The world has been without a new film from writer-director Charlie Kaufman for over four years, since 2015’s stop-motion animated “Anomalisa.” And when you talk live-action films, it’s been over a decade since 2008’s “Synecdoche, New York.” Needless to say, the film world has been a little less strange without Kaufman there to spice things up. Thankfully, that’s going to change next year when “I’m Thinking of Ending Things” arrives in theaters. And according to the star of the film, Kaufman is definitely going to put his own unique spin on the already-insane source material.
Speaking in a recent interview with GQ, actor Jesse Plemons was asked about working with the filmmaker on the adaptation of Iain Reid’s psychological thriller novel “I’m Thinking of Ending Things.” Without getting into too much detail, the plot follows a woman that is riding with her boyfriend to visit his family. However, the entire time she’s thinking about how badly she wants to end things with him. Of course, there’s more craziness to follow.
For many who have read the book (myself included), the idea that it’s being turned into a film is very strange, as it’s a story that feels almost unfilmable. However, when you bring up the name Charlie Kaufman, then perhaps he’s the perfect person to tackle such a project. Plemons agrees.
“[Laughs.] Just wait. He Kaufman-ized it,” said the actor. “I thought I’d honestly never read anything like it. I read the script [before reading the novel]. I was sitting at home, contemplating playing a robot in this other thing, and this just fell from the sky. I’ve been a huge fan of [Kaufman’s] forever.”
As for how much of the book is going to be translated to the film, Plemons teased that the filmmaker has definitely decided to put his own spin on things.
“I would say Charlie took maybe 15 percent of the dialogue [from the novel],” he revealed.
Judging by the way the novel’s story progresses and how Kaufman has handled stories that are not the most typical, there’s no telling what the filmmaker has in store for film fans next year. But it should be a lot of fun, and perhaps even a bit frightening.
