“Being Jonh Malkovich” is one of the most surrealist and unpredictable comedies of all time, starred by John Cusack and Cameron Diaz
So let’s dive into some trivia and facts about this amazing film.
1. Being John Malkovich is a 1999 American fantasy comedy-drama film.
2. The film was directed by Spike Jonze.
3. It was written by Charlie Kaufman.
3. Both of them, made their feature film debut.
4. The film stars John Cusack, Cameron Diaz, and Catherine Keener, with John Malkovich and Charlie Sheen as themselves.
5. The film follows a puppeteer who finds a portal that leads into Malkovich’s mind.
6. Craig Schwartz (played by John Cusack) is an unemployed puppeteer in a forlorn marriage with his pet-obsessed wife Lotte (played by Cameron Diaz).
7. He was hired as a file clerk for LesterCorp, on the strange Floor 7 1⁄2 low-ceiling offices of the Mertin-Flemmer Building in New York City.
8. In this peculiar job environment, Craig develops an attraction to his coworker, Maxine Lund, who does not return his affections.
9. Craig discovers and enters a small door hidden behind a filing cabinet, and crawls down a tunnel.
10. Then, all of a sudden he is quickly drawn into the opposite end of the tunnel and finds himself in the mind of actor John Malkovich.
11. The film was released by USA Films.
12. It was nominated in three categories at the 72nd Academy Awards.
13. Τhose three categories were: Best Director for Jonze, Best Original Screenplay for Kaufman, and Best Supporting Actress for Keener.
14. 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.”
15. Gradually Kaufman added further elements to the story which he found entertaining, such as floor 71⁄2 of the Mertin Flemmer building.
16. Among his first ideas, Malkovich was “nowhere to be seen”.
17. Charlie Kaufman wrote the script on spec (speculative screenplay) in 1994.
18. The script was widely read by production company and film studio executives.
19. Unfortunately, all of them turned it down.
20. Hoping to find a producer, Kaufman sent the script to Francis Ford Coppola, who passed it on to his then-son-in-law Spike Jonze.
21. Spike Jonze first read the script in 1996.
22. He agreed to direct the film by 1997.
23. Jonze brought the script to Propaganda Films.
24. Propaganda Films agreed to produce the film in partnership with production company Single Cell Pictures.
25. Single Cell producers, Michael Stipe and Sandy Stern, pitched the film to numerous studios, including New Line Cinema.
26 New Line Cinema dropped the project after chairman Robert Shaye asked: “Why the fuck can’t it be Being Tom Cruise?”
27. Jonze explained in the same interview that he didn’t realize how brave Malkovich’s performance in the film was.
28. With a budget of $10 millions, principal photography of Being John Malkovich began on July 20, 1998, and continued through August.
29. Filming took place primarily in Los Angeles.
30. Specific locations included the University of Southern California campus and the Observation Bar on board the RMS Queen Mary.
31. The puppets in the film were created by Kamela Portuges and Images in Motion.
32. Phillip Huber animated the puppets.
33. As far as casting is concerned, Diaz’s make-up artist, Gucci Westman, described styling Diaz in the role as “a challenge, to make her look homely.”
34. The script included minimal physical descriptions of characters.
35. Thus, when Cameron Diaz took up the role, she did not know that “people weren’t going to recognize me.”
36. Cusack read the film’s script after he had asked his agent to present him with the “craziest, most unproduceable script you can find.”
37. Impressed with the script, he asked his agent to follow its progress and book him an audition, with which he won the role.
38. Keener cited Being John Malkovich as an instance of her taking up a role based on the director’s previous work.
39. She had heard about Jonze’s experience with music videos.
40 She took up the part of Maxine, although she initially disliked the character and did not feel that she was right for the part.
41. Keener was also subsequently nominated for an Oscar.
42. Kaufman said that there was never another actor in Malkovich’s place in the script.
43. As he said: “The screenplay was always “Being John Malkovich”, even before I had any expectation that John Malkovich would even read the script.”
44. Kaufman chose Malkovich, because he believed there to be “an enigmatic quality about him that works”.
45. Despite all that, Malkovich was partly chosen because of the sound of his name in repetition.
46. Kaufman explained that “When we were thinking of alternatives, we found that a lot of them weren’t fun to say.”
47. Jonze’s then-father-in-law Francis Ford Coppola was able to contact Malkovich.
48. Jonze flew with producer Sandy Stern to Malkovich’s home in France.
49. 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.
50. Spike Jonze makes a cameo appearance as Derek Mantini’s assistant.
51. Mantini is billed in the story as the greatest puppeteer in the history of the world and arouses Schwartz’s envy.
52. Brad Pitt also has a half-second-long 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.
53. Sean Penn appears as himself, a fan of Malkovich’s puppeteer work.
54. Film director David Fincher makes an uncredited appearance as Christopher Bing in the American Arts & Culture pseudo-documentary on John Malkovich.
55. Winona Ryder, Andy Dick, and the members of Hanson can be seen in the audience of a Malkovich puppet show.
56. Being John Malkovich was given limited release in the United States theatres on October 22, 1999.
57. It also opened across 25 screens.
58. On its opening weekend, the film grossed US$637,731 across 25 screens with a per-screen average of $25,495.
59. It expanded to another 150 screens the following week, bringing in $1.9 million with a per-screen average of $10,857.
60. 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.
61. The film moved into a wide release the next week, expanding to 591 screens, and grossed $1.9 million with a 20% drop in ticket sales.
62. Its fifth week brought in $2.2 million with a 17% increase in ticket sales, which dropped a further 33% the following week despite further expansion to 624 screens.
63. It finished its theatrical run after 26 weeks with a total gross of $22,863,596.
64. The film opened in the United Kingdom in March 2000, earning £296,282 in its debut week and closing after fifteen weeks with a total gross of £1,098,927.
65. In France, the film opened in December 1999 with a gross of US$546,000 from 94 venues.
66. It went on to further success due to positive reviews and word of mouth.
67. 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.
68. Its German release brought in a total of $243,071.
69. 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.
70. The movie was initially released in 2000 on VHS.
71. It was released both as a regular edition and a limited edition collector’s set,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
72. A special edition DVD, released later the same year, included the aforementioned features, an interview with Jonze and two behind-the-scenes featurettes
73. It was released on HD DVD in 2008.
74. The Criterion Collection released a special edition of the film on Blu-ray and DVD in 2012.
75. All tracks of the movie are written by Carter Burwell, except where noted.
76. On Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 93% based on 131 reviews, with an average rating of 8.12/10.
77. The site’s critical consensus reads: “Being John Malkovich is both funny and smart, featuring a highly original script.”
78. On Metacritic, the film has a score of 90 out of 100, based on 36 reviews, indicating “universal acclaim.”
80. The film ranked 441st on Empire magazine’s 2008 list of the 500 greatest films of all time.
81. In his review, Roger Ebert awarded the film a full four stars.
82. He would later name it the best film of 1999.
84. Another top critic, Peter Rainer, writing for New York, commented that “dazzlingly singular movies aren’t often this much fun” .
85. In his review, and Owen Gleiberman, writing for Entertainment Weekly, called it “the most excitingly original movie of the year.”
86. Malkovich’s performance in Being John Malkovich is ranked number 90 on Premiere’s “100 Greatest Movie Characters of All Time”.
Late Night with the Devil is a 2023 supernatural horror film written, directed, and edited… Read More
Queen of Tears is a popular, successful K-Drama, that became the second highest series in… Read More
"Evil Does Not Exist" is the new film from the Oscar nominated screenwriter and director… Read More
Mufasa: The Lion King is an upcoming American musical drama film directed by Barry Jenkins,… Read More
The Garfield Movie is an upcoming American animated comedy adventure film based on Jim Davis'… Read More
