2008 Fall/Holiday Preview: #11. Synecdoche, New York

#11. Synecdoche, New York

Director/Writer: Charlie Kaufman
Producers: Anthony Bregman (Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind), Spike Jonze (Human Nature), Sidney Kimmel (Lars and the Real Girl) and Kaufman
Distributor: Sony Pictures Classics

The Gist: The film centers on an anguished playwright and several women in his life. Synecdoche is “a figure of speech in which the word for part of something is used to mean the whole”. Hoffman will play a theater director who ambitiously attempts to put on a play by creating a life-size replica of New York inside a warehouse.

Fact: The film was originally set to be directed by Spike Jonze who instead chose to direct Where the Wild Things Are…which unfortunately has been bothered by reshoots.  

See It: Honestly, after seeing it a first time at Cannes, it is the film I’m most looking forward to seeing again — its complex, demanding and far from average, and basically your usual Kaufman territory.     

Release Date/Status?: After a North American premiere, SPC releases this October 24th.