10 Lessons “Being John Malkovich” Can Teach You About Scriptwriting

By George Cromack

Released in 1999, Being John Malkovich was the debut feature film for both its director Spike Jones and scriptwriter Charlie Kaufman. Craig Swartz (John Cusack) is an out of work puppeteer who takes a job at an office, eventually discovering a portal which leads into the mind of actor John Malkovich (the actor performing as a parody of himself).

Here one can remain for fifteen minutes until ejected as if falling from the sky at the roadside just outside the city. Strange as the premise may have sounded the film went on to be a success at the box office, receiving an Academy Award nomination for Best Screenplay. Unusual, memorable, original and cult are all words which could be used to describe the finished film.

The success of Being John Malkovich indicates that there is an audience and recognition out there for a writer who has an unusual idea for a screen play, here is a list of 10 lessons just such a writer, indeed any writer, may take from the film:

1. Magical Realism

Put simply magical realism is the term given to the portrayal of what one would term as magical incidents or the use of magic as an everyday occurrence in an otherwise everyday environment. Being John Malkovich uses this concept to allow the film’s plot and potential themes to go far further than the viewer may initially expect.

Craig discovers the portal to Malkovich’s mind and soon enough it becomes a curious but accepted money making venture. The portal is considered unusual but the characters in the film, an otherwise normal contemporary word, accept it and, like the story, move onward.

This is only just the start of the film, there are far more twists and turns to come, as Roger Ebert observed, ‘the continue…

From:: Taste Of Cinema