1994. Kaufman was offered to rewrite the screenplay into something more commercial, like "Being John Malkovich," due to Malkovich's lack of popularity. However, Kaufman was drawn to Malkovich's figure as one of America's most enigmatic actors, and he wasn't even afraid to play on the fact of Malkovich's relative obscurity.
- John Cusack asked his agent to find him the "most outrageous" screenplay, read the one found, and told his agent to sign him up for a casting, after which he was cast as Craig Schwartz.
Auditions in India
Casting calls in USA
Castingi w Polsce
Кастинги в Україні
