Last night I met Charlie Kaufman at a screening of his new movie (and directorial debut) in Harvard Square. The first thing I noticed about him as he walked down the aisle to the front of the theatre is that he is entirely normal looking, just an average guy you'd see walking down the street in Harvard Square on any given day. In fact, had I seen him walking down the street tonight, I wouldn't have even noticed him, much less stopped to realize "That's Charlie Kaufman."
I quickly noticed by his demeanor and body language that he was very uncomfortable in his skin and nervous, awkward really. It was also apparent once he started speaking that he is very sensitive and deep. He spoke about being damaged by movies that portrayed an unrealistic view of the world and relationships. He talked about how important it is to him to write the truth and that everything he writes is somewhat autobiographical (its impossible not to be, he says).
His new movie was great- full of human fragility, realness and dialogue to make you think and laugh, not to mention plenty of symbolism and hidden meanings. He refused to comment on the symbolism saying that what something symbolizes or means to him may not be what it means to us. He said he wants the movie to be a dialogue with the audience and that he's set it up so that if you watch it many times, you pick up on different things each time.
After the question and answer was over, I approached Charlie to get is autograph and a picture with him. Later, when I told a friend and she was in awe, I thought about this-how strange it is that as a society we look up to celebrities. I'm not sure if it's their fame or money or perceived power- or all of the above, but to us they seem untouchable. We wait in line for hours for an autograph, a chance to say "I love your work", a handshake, some piece of their celebrity energy that we can hold and take home with us, but in reality, they're no different than us.
I quickly noticed by his demeanor and body language that he was very uncomfortable in his skin and nervous, awkward really. It was also apparent once he started speaking that he is very sensitive and deep. He spoke about being damaged by movies that portrayed an unrealistic view of the world and relationships. He talked about how important it is to him to write the truth and that everything he writes is somewhat autobiographical (its impossible not to be, he says).
His new movie was great- full of human fragility, realness and dialogue to make you think and laugh, not to mention plenty of symbolism and hidden meanings. He refused to comment on the symbolism saying that what something symbolizes or means to him may not be what it means to us. He said he wants the movie to be a dialogue with the audience and that he's set it up so that if you watch it many times, you pick up on different things each time.
After the question and answer was over, I approached Charlie to get is autograph and a picture with him. Later, when I told a friend and she was in awe, I thought about this-how strange it is that as a society we look up to celebrities. I'm not sure if it's their fame or money or perceived power- or all of the above, but to us they seem untouchable. We wait in line for hours for an autograph, a chance to say "I love your work", a handshake, some piece of their celebrity energy that we can hold and take home with us, but in reality, they're no different than us.
