Being John Malkovich

Being John Malkovich is a 1999 American surrealist fantasy comedy drama film<ref name="allm_Bein">Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> directed by Spike Jonze and written by Charlie Kaufman, both making their feature film debut. The film stars John Cusack, Cameron Diaz, and Catherine Keener, with John Malkovich as a version of himself. Cusack plays a puppeteer who finds a portal that leads into Malkovich's mind.

Released by USA Films, the film received widespread acclaim, with praise for its writing and direction, and grossed $23 million against a $13 million budget. The film was nominated in three categories at the 72nd Academy Awards: Best Director, Best Original Screenplay, and Best Supporting Actress for Keener.<ref name="OverhypedOscars">Template:Cite news Template:Open access</ref> The film ranked 441st on Empire magazine's 2008 list of the 500 greatest films of all time,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> while Malkovich's performance is ranked number 90 on Premiere's "100 Greatest Movie Characters of All Time".<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Plot

Craig Schwartz is an unemployed puppeteer in New York City, in a forlorn marriage with his pet-obsessed wife, Lotte. He finds work as a file clerk for the eccentric Dr. Lester in the Mertin-Flemmer building, on a floor between the 7th and 8th, where the ceiling is very low. He develops an attraction to co-worker Maxine Lund, who does not return his affections. While filing, Craig accidentally discovers a small hidden door. He crawls through it into an earthen tunnel and finds himself inside the mind of actor John Malkovich. After fifteen minutes, Craig is ejected, landing on the side of the New Jersey Turnpike. He tells Maxine about the door, and she realizes they can sell the experience for profit.

Lotte enters the portal, and, based on her experience being Malkovich, becomes fascinated with the idea of becoming a man. She and Craig visit Dr. Lester's home, where Lotte finds a room filled with Malkovich memorabilia. Maxine arranges a date with Malkovich while he is inhabited by Lotte. Lotte becomes smitten with Maxine, who reciprocates, but only when Lotte is inside Malkovich; Maxine manipulates him into having sex with her while Lotte is in his mind. Craig, forsaken by both women, locks Lotte in a cage and forces her to set up another tryst with Maxine. He inhabits Malkovich instead, and discovers that his puppeteering skills allow him some control over Malkovich's body.

Meanwhile, the real Malkovich, disturbed by his loss of control, confides in his friend Charlie Sheen and becomes suspicious of Maxine. Malkovich follows her to the Mertin-Flemmer building, where she and Craig are charging customers to use the portal. When Malkovich enters it himself, he finds himself in a world where everyone looks like him and says only "Malkovich." After he is ejected, Malkovich demands that Craig close the portal, but Craig refuses. Lotte is freed by her pet chimpanzee and warns Maxine that Craig is inhabiting Malkovich, but Maxine is attracted to Craig's ability to control him.

Lotte confronts Dr. Lester, who reveals that he is in fact Captain Mertin, who, having discovered the portal to a "vessel body" in the late 1800s, erected the Mertin-Flemmer building to conceal it. He has obtained immortality by moving from one body to the next, which becomes "ripe" on the host's 44th birthday, allowing him to take possession. If he's late he'd become trapped in a newborn body. This time, Lester has invited a group of friends to join him in occupying Malkovich once he turns 44, and Lotte warns them that Craig has taken control. Craig discovers he can occupy Malkovich indefinitely. Inhabiting him over the next eight months, he makes Malkovich into a world-class puppeteer and marries Maxine, who is pregnant.

On Malkovich's 44th birthday, Lester and Lotte kidnap Maxine. They call to demand that Craig leave Malkovich, threatening to kill Maxine, but he hangs up. In desperation, Lotte decides to shoot Maxine, who escapes into the portal. Lotte pursues her through Malkovich's subconscious before they are both ejected. Maxine confesses that she kept her unborn child because it was conceived while Lotte was in Malkovich's mind, meaning that it is Lotte's child, too, and the women cement their love for each other. Craig, believing Maxine is still in danger, leaves Malkovich's mind, allowing Lester and his friends to enter. Discovering that Maxine has discarded him for Lotte, Craig swears to reenter the portal to take back Malkovich's mind.

Seven years later, an older Malkovich, now inhabited by multiple people, tells Sheen about Lester and his friends' plan to extend their lives via the portal, which now leads to the mind of Maxine's daughter Emily. Craig, having entered the portal too late to enter Malkovich but too early to have any control over Emily, is permanently trapped inside her, forced to watch Lotte and Maxine live happily together.

Cast

Cameo appearances

Director Spike Jonze makes a cameo appearance as Derek Mantini's assistant; Mantini is billed in the story as the greatest puppeteer in the history of the world and arouses Craig's envy. Brad Pitt also has a brief cameo, as a miffed star in the documentary on Malkovich's career, who seems to be on the verge of saying something before the shot ends. Sean Penn appears as himself, a fan of Malkovich's puppeteer work. Film director David Fincher makes an uncredited appearance as Christopher Bing in the American Arts & Culture pseudo-documentary on John Malkovich. Winona Ryder, Andy Dick, and the members of Hanson can be seen in the audience of a Malkovich puppet show.<ref name="IMDb">Template:Cite web</ref>

Production

Development

Writer Charlie Kaufman's idea of Being John Malkovich originated simply as "a story about a man who falls in love with someone who is not his wife." Gradually he added further elements to the story which he found entertaining, such as floor Template:Frac of the Mertin Flemmer building; among his first ideas, Malkovich was "nowhere to be seen".<ref name="Salon" /> He wrote the script on spec in 1994 and though it was widely read by production company and film studio executives, all turned it down.<ref name="NYTimes" /> Hoping to find a producer, Kaufman sent the script to Francis Ford Coppola, who passed it on to his daughter Sofia's then-boyfriend Spike Jonze.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Jonze first read the script in 1996 and had agreed to direct the film by 1997.<ref name="NYTimes" /><ref name="Variety" /> Jonze took the script to Propaganda Films, which agreed to produce the film in partnership with production company Single Cell Pictures.<ref name="NYTimes" /><ref name="Variety" /> Single Cell producers Michael Stipe and Sandy Stern pitched the film to numerous studios, including New Line Cinema, who dropped the project after chairman Robert Shaye asked, "Why the fuck can't it be Being Tom Cruise?"<ref name="Advocate" /> Jonze recalled that Malkovich asked the same question, and that Malkovich had felt that "Either the movie's a bomb and it's got not only my name above the title but my name in the title, so I'm fucked that way; or it does well and I'm just forever associated with this character."<ref name="Chris">Template:Cite news</ref> Jonze explained in the same interview that he had not realized how brave Malkovich's performance was.<ref name="Chris" />

With a budget of $10 million,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> principal photography of Being John Malkovich began on July 20, 1998, and continued through August.<ref name="Variety" /><ref name="Filming">Template:Cite web</ref> Filming took place primarily in Los Angeles;<ref name="Filming" /> specific locations included the University of Southern California campus and the Observation Bar on board the RMS Queen Mary.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

The puppets were created by Kamela Portuges-Robbins and Images in Motion. Phillip Huber animated the puppets.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> About Huber's puppetry, Jonze has said he was a full-time puppeteer and controlled his puppets with impressive means, such as using strings and no rods to control them, as well as swinging the puppets on high wires.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Casting

Diaz's make-up artist Gucci Westman described styling Diaz in the role as "a challenge, to make her look homely."<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The script included minimal physical descriptions of characters, and thus when Diaz took up the role she did not know that "people weren't going to recognize me."<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Cusack read the film's script after he had asked his agent to present him with the "craziest, most unproduceable script you can find." Impressed with the script, he asked his agent to follow its progress and book him an audition, which won him the role.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Keener cited Being John Malkovich as an instance of her taking up a role based on the director's previous work. She had heard about Jonze's experience with music videos and took up the part of Maxine although she initially disliked the character and did not feel that she was right for the part.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> She was subsequently nominated for an Oscar.

Kaufman said that there was never another actor in Malkovich's place in the script: "The screenplay was always Template:'Being John MalkovichTemplate:', even before I had any expectation that John Malkovich would even read the script."<ref name="Variety">Template:Cite web</ref> He chose Malkovich because he believed there to be "an enigmatic quality about him that works",<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> though Malkovich was partly chosen because of the sound of his name in repetition. Kaufman explained that "When we were thinking of alternatives, we found that a lot of them weren't fun to say."<ref name="Salon">Template:Cite web</ref> Jonze's then-father-in-law Francis Ford Coppola was able to contact Malkovich,<ref name="NYTimes">Template:Cite news</ref> and Jonze flew with producer Sandy Stern to Malkovich's home in France. Stern said that Malkovich was "half intrigued and half horrified" when he first read the script, but he eventually agreed to star in the film.<ref name="Advocate">Template:Cite news</ref>

Release

Theatrical release and box office

Being John Malkovich was given limited release in the United States theatres on October 22, 1999, and opened across 25 screens. On its opening weekend, the film grossed US$637,731 across 25 screens with a per-screen average of $25,495.<ref name="BO1">Template:Cite web</ref> It expanded to another 150 screens the following week,<ref name="BO1" /> bringing in $1.9 million with a per-screen average of $10,857.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In its third week, the film's release widened to 467 locations and grossed $2.4 million, averaging a lower $5,041 per screen with a cumulative gross of $6.1 million.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> It moved into a wide release the next week, expanding to 591 screens, and grossed $1.9 million with a 20% drop in ticket sales.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Its fifth week brought in $2.2 million with a 17% increase in ticket sales,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> which dropped a further 33% the following week despite further expansion to 624 screens.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> It finished its theatrical run after 26 weeks with a total gross of $22,863,596.<ref name="BOM">Template:Cite web</ref>

PolyGram Filmed Entertainment was originally supposed to release this film outside the United States.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> However, as a result of Seagram acquiring PolyGram's assets, its film division was folded into a new entity named Universal Pictures International, with all projects in different stages of development now transferred to that company.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The film opened in the United Kingdom in March 2000, earning £296,282 in its debut week<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> and closing after fifteen weeks with a total gross of £1,098,927.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> In France, the film opened in December 1999 with a gross of US$546,000 from 94 venues and went on to further success due to positive reviews and word of mouth.<ref name="BO2">Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> It grossed $205,100 from 109 screens on its opening weekend in Italy and ticket sales dropped by 37% the following week with a cumulative gross of $480,000 from 82 screens.<ref name="BO2" /><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Its German release brought in a total of $243,071.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Being John Malkovich had a total foreign gross of $9,523,455, combined with its domestic gross to give an international total of over $32 million.<ref name="The-Numbers">Template:Cite news</ref>

Home media

Being John Malkovich was initially released in 2000 on VHS, both as a regular edition and a limited edition collector's set,<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> and on DVD, with special features including a theatrical trailer, TV spots, cast and crew biographies, the director's photo album and featurettes on floor 7½ and puppeteering.<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref> A special edition DVD, released later the same year, included the aforementioned features, an interview with Jonze and two behind-the-scenes featurettes.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> It was released on HD DVD in 2008. The Criterion Collection released a special edition of the film on Blu-ray and DVD in 2012.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Reception

Critical response

On Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 94% based on 136 reviews, with an average rating of 8.2/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "Smart, funny, and highly original, Being John Malkovich supports its wild premise with skillful direction and a stellar ensemble cast."<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 90 out of 100 based on 36 critics reviews, indicating "universal acclaim".<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Roger Ebert awarded the film a full four stars, writing: "What an endlessly inventive movie this is! Charlie Kaufman, the writer of Being John Malkovich, supplies a dazzling stream of inventions, twists, and wicked paradoxes. And the director, Spike Jonze, doesn't pounce on each one like fresh prey, but unveils it slyly, as if there's more where that came from... The movie has ideas enough for half a dozen films, but Jonze and his cast handle them so surely that we never feel hard-pressed; we're enchanted by one development after the next". He concluded: "Every once in a long, long while a movie comes along that is unlike any other. A movie that creates a new world for us and uses it to produce wonderful things. Forrest Gump was a movie like that, and so in different ways were M*A*S*H, This Is Spinal Tap, After Hours, Babe and There's Something About Mary. What do such films have in common? Nothing. That's the point. Each one stakes out a completely new place and colonizes it with limitless imagination. Either Being John Malkovich gets nominated for best picture, or the members of the Academy need portals into their brains."<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> He later named it the best film of 1999.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Peter Rainer, writing for New York, commented that "dazzlingly singular movies aren't often this much fun"<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> and Owen Gleiberman, writing for Entertainment Weekly, called it "the most excitingly original movie of the year."<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref>

Accolades

Award	Award category	Recipients	Result
Academy Awards	Best Director	Spike Jonze	Template:Nom
	Best Supporting Actress	Catherine Keener	Template:Nom
	Best Original Screenplay	Charlie Kaufman	Template:Nom
American Comedy Awards	Funniest Motion Picture	Being John Malkovich	Template:Nom
	Funniest Supporting Actor in a Motion Picture	John Malkovich	Template:Won
	Funniest Supporting Actress in a Motion Picture	Cameron Diaz	Template:Nom
BAFTA Awards	Best Actress in a Supporting Role	Cameron Diaz	Template:Nom
	Best Screenplay - Original	Charlie Kaufman	Template:Won
	Best Editing	Eric Zumbrunnen	Template:Nom
César Awards	Best Foreign Film	Spike Jonze	Template:Nom
GLAAD Media Awards	Outstanding Film – Wide Release	Being John Malkovich	Template:Won
Golden Globe Awards	Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy	Being John Malkovich	Template:Nom
	Best Supporting Actress – Motion Picture	Cameron Diaz	Template:Nom
		Catherine Keener	Template:Nom
	Best Screenplay	Charlie Kaufman	Template:Nom
Hugo Awards	Best Dramatic Presentation	Spike Jonze & Charlie Kaufman	Template:Nom
Independent Spirit Awards	Best First Feature - Over $500,000	Spike Jonze, Michael Stipe, Sandy Stern, Steve Golin, Vincent Landay	Template:Won
	Best First Screenplay	Charlie Kaufman	Template:Won
	Best Male Lead	John Cusack	Template:Nom
MTV Movie Awards	Best New Filmmaker	Spike Jonze	Template:Won
Saturn Awards	Best Fantasy Film	Being John Malkovich	Template:Won
	Best Writing	Charlie Kaufman	Template:Won
	Best Actress	Catherine Keener	Template:Nom
Screen Actors Guild Awards	Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Supporting Role	Cameron Diaz	Template:Nom
		Catherine Keener	Template:Nom
	Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture	Orson Bean, John Cusack, Cameron Diaz, Catherine Keener, John Malkovich, Mary Kay Place, Charlie Sheen	Template:Nom
Teen Choice Awards	Choice Movie Actress	Cameron Diaz	Template:Nom

See also

• Being Michael Madsen
• The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent

External links

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• The Original Ending Of BEING JOHN MALKOVICH