John Malkovich Initially Thought ‘Being John Malkovich’ Should’ve Been ‘Being Tom Cruise’
It’s hard to imagine an American movie as weird as “Being John Malkovich” ever being made again. Looking back on director Spike Jonze’s quirky tale about the consequences of the discovery of a portal inside the title actor’s head, it’s just as outlandish now as it was in 1999. But back during the movie’s making — which dates to the early 1990s when Charlie Kaufman’s wild script first started to float around Hollywood — its legacy wasn’t so certain, including for its star, John Malkovich, who revealed in a recent interview with The Independent that he was baffled at first by the dark comedy. “Why not ‘Being Tom Cruise’ I asked?” Malkovich said. “Charlie told me quite clearly that he had no desire to change it and that [Spike Jonze] was going to direct, so I said OK. To be honest, I never actually thought that it would get made.” The movie indeed might never have been made had Kaufman not sent the screenplay to Francis Ford Coppola, who passed it on to Spike Jonze, who was married ...