UPDATE: Some casting details have been revealed about this one. Eddie Redmayne, Tessa Thompson and Patsy Ferran are set to star in Charlie Kaufman’s “Later the War.”
The film, adapted from Iddo Geffen’s short story “Debby’s Dream House,” continues Kaufman’s fascination, and blurring, of dreams with reality. The story follows a man who manufactures dreams for people but ultimately begins creating nightmares for them.
Written on 02.20.24: Last we heard, Charlie Kaufman wrote upcoming films for Bennett Miller and Reed Morano, but he’s now set to return to the director’s chair in what will be his first directorial effort in over five years.
Two notable pieces of evidence have Kaufman’s “Later the War” starting production in 2025. Sarah Green is being linked as producer on this new film which might have gotten a grant from the Polish Institute of Film. Word is that it was secretly shopped around this month at EFM Berlin.
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. “Later the War” might be the project he was referring to. However, with Gosling now set to star in Shawn Levy’s upcoming Star Wars movie, it is possible that the actor might have dropped out of Kaufman’s project.
Kaufman’s brand of existentialist cinema was already a hard sell before the pandemic and it’s become a near-impossible task to finance now. That’s probably why he’s resorted to writing screenplays, which included the 2024 Netflix animated film “Orion and the Dark.”
Back in 2023, Kaufman criticized audiences whom he believed have “become careless consumers” of “garbage” movies.
They don’t seem to see past the cynical sales pitch. Even though the sales pitch is presented in a way that suggests they are being fed something of value, they’re not. The diet is so corrupted and has been for so long. It’s like if you eat shit all your life, you want shit. If you eat processed food, you crave it. And you wouldn’t if you hadn’t been fed it all your life. That’s what the movie machine does and I find it really offensive. It makes me angry.
Kaufman has also acknowledged, multiple times, how hard it’s become to finance his projects. Despite his critically-acclaimed films, ranging from 2008’s “Synecdoche, New York” to 2015’s “Anomalisa,” he couldn’t find sufficient funding to make “I’m Thinking of Ending Things” until Netflix reached out to help. It’s already a damn-near miracle the streamer decided to bankroll that movie.
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 include 2008’s “Synecdoche, NY” and 2015’s “Anomalisa.”