Charlie Kaufman Meets Some Pretty People

I can't say that I ever thought I'd be announcing this cast for a Charlie Kaufman movie, but Deadline's reporting that Channing Tatum and Tessa Thompson, two of our most gorgeous movie stars, have just signed on to star in Later the War, an adaptation of the short story "Debby’s Dream House’ by the author Iddo Gefen. Not to slight any of the extremely talented actors who've led Charlie's movies but I don't think of "gorgeous movie stars" first when I think of "Charlie Kaufman leads"... I suppose there's always Cameron Diaz in that Malkovich fright wig. But here's how they describe the story:

"The original story follows a man who manufactures dreams and nightmares for others, including for his own wife. In Kaufman’s version, Tatum plays Peekman, a wildly popular actor-director, famous for blockbuster physical comedies in which he stars with his wife Kiki (Thompson). "

So the casting makes sense with Tessa since she's playing a movie star -- and I'd say the casting of Channing makes sense when you consider that 1) this has to be a person that the otherworldly gorgeous Tessa Thompson would marry (and I don't know that you can cast a Phillip Seymour Hoffman type for that anymore -- the age of Woody Allen types romancing Mariel Heimingway is thankfully behind us) and then 2) Charlie Kaufman is probably tired of having a hard time making movies. So sure, let's hire some gorgeous movie stars, and make it a little easier. I am fine with that. Because this isn't to say Chan & Tess aren't extremely talented people! Their gorgeousness is a bonus -- heck I would've nominated Thompson for an Oscar for Hedda last year, and hell I might have voted for her to win too. And Chan's always been extremely under-appreciated as a performer. Anyway this extremely non-Kaufman-esque band of actors aside -- NEW CHARLIE KAUFMAN MOVIE ALERT!!!! Fuck yeah!!