Great Scene: “Being John Malkovich”

Craig is introduced to the 7 1/2 floor of his future place of employment.

Movie: Being John Malkovich (1999), written by Charlie Kaufman.

Plot summary: A puppeteer discovers a portal that leads literally into the head of movie star John Malkovich.

Scene setup: Going to a job interview, Craig finds himself in a situation which gets progressively weirder.

Here is the movie version of the scene:

Charlie Kaufman cut his screenwriting teeth working on sitcoms like Get a Life and The Dana Carvey Show. Those comedic instincts are in evidence in this scene as the humor gets more and more absurd as the scene plays out.

And yes, that’s Octavia Spencer in the elevator with Craig.

Being John Malkovich, Adaptation, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Anomolisa, I’m Thinking of Ending Things … Kaufman has quite an imagination as displayed with his movies.

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