Charlie Kaufman, the off-kilter writer of such indie hits as BEING JOHN MALKOVICH, ADAPTATION, and ETERNAL SUNSHINE OF THE SPOTLESS MIND has added Catherine Keener and Kate Winslet to his already impressive cast for FRANK OR FRANCIS, a “very meta musical comedy about a director (Steve Carell) who becomes obsessed with the message board commenter (Jack Black) disparaging his movies on a Hollywood website.
Besides the above mentioned cast members, the film also has Nicolas Cage and Kevin Kline and sounds to be a tough and honest look at Hollywood stereotypes. According to Vulture: “…Kaufman’s script is positively scathing when it comes to the Academy Awards (Cage plays a washed-up actor who serves as the emcee of the event)…”
Nicolas Cage as a washed-up actor? Man, Hollywood, what’s with all the typecasting? (See what I did there?). Wait…am I the Jack Black character? Damnit! Okay, no more Uwe Boll jokes. Wait. No, those will continue.
Kaufman’s writing style isn’t for everyone, but I think he’s one hell of a gifted screenwriter. His work is very original and odd, provoking a lot of thought and nervous laughter with character to spare. I’m intrigued by the entire thing, including the subject matter. In many ways it relates to sites like this one and it’ll be interesting to see how they (meaning: Hollywood) perceive the movie blogosphere. I’m sure it’s love/hate, but in Kaufman’s hands it will at least be interesting.
I’m interested to hear what you guys think of this project…