Writer-director Charlie Kaufman hasn’t made a film in five years, but that could finally change with Later The War.
Charlie Kaufman is undoubtedly a brilliant talent, but over the last few years there’s been a nagging feeling that the current set-up in American filmmaking isn’t ideal for one of cinema’s most unique storytellers.
The mind behind Being John Malkovich, Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind and Adaptation (he wrote all three) and director of Synecdoche, New York and Anomalisa hasn’t directed a film in five years now. I’m Thinking Of Ending Things came out in 2020, and only happened because Netflix was willing to finance it. In the years since, Kaufman has found it increasingly difficult to persuade backers to invest in his style of existentialist, often surreal cinema.
It’s a topic he railed against in 2023, when he argued that the kind of thought-provoking art that he’s spent decades producing is slowly being eradicated from the filmmaking business. Speaking at a writing masterclass at the Sarajevo Film Festival, Kaufman didn’t mince his words when discussing the state of cinema, arguing that, “At this point, the only thing that makes money is garbage. It’s just fascinating. It makes a fortune, and that’s the bottom line. It’s very seductive to the studios but also to the people who engage and become the makers of that garbage, especially if they’re lauded for the garbage because they don’t have to look inward or think long about what they’re doing.”
He hasn’t directed a film since, although he has turned his considerable talents to writing, penning scripts for other filmmakers. Orion And The Dark was a DreamWorks Animation film which released last year.
Read more: Charlie Kaufman, Mark Kermode, and when filmmakers and critics clash
Kaufman also made a short film in 2024, shot on a smartphone and made in collaboration with the poet Eva HD, which sounds typically Kaufman. (You can watch it on YouTube.)
There’s better news, however, if a report at World Of Reel is accurate. The outlet claims links to a posting which suggests crew are being signed up for a new Kaufman film titled Later The War. The report adds that the project might have gotten a grant from the Polish Institute of Film, adding that there’s speculation that it was secretly shopped around this month at Berlin’s European Film Market.
Kaufman did talk about a potential project with Ryan Gosling a couple of years ago, but whether Later The War is it, we don’t yet know. The filmmaker said of his schedule at the time to IndieWire: “I don’t have anything. I wrote a screenplay that Ryan Gosling might do, might act in, and we’re going to go out with it at some point, I guess, and see if we can get it set up. And I’m working on a second novel, and I’m fretting. And that’s my schedule.”
Gosling though, is rumoured to be busy in the world of Star Wars and for better of for worse, it looks as though the actor seems to have cast off his more artistic roots in favour of more commercial projects these days. As for whatever Later The War might be, we’ll let you know when we hear more.
