Charlie Kaufman prepping two new films, one for Spike Jonze to direct

Last Updated on August 5, 2021

Spike Jonze and writer Charlie Kaufman, who memorably brought us BEING JOHN MALKOVICH and ADAPTATION, are finalizing a deal that would have them reteaming for a political satire that Kaufman wrote and Jonze would direct. Kaufman, meanwhile, is simultaneously prepping his next directorial effort titled FRANK OR FRANCIS, which follows a famous director who wars with a film blogger (ahem) who is his chief critic.

The Jonze/Kaufman project was in the works for a bit and was rescued from development hell by Megan Ellison, the former trust fund party girl who is using her family’s billions (yes, billions, her dad is Larry Ellison founder of Oracle) for good. The New York Observer recently wrote a profile on Ms. Ellison titled “The 25 Year Old Who Saved Cinema” for her role in saving two of Paul Thomas Anderson’s projects and acquiring the North American distribution rights to Wong Kar-Wai’s upcoming action film. Add the Jonze/Kaufman project to her resume and she’s got quite the impressive profile for someone who’s never released a film.

While Jonze preps the untitled satire, which follows “world leaders gathering to figure out all the seismic events that will take place, from oil prices to wars that will be waged,” Kaufman would prep FRANK OR FRANCIS, which he also wrote. That film, set up at Sony Pictures, already has Meryl Streep interested in one of the roles (would she play the blogger, a sort of cinematic Nikki Finke?).