Being John Malkovich

1999 film by Spike Jonze

OverviewAI-generated

*Being John Malkovich* is a 1999 American comedy drama and fantasy film directed by Spike Jonze and written by Charlie Kaufman. The cast includes John Cusack, Cameron Diaz, Catherine Keener, and Orson Bean. Produced by Steve Golin, Vincent Landay, and Michael Stipe, the film was distributed by Universal Pictures. It features music by Carter Burwell and cinematography by Lance Acord.

The narrative is set in New Jersey and New York City, with filming taking place in Long Beach, New Jersey. The film’s main subjects include body swap and identity. It has a runtime of 113 minutes and carries an R rating. The production budget was $13,000,000, and it generated $22,863,596 in revenue.

The film received a Metascore of 90 and a Rotten Tomatoes rating of 94%. It was nominated for three Academy Awards, including Best Director and Best Original Screenplay, and won the BAFTA Award for Best Original Screenplay. It also received the National Board of Review: Top Ten Films award.

Synthesized by Vinony from 47 facts across 5 sources: Wikidata, TMDb, OMDb, IMDb, Vinony graph. Generated from structured data (not the Wikipedia text) and checked against those facts — may still contain errors.

Film · TMDB

7.4

One day at work, unsuccessful puppeteer Craig finds a portal into the head of actor John Malkovich. The portal soon becomes a passion for anybody who enters its mad and controlling world of overtaking another human body.

Released: 1999-10-29113 minDir: Spike JonzeComedy, Drama, FantasyBudget: $13.0MBox office: $22.9M

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Cast

John Cusack as Craig Schwartz
Cameron Diaz as Lotte Schwartz
John Malkovich as John Horatio Malkovich
Catherine Keener as Maxine Lund
Orson Bean as Dr. Lester
Mary Kay Place as Floris

Themes

witch
sexual identity
individual
secret love
transvestism
identity
subconsciousness
new identity
pet
chimpanzee

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Ratings

IMDb

7.7/10

367,080 votes

Rotten Tomatoes

94%

Metacritic

90/100

Year: 1999
Runtime: 113 min
Genres: Comedy, Drama, Fantasy
Rated: R
Awards: Nominated for 3 Oscars. 49 wins & 79 nominations total

via OMDb · IMDb

Key facts

Directed by: Spike Jonze
Written by: Charlie Kaufman
Produced by: Michael Stipe Sandy Stern Steve Golin Vincent Landay
Starring: John Cusack Cameron Diaz Catherine Keener Orson Bean Mary Kay Place John Malkovich
Cinematography: Lance Acord
Edited by: Eric Zumbrunnen
Music by: Carter Burwell
Production companies: Gramercy Pictures , Propaganda Films , Single Cell Pictures
Distributed by: USA Films (United States), Universal Pictures International (International)
Release dates: September 2, 1999 ( 1999-09-02 ) ( Venice ) October 29, 1999 ( 1999-10-29 ) (United States)
Running time: 113 minutes
Country: United States
Language: English
Budget: $13 million
Box office: $23.1 million

via Wikipedia infobox

Wikidata facts

Instance of: film
Award: BAFTA Award for Best Original Screenplay
Genre: surrealist film
Country of origin: United States
Original language: English language
Main subject: identity
Director: Spike Jonze
Screenwriter: Charlie Kaufman
Composer: Carter Burwell
Producer: Vincent Landay
Production company: Gramercy Pictures
Cinematographer: Lance Acord
Narrative location: New York City
Filming location: New Jersey
Duration: 108
FilmAffinity ID: 333264
Distribution format: video on demand
Image: JohnMalkovich2005Locarno.jpg

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publication date: 1999-11-05
film editor: Eric Zumbrunnen
title: Being John Malkovich
nominated for: National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Film
executive producer: Charlie Kaufman
distributed by: Fandango at Home
set in period: 1990s
narrative motif: marionette
box office: 23106667
review score: 7.7/10
capital cost: 13000000

Sources (15)

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~15 min read

Encyclopedic overview

Being John Malkovich is a 1999 American surrealist fantasy comedy drama film directed by Spike Jonze and written by Charlie Kaufman, both making their feature film debut. The film stars John Cusack, Cameron Diaz, and Catherine Keener, with John Malkovich as a fictionalized version of himself. Cusack plays a puppeteer who finds a portal that leads into Malkovich's mind.

Released by USA Films, the film received widespread acclaim, with praise for its writing and direction, and grossed $23 million against a $13 million budget. The film was nominated in three categories at the 72nd Academy Awards: Best Director, Best Original Screenplay, and Best Supporting Actress for Keener. The film ranked 441st on Empire magazine's 2008 list of the 500 greatest films of all time, while Malkovich's performance is ranked number 90 on Premiere's "100 Greatest Movie Characters of All Time".

Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Being John Malkovich” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.

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Being John Malkovich