Being Charlie Kaufman

If you think the movie "Being John Malkovich" (USA Home Entertainment, R, VHS/rental, DVD/$25) is weird, imagine how Charlie Kaufman must feel. "Weird," he said last week, after returning from England where he received yet another award for the movie he wrote more than six years ago with "no expectations of it ever being made."

And now the movie, about a puppeteer who accidentally discovers a tiny door that leads to a portal into the brain of the actor John Malkovich, is coming out on video, unleashing yet another round of interviews on the reluctant but congenial Kaufman. He doesn't like talking about "Being John Malkovich." He doesn't like talking about any of his projects - at least, not the writer's thought processes that result in such an extraordinary story. It is a very Bob Dylan-like attitude: If you explain your art to people, you deny them the experience of discovering meaning on their own.

Enough people discovered this movie to earn it three very respectable Oscar nominations - Best Director (Spike Jonze), Best Screenplay (Kaufman) and Best Supporting Actress (Catherine Keener). From Kaufman's point of view, public transit into Malkovich's conscious is not what the movie is about.

"I started out writing a story about a guy who is married but in love with someone else," he said. "It sounds conventional, but I really didn't expect it to be a conventional drama."

It is actually a comedy, an extraordinarily imaginative one that sometimes challenges conventional notions of comedy. Kaufman wryly recalls the early test screenings, when audiences had no idea of what to expect:

"It took a lot of courage to be that one person laughing in a theater full of people," he said.

Soon enough, however, he began to wonder if people were laughing so much they missed some of the lines. Enter video and the fine art of rewind.

"Being John Malkovich" is filled with courageous performances, not the least of which is by Malkovich himself. When Kaufman wrote the story and hit upon the idea of entering another person's head, the first person he thought of was Malkovich. He can't say why, for sure.

"It just seemed funny and interesting," he says. "I didn't even worry about the legality of using his name because I had no expectations for this story. And it seemed to work for other people."

It must have appealed to Malkovich, too. He plays the fictionalized version of himself with relish. An almost unrecognizable John Cusack plays Craig Schwartz, the discontented New York City puppeteer who sets aside his craft for a day job at Lester Corp., an odd little company located midway between the 7th and 8th floors of the Merton-Flummer Building. It is here, stooped over from the low ceilings, that he becomes attracted to Maxine (Keener) - a sexy vixen unencumbered by any trace of a conscience. It is also here that Schwartz discovers the little door behind a filing cabinet that leads to Malkovich's consciousness. People can literally enter Malkovich's brain for 15 minutes before being spit out somewhere along a New Jersey freeway, just outside New York. (Just run with it. If you think about it too hard, your brain will explode.)

Craig and Maxine begin a side business selling access to Malkovich to the general public, hungry to be somebody, anybody, other than their pointless selves. Meanwhile, Craig's devoted wife, Lotte (a very unglamorous Cameron Diaz), who runs a pet store and has overrun their apartment with animals, develops a strong attraction to Maxine, as has Maxine to her. They work up a scheme in which Lotte will enter Malkovich's head and Maxine will seduce the actor and ... well, you get the picture.

Meanwhile, Craig's infatuation with Maxine goes unrequited, leading him to desperate measures, some of which press the definition of comedy to the edges. The movie has rich little cameos by Orson Bean, Mary Kay Place and Charlie Sheen. If you watch carefully, you can actually catch a glimpse of Brad Pitt and a few lesser-known stars.

Since the movie's triumphant debut, Kaufman hasn't had to change his life a whole lot. A longtime TV writer, he'd already had plenty of work. One thing he's discovered is the rewrite reality of success: A script is never really done until the last shot is taken.

"I've found myself working on four projects simultaneously," he says.

Filming begins this week on his second script, "Human Nature." He and Spike Jonze are co-producing, and French video director Miche Gordry is at the helm. Again, Kaufman will say little except that it is "a comedy, and sad and about people who don't fit in."ALSO THIS WEEK:

"Galaxy Quest" (DreamWorks, PG, VHS/$23, DVD/$27) - You know, with enough really mediocre sequels, this thing could surpass "Star Trek" in popularity. In fact, life could imitate art: After a few major "Galaxy Quest" motion pictures, the whole thing could move into television as a serial. What do I know, except this was one of the truly funny movies of 1999, and it did so without doing mean-spirited damage to the series it spoofs?

The story is about a band of has-been actors who are still milking their dedicated cult following, 20 years after their low-budget "Star Trek"-like TV series was canceled. Their lives change when a band of real aliens recruits them to do battle against the evil Sarris and his henchmen. The gentle Thermian people had been collecting old "Galaxy Quest" transmissions on the assumption that they were historical documents and had recreated a spaceship to the exact specs of the NSEA Protector.

Clever writing and visuals and a well-chosen cast - Tim Allen, Alan Rickman, Sigourney Weaver, Tony Shaloub, Sam Rockwell and Daryl Mitchell - bring well-deserved accolades to the movie. As important, the special effects are first-rate (even the cheesy ones). Two of the best in the business were recruited: Industrial Light and Magic handled the computer-generated images, the legendary Stan Winston handled the space-creature costuming.

Bottom line, "Galaxy Quest" is pure fun. No agenda, no neurosis to work out. Just fun. The DVD version contains seven deleted scenes, a screeching Thermian language track, a behind-the-scenes look at the making of the picture and production notes.

"Dogma" (Columbia TriStar, R, VHS/rental, DVD/$25) - Matt Damon and Ben Affleck are a pair of fallen angels who discover a loophole in the heavenly order that could get them back up behind the pearly gates. The loophole is in New Jersey, not far from the place where people land when they are ejected from the mind of John Malkovich in the movie "Being John Malkovich." One problem: If they go, existence (as we know it) goes too. Poof.

If nothing, the movie confirmed once and for all that the Catholic Church lacks the ability to laugh at itself. (Alan Rickman plays the voice of God.)

"Rugrats: Discover America" (Paramount, unrated, $13) - Besides the 22-minute title piece, this 'toon fest includes "The Jungle," "Journey to the Center of the Basement" and "Faire Play" - as well as a look at the upcoming theatrical feature "Rugrats in Paris."

"Undercover Angel" (PM, PG-13, VHS/rental, DVD/$24) - Starring Yasmine Bleeth, Dean Winters, James Earl Jones and Emily Mae Young. A pulp fiction writer agrees to take care of the precocious daughter of an ex-girlfriend for a month but finds himself growing attached to the kid.DVD UPDATE:

Available from Artisan Entertainment in April on DVD: "Dark Harbor," "Judgment Day," "The Minus Man," "Sarah Plain and Tall Collection" and "Journey to the Center of the Earth."

On June 6, the director's cut versions of the first three "Lethal Weapon" movies will go to DVD.

Twentieth Century Fox releases a restored version of the western classic "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid" on DVD on May 16. The disk includes extra footage from the production, a making-of documentary and interviews, plus an audio commentary featuring director George Roy Hill, lyricist Hal David, cinematographer Conrad Hall and dialogue coach Robert Crawford.

Meg Ryan is the glue that holds together a DVD two-pack from Columbia TriStar: "Hanging Up" and "Sleepless in Seattle" Priced under $48 and due May 16. ("Hanging Up" isn't due as a solo title until June 27.)COMING ATTRACTIONS:

May 9: Five-time Oscar winner "American Beauty." May 30: Director Mike Figgis' ("Leaving Las Vegas") take on August Strindberg's "Miss Julie." Cartoon super-heroines "The Powerpuff Girls" swing onto video with two titles, "Bubblevicious" and "Monkey See, Doggy Do."

June 6: William Peterson, Sheryl Lee and Terence Stamp in "Kiss the Sky."

June 13: Eric Roberts, Joaquim De Almeida and Tara Crespo in "La Cucaracha."

June 20: The Oscar winner (Costume and Makeup) about musical theater creators Gilbert and Sullivan, "Topsy-Turvy."

June 27: Sandra Bullock and Craig Sheffer in "Fire on the Amazon."

(c) Copley News Service

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Author: Robert J. Hawkins