“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
“You spend most of your time as a director trying to move forward with the movie. It happens on a daily basis, if not more than once a day, that you are struggling with budgetary constraints. Whereas when you're writing, the limitation that you have is your imagination. So it's decidedly non-pragmatic.” IfsWritingTryingHappensMovingImaginationStruggleDirectorsBasesMoving ForwardLimitationConstraintsPragmatic Author:Charlie Kaufman
“I'm moving - as a person and as a writer - through time. I'm a different age. I'm thinking about different things. I have different life experiences. I'm trying to get closer to being honest. And by closer I mean that at different ages I have different ideas of what the truth is, and at any point I'm trying to express that at that moment in time.” ThinkingTryingMeanPersonsIdeasDifferentMomentsAgeMovingHonestTruth IsBeing HonestDifferent ThingsThat MomentLife ExperienceMoments In TimeRough TimesDifferent IdeasDifferent LifeDifferent Ages Author:Charlie Kaufman
“I'm interested in trying to explore what I think is the truth at a given time in my life, and part of the process of being honest is - in my mind - talking about the idea that you're watching a movie.” ThinkingTryingMindIdeasGivenProcessTalkingHonestBeing Honest Author:Charlie Kaufman
“I want to do my own thing, and I'm trying to get closer to realizing that as a filmmaker.” WantTryingRealizingMy OwnFilmmaker Author:Charlie Kaufman
“I try when I'm writing to leave enough "space" for people to have their own interpretation, and not to direct it toward one conclusion. Then the audience would not be reacting, because they are being preached to or lectured at. I don't have that much to say that I think people should listen to me.” PeopleThinkingShouldWritingTryingEnoughSpaceAudienceDirectConclusionInterpretationReactingListen To Me Author:Charlie Kaufman
“When I'm writing a script, before I can write dialogue or anything, I have two or three hundred pages of notes, which takes me a year. So, it's not like "what happens next." I've got things that I'm thinking about but I don't settle on them. And if I try to write dialogue before then, I can't. It's just garbage.” IfsThinkingWritingTryingYearsI CanTwoHappensThreeNextPagesHundredNotesScriptsDialogueSettlingTake MeGarbage Author:Charlie Kaufman
“I just try to be honest, because I think that's part of my job description as a writer.” ThinkingTryingJobsHonestBeing HonestDescription Author:Charlie Kaufman
“I try to present something that is true so I don't further destroy the world with my contribution to it.” WorldTryingContribution Author:Charlie Kaufman
“There is so much crap in the world, both in show and other businesses, that I try to be vulnerable myself, in the hopes that there is some truth I can get to, that makes people feel less alone in the world.” PeopleWorldFeelsTryingI CanShowsVulnerableCrap 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 don't subscribe to anything. I sit there and I try to think about what seems honest to me.” ThinkingTryingSeemsHonest Author:Charlie Kaufman
“I don't write genre stuff in any form. I'm not interested in it. I always try to do the opposite of that.” WritingTryingFormStuffOppositesGenreNot Interested Author:Charlie Kaufman
“We try to organize the world, which isn't organized the way our brains want to organize it. We tell stories about the people in our lives, we project ideas onto them. We project relationships with people, we make our lives into stories. I don't think we can avoid doing that.” PeopleThinkingWorldWayWantTryingIdeasStoriesBrainOur LivesProjectsOrganizedOrganizePeople In Our Lives Author:Charlie Kaufman
“I think of myself as a guy who tries to write screenplays and now has tried to direct one. Anything more than that is meaningless and it gets in the way of being a real human being.” ThinkingWayWritingTryingHumansRealGuyHuman BeingsDirectMeaninglessScreenplaysReal Human Author:Charlie Kaufman
“I'm not working on anything. I was trying to write something new . . . I guess the goal for me now, at least at this point, is to try to direct again.” WritingTryingGoalDirectSomething New Author:Charlie Kaufman
“I was trying to figure out what a memory feels like.” FeelsTryingMemoriesFiguresFigure Skating Author:Charlie Kaufman
“I have a personality that tends to be somewhat compulsive, and I do tend to think in a circular way. I dwell on the same things over and over and I try to figure out different ways of looking at the same issue.” ThinkingWayTryingDifferentIssuesFiguresPersonalityDifferent Ways Author:Charlie Kaufman
“I try to make things interesting and thought-provoking.” TryingInterestingThought ProvokingProvoking 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
