Quotes by Charlie Kaufman

About Charlie Kaufman:

Charles Stuart is an American screenwriter, producer, director, and lyricist. He wrote the critically acclaimed films Being John Malkovich, Adaptation, and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. He made his directing debut in 2008 with Synecdoche, New York, which was also well received; film critic Roger Ebert called it "the best movie of the decade" in 2009.
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

I'm not a concept. Too many guys think I'm a concept or I complete them or I'm going to make them alive, but I'm just a fucked up girl who is looking for my own peace of mind. Don't assign me yours.

Charlie Kaufman

There's no way to approach anything in an objective way. We're completely subjective; our view of the world is completely controlled by who we are as human beings, as men or women, by our age, our history, our profession, by the state of the world.

Charlie Kaufman

It occurred to me that every work of art is a synecdoche, there's no way around it. Every creative work that someone does can only represent an aspect of the whole of something. I can't think of an exception to that.

Charlie Kaufman

What I came to understand is that change is not a choice, not for a species of plant, not for me. It happens, and you are different.

Charlie Kaufman

You and I share the same DNA. Is there anything more lonely than that?

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?

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.

Charlie Kaufman

Directing is a more pragmatic experience, where you have to deal with the restrictions of time and money that force you to make certain decisions you don't have to make when you're writing.

Charlie Kaufman

I think you just assume that your memory is just sort of a video playback of your experience, but it's nothing like that at all. It's a complete refabrication of an event and a lot of it is made up, because you're filling in spaces.

Charlie Kaufman

If you create something that is asking for people to respond as they're going to respond, you have to allow them to respond as they're going to respond. Some of the people are going to be uninterested and some people are going to be mad for some reas...

Charlie Kaufman

I have a lot of health anxiety.

Charlie Kaufman

I've had to deal, a lot, with my own sense of intimidation at meeting famous people - especially actors, but really any famous people.

Charlie Kaufman

As a writer, or as a filmmaker, you have to present yourself, and part of what yourself is is what you're interested in, or what you think is funny, or what you think is sad, or what you think is horrible.

Charlie Kaufman

I'm not a celebrity. I'm intentionally and defiantly not a celebrity. I don't have any interest in it. I don't have any talent for it. I keep my personal life out of my public life as cleanly as I can.

Charlie Kaufman

I'm not into extreme sports or something. I just live a quiet life.

Charlie Kaufman

I think that people have expectations of themselves and other people that are based on these fictions that are presented to them as the way human life and relationships could be, in some sort of weird, ideal world, but they never are. So you're const...

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. You're sitting here watching a movie. And I like ...

Charlie Kaufman

There's theater in life, obviously, and there's life in theater.

Charlie Kaufman

You are what you love. Not what loves you.

Charlie Kaufman

I hate a movie that will end by telling you that the first thing you should do is learn to love yourself. That is so insulting and condescending, and so meaningless. My characters don't learn to love each other or themselves.

Charlie Kaufman

Author Bio

  • NameCharlie Kaufman
  • DescriptionAmerican screenwriter
  • BornNovember 1, 1958
  • CountryUnited States Of America
  • ProfessionScreenwriter; Film Producer; Film Director; Writer
  • AwardsAcademy Award For Best Writing (Original Screenplay); Writers Guild Of America Award