Tease for Charlie Kaufman-Penned ‘The Memory Police’

UPDATE: Reed Morano is teasing her Charlie Kaufman penned “The Memory Police.” An image was up on Morano’s Instagram stories, but it’s already expired, you can find it above. ‘Memory Police’ has already been shot, and is seemingly setting up a 2025 release.

EARLIER: Charlie Kaufman has a new script that will be turned into a film. He’s written “The Memory Police”, an adaptation of the acclaimed 1994 science fiction novel by Yoko Ogawa.

Some additional news, Lily Gladstone will star in the film and this is set to be her next project after the acclaim she received for her Oscar-nominated performance in “Killers of the Flower Moon.” In fact, Martin Scorsese is set as executive producer on ‘Memory Police.’

Now, here’s the concerning news. Kaufman isn’t directing. Instead, Reed Morano will helm the film, she’s known for her work on TV’s “The Handmaid’s Tale,” and two lukewarm indie films (“I Think We’re Alone Now” and “The Rhytmn Section”). She has visual flair, that’s for sure, but can she make a good film out of Kaufman’s script?

Here’s the synopsis for “The Memory Police”:

Ogawa’s novel is a parable taking place on an unnamed island off an unnamed coast where a majority of the island’s residents are subject to collective amnesia. They endure a process of forgetting things, including objects, people and daily rituals, with the amnesia enforced by an organization called The Memory Police. In the story, a novelist tries to hide her editor, who can still remember, from the Memory Police, while he encourages her to write her book.  

Kaufman, the mind-tripping writer behind “Being John Malkovich,” “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind,” and “Adaptation,” hasn’t directed a film since 2020’s “I’m Thinking of Ending Things.” His other directing credits are 2008’s “Synecdoche, NY” and 2015’s “Anomalisa.”

Last year, Kaufman spoke of a script he had written for Ryan Gosling to star in, which he wanted to direct. He was looking for funding, but there hasn’t really been an update since then.

In the meantime, Kaufman penned Netflix’s animated “Orion and the Dark,” set to stream in February, and based on a 2014 book by Emma Yarlett. Described as a “darkly whimsical” film, it was directed by animator Sean Charmatz in his feature debut.