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Mysterio ponders Charlie Kaufman's ADAPTATION

first??? by pablolobo	May 18th, 2000 04:30:38 AM
Just wanted to do that.
Philip K Dick's A Scanner Darkly by SamLowry	May 18th, 2000 05:27:52 AM
Can't wait for another Kaufman screenplay to hit the screens. Didn't think Being John Malkovich was the revelation others seem to think, but it was a damn fine film and showed screenwriters didn't need to hold true to lunatic Script Messiah's like Robert McKee's decrees of The Rules Of Screenplay Construction. How sick are we all of the three act structure and The Hero's Journey template bullshit? Can we have some original minds like Kaufman please? Kaufman is now adapting Philip K Dick's brilliant A Scanner Darkly for Jersey Films. Please God let this film reach our silver screens. At least in time to go up against Spielberg's PKD take in Minority Report. If you want to know what Scanner's about, and believe me you do, but can't find Dick's novel, there a screenplay draft of A Scanner Darkly by Australian writer Darryl Mason (Warhead, Max & Murray), over at the PhilipKDick.com website. Worth checking out Mason's work, particularly if you are a fan of Kaufman. In partix, check out Mason's sample pages on the Big Brother Aphid scene. Uniquely bizarre. I read in an Australian newspaper that Mason got arrested last year for being in possession of adrenachrome, as in what Depp freaks on in Fear And Loathing In Las Vegas. Although adrenachrome can only be extracted from the adrenal glands of living human beings, it's not illegal to be in possession of it! Darryl Mason is supposed to be writing a screenplay about his 'chrome experiences. Now that would be tripping to see. Here's the address for his take on Scanner Darkly : www.philipkdick.com/articles/ scanner-treatment.htm
ESOTERIC is the right word by vassilis	May 18th, 2000 07:12:52 AM
i don't know about all these screenwriters workshops and such, but what I do remember is a book on screenwritin I've read ages ago where it says in the first 20 pages: there are original ideas and those that everybody thought of them before. One example is that the first advice given to a screenwriter is "Write about something you know", so 50% of all new scripts are about a screenwriter trying to make a living... Personally, I couldn't care less about the adventures of Mr. Kaufman attepting to write a screenplay. It just doesn't strike me as an interesting idea, like BJM.. Which wasn't that original after all if you've seen a bit of Svenkmayer...
A SCANNER DARKLY??? by vassilis	May 18th, 2000 07:20:06 AM
Hey Sam, you a PKD fan? You're right, A Scanner Darkly suits Kaufman amazingly well... Plus, it's not expensive and it doesn't need big names... But I'm still afraid they're going to mess it up like the butcher job that was "Breakfast of Champions". I was so surprised they took all that weird and wonderful stuff out of the book and made it so dull and boring! Please, Mr. Kaufman, ignore my last post and make this one kick-ass movie!
Charlie is GOD by Jay TJ Mackey	May 18th, 2000 07:43:07 AM
Holly wood has not seen a more ferociosly original writer in a long time. Teaming him with Jonze again would be a dream come true.
End of Syd Field by Cruel Shoes	May 18th, 2000 08:29:45 AM
I always hear about how the three act structure is dead and The Being John Malkovich's represent a new era. And we should all throw away our Syd Field. Doesn't Cusak find the portal into Malkovich's head around that page 30 first act break? And isn't Lotte introduced to the cult around that page 90 Act break? The same case can be made for American Beauty, Sixth Sense, Fight Club, Three Kings. I think the lesson of '99 isn't throw away Aristotle's Three act or Syd's beat structure but to make a fresh/original film...that also works. Oh, and also make it entertaining, the big difference between the French New Wave/German New Wave/American New Wave of the 70's and this current new wave, is that the radical films of '99 were all REALLY entertaining. A TRUE American New Wave.
Is there anywhere online... by Ellie Sattler	May 18th, 2000 12:50:53 PM
where a copy of this script is posted? I'm rather looking forward to this movie, as a die-hard "Being John Malkovich" fan (I even have the bumper sticker on my car!).
samlowry IS darryl mason (and after the break: edward norton IS by tommy five-tone	May 19th, 2000 02:32:51 AM
hey, darryl, you like dick? yeah, i just bet you do. if you're gonna be spreading the word about yourself, at least have the balls to do it directly and not try to create some bullshit "who is darryl mason?" mystique. it's fuckin' lame, to be honest. still, if your script's good, that's all that counts. just keep it away from emma-kate 'don't believe the hype' croghan, who's apparently slated to direct. based on what? two inept rom-coms that would barely pass muster on the WB, that's what! and will people stop talking shit about 'the death of the three-act structure'? structure is a necessity - otherwise you've got yourself some fuckin' harmony korine piece of shit that goes fuckin' nowhere. it's what you DO WITHIN the structure that matters, lunchbox. any major dude will tell you, and so has five-tone. i'm off to smoke a big fatty (no, NOT harry!) and watch me some 'once upon a time in china' and vintage mario bava! TGIF, muthafuckas!!!

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