"Charlie Kaufman wrote it. All of his movies I Love. I have not seen a Charlie Kaufman film I didn’t love. And in the hands of the right director, you know – Spike Jonze, Michel Gondry — when you let them [work on] a Charlie Kaufman script, it’s cinematic magic. Being John Malkovich was at a certain point in time in my life and it stood out against all the other noise that was happening in my life. It left an indelible impression on me and I still can revisit that movie anytime and watch it and enjoy it."

"Spike Jonze is another genius visualist who knows how to stimulate your eyes while breaking your heart. This movie is so weird and beautiful. And what a script by Charlie Kaufman! They are both incredibly talented."

"These are my favorites. Donald and Charlie Kaufman. Both played by Nicholas Cage to perfection. I could go for days on this one. But the journey from Donald’s insufferable buffoonery to where they end up is like nothing I’ve ever seen. Funny, sad, beautiful stuff."

"I was obsessed with the video Spike Jonze made for the Björk song “It’s Oh So Quiet.” When I heard he had made a movie, I couldn’t wait to see it. I fell in love with the world he created and all the unusual rules that came with it. I was so on board and wanted to go wherever he and Charlie Kaufman wanted to take me. Watching this movie was the first time I became aware of Catherine Keener (I was slow to discover Walking and Talking). I could not take my eyes off her."

"Being John Malkovich mashes different genres and spins everything on its head. Spike Jonze tends to do that — he’s got his own unique take on the world and I love it. He’s probably the number one director that I would love to work with. Charlie Kaufman is one of my favorite writers too. John Cusack is so good in that movie — just so sad but yet so funny — and Cameron Diaz killed it in that role too. That’s my favorite of hers. The fact that Malkovich even agreed to do the movie is such a fun element within itself. It works on many levels."

"Over the last thirty years, inspired amateurs and adventurers have become scarce and a lot of cinema tends to be produced by strict industrial norms. So I’m always on the lookout for any spark of life and originality, if only to reassure myself that cinema still has somewhere to go. So of course there are some Charlie Kaufman and Coen brothers films, and Cristi Puiu’s wonderfully grim Death of Mr. Lazarescu. But the film that took me on a ride into the unknown in the most irresistible and disturbing way, and still continues to haunt me, is Mullholland Dr. A similar thing happened to me more recently with Ciro Guerra’s hypnotic Embrace of the Serpent and Nuri Bilge Ceylan’s Once Upon a Time in Anatolia, both road movies of sorts, following an obsessive course through a strange yet familiar territory."