Charlie Kaufman

Without a doubt one of Hollywood's most iconoclastic and imaginative screenwriters, Charlie Kaufman tapped into his surreal imagination that was one part Franz Kafka, another part Philip K. Dick, and produced some of the most inventive films of the early 21st century. Starting off as a writer on television shows like "Get a Life!" (Fox, 1990-92) and "The Edge" (Fox, 1992-93), Kaufman realized his dream of writing features with "Being John Malkovich" (1999), an absurd and hilarious dramedy that announced his arrival as a formidable artiste who managed to attract mainstream attention. Immediately tagged as one who shied away from the media spotlight, Kaufman was rather reticent about personal details and instead allowed his work to speak for itself. After receiving an enormous amount of praise and a substantial cult following with "Malkovich," he followed up with the mildly received screwball comedy "Human Nature" (2001). Kaufman let his imagination loose with "Adaptation" (2002), an attempt to adapt Susan Orlean's best-selling novel The Orchid Thief, where the scribe wound up writing himself and fictional twin brother, Donald Kaufman, into the script to hilarious and awards-worthy results. But it was "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind" (2004) that earned Kaufman his widest praise, thanks to an imaginative storyline that was pinned down by honest emotion. By the time he made his directorial debut with the maudlin "Synecdoche, New York" (2008) and its even more ambitious stop-motion animated follow-up "Anomalisa" (2015), Kaufman had cemented his reputation as filmmaker capable of turning wildly complex ideas into believable and entertaining movies.