“I can never watch anything I've been involved in, because I know it, and I know what the making of it was like, and I know what's been cut out and changed. I just know it.” KnowsI CanWatchesCuttingChangedInvolved Author:Charlie Kaufman
“The conventional wisdom is - people say this all the time - you should only write something when you're far enough away from it that you can have a perspective. But that's not true. That's a story that you're telling. The truth of it is here, right now. It's the only truth that we ever know. And I'm interested in that truth and the confusion being part of the experience and sorting it your way through and figuring it out.” PeopleKnowsWayShouldWritingEnoughStoriesPerspectiveRight NowConfusionTelling The TruthConventionalConventional WisdomSortingFiguring It Author:Charlie Kaufman
“I don't have a style. I wouldn't say I have a style as a writer, either. I know people have said "This is what he does," but when I'm writing, I don't think about that. I don't think about a style.” PeopleThinkingKnowsWritingDoeSaidStyle Author:Charlie Kaufman
“People ask me all the time, "What are your influences? Are you trying to do Beckett?" It's like, "No, I'm trying to do me." Whatever that is. I don't know what that is, but that's the basis. I'm trying to be true and I'm trying to be honest.” PeopleKnowsTryingAsksInfluenceHonestBasesBeing TrueBeing HonestAsk MeBeckett Author:Charlie Kaufman
“I often have a theme in mind when I'm starting. I know that I want everything to be in a world of, say, evolution, or guilt.” KnowsWorldWantMindEvolutionGuiltStartingTheme Author:Charlie Kaufman
“I do a lot of things intuitively. I'm not often consciously aware of what I'm doing. It's like in a dream: There's something going on that's powerful but you don't know exactly why.” KnowsDreamPowerful Author:Charlie Kaufman
“So when I write characters and situations and relationships, I try to sort of utilize what I know about the world, limited as it is, and what I hear from my friends and see with my relatives.” KnowsWorldWritingTryingCharacterSituationMy Friends Author:Charlie Kaufman
“I think generally I'm kind of interested in subjective experience, what goes on inside someone's head, that being all they really know of the world.” ThinkingKnowsWorldKindGoes OnSubjective Author:Charlie Kaufman
“Everything I've written is personal - it's the only way I know how to write.” KnowsWayWritingKnow HowWritten Author:Charlie Kaufman
“I know that as a very young child, I was afraid of death. Many children become aware of the notion of death early and it can be a very troubling thing. We're all in this continuum: I'm this age now, and if I live long enough I'll be that age. I was 20 once, I was 10, I was 4. People who are 20 now will be 50 one day. They don't know that! They know it in the abstract, but they don't know it. I'd like them to know it, because I think it gives you compassion.” PeopleIfsThinkingKnowsGivingChildrenLongEnoughAgeYoungCompassionOne DayNotionAbstractYoung ChildrenContinuumAfraid Of Death Author:Charlie Kaufman
“Clementine: This is it, Joel. It's going to be gone soon. Joel: I know. Clementine: What do we do? Joel: Enjoy it.” KnowsEnjoyGoneEternalEternal SunshineClementines Author:Charlie Kaufman
“The world needs you. It doesn't need you at a party having read a book about how to appear smart at parties - these books exist, and they're tempting - but resist falling into that trap. The world needs you at the party starting real conversations, saying, 'I don't know,' and being kind.” KnowsWorldNeedsKindBookRealFallPartyConversationSmartStartingAppearanceBe KindInteractionTrapsNeed YouScreenwritersTemptingSocial InteractionReal ConversationFalse Appearances Author:Charlie Kaufman
“The way I write is very much without kind of a goal. I have something I'm interested in and then I decide I'm going to explore it. I don't know where the characters are going to go, I don't know what the movie is going to do or what the screenplay is going to do. For me, that's the way to keep it alive.” KnowsWayWritingKindCharacterGoalAliveScreenplays Author:Charlie Kaufman
“When I'm writing, I'm trying to immerse myself in the chaos of an emotional experience, rather than separate myself from it and look back at it from a distance with clarity and tell it as a story. Because that's how life is lived, you know?” KnowsWritingTryingLooksStoriesLife IsEmotionalDistanceChaosClarity Author:Charlie Kaufman
