Charlie's Angels
Catherine Keener and Michelle Williams Dazzle at a Charlie Kaufman Movie Premiere
Wednesday night's Cinema Society screening of Charlie Kaufman's Synecdoche, New York wasn't your typical popcorn-and-paparazzi fest. The celebrated screenwriter of Being John Malkovich and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind was presenting his latest brainteaser, and guests—Julian Schnabel, Spike Jonze, and Juliette Lewis among them—had to show up with their thinking caps on.
After a few tries, cast member Michelle Williams succeeded in pronouncing the title. "[Kaufman] just wants to talk about hows and whys and all the things that make people tick," she said. "He's really complex and wants to look at people in the most complex way." Keeping things simple, we asked the first-time director about fashion. Has his personal style changed, now that he's an established filmmaker? "I stopped wearing open flannel shirts with T-shirts after I saw Adaptation," Kaufman confessed, referring to the autobiographical film in which he was played by Nicolas Cage. "I thought, 'Oh God, that's what I look like?'" He was sporting a pinstripe suit, but didn't seem too invested in it. "I think it's JC Penney," he shrugged.
Following the Mulberry-hosted screening, co-stars Catherine Keener and Philip Seymour Hoffman joined other guests at the Gramercy Park Hotel rooftop. Inevitably, cocktail chatter turned to that night's presidential debate. Erika Christensen, possibly the only undecided voter there, didn't seem too worried. "My plan is to do a cram session. Go online, go to both of their sites, and go over the issues that I care about most," she explained. So, kind of like treating the election like a midterm exam? "Yeah! Order in Chinese food and get ready to go to the polls."
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