I have always been a bit weird when it comes to films and books. I usually have several books on the go at once, which I kind of pick up and put down with chore-like disinterest, and have to be in the right frame of mind to watch films, which usually means that most ‘film nights’ with the wife is taken up with me flicking endlessly through Netflix or hovering around my DVD collection with no real enthusiasm. But then, every now and again, I will read or watch something which unwillingly whets my appetite for a certain subject and BOOM! So, begins a kind of obsessive join the dots of book and film. In this series I will take you with me through these certain obsessions and include Amazon Links too so that should you decide to, you too can join me on the journey of film exploration.
Jim Carrey as Andy Kaufman in Man On the Moon
One of the most notable times this occurred to me was many years ago now when I first watched Milos Forman’s Andy Kaufman biopic Man On The Moon starring Jim Carrey (http://amzn.to/2ApesZT), I watched the film, was blown away by the story and then went off on this Andy Kaufman tangent.
For those of you unaware of Kaufman, you should definitely check out the film. He was a comedian, who hated the term comedian and would refer to himself as a Song and Dance man whose Foreign Man / Elvis routine won the hearts of many critics and fans. His comedy was bizarre, unfunny, cringe-worthy, and anarchic.
After a few stints on Saturday Night Live, he was soon picked up and cast as the loveable foreign man Lakta in successful US sitcom Taxi (http://amzn.to/2AgGKoD ), also starring Danny Devito and Christopher Lloyd. But it’s his career behind the scenes of Taxi that tell a story unlike that of any other entertainer – from his unaired Special to his creation of the intolerable lounge singer Tony Clifton, right through to his wrestling women, Andy Kaufman’s desire to be disliked and misunderstood was eventually his downfall.
Andy Kaufman as Lakta in TAXI
After watching the film I next read the amazing biography Lost In The FunHouse (http://amzn.to/2j76pwK) which was an absolute work of art which revealed the tragic story of the comedians short life to be even more bizarre, disturbing and heartbreaking than Man On The Moon suggested, and really left you reeling in the knowledge that if he hadn’t have made the God-forsaken Heartbeeps (http://amzn.to/2hMQe44) we may have actually seen a Tony Clifton film.
Andy Kaufman as Tony Clifton being ejected from the set of TAXI
I read the Bob Zamuda biography Andy Kaufman Revealed – Best Friend Tells All (http://amzn.to/2j6W1VC) which told the Kaufman story from yet another angle, (Zamuda was Kaufman’s creative partner in crimes upon entertainment) and once again expanded on this already mind-blowing existence and also the unique friendship and creative partnership between the two (also includes a fantastic story about Zamuda’s working as an assistant to a crazy un-named and un-hinged film director).
Then I went into buying and watching the Kaufman DVD’s – The Real Andy Kaufman (http://amzn.to/2j52d0f) which was one of Kaufman’s live shows inter-spliced with interviews by a friend of his Seth Schultz – which, apart from an interesting ‘chat’ off stage the film is a super hard watch actually to see his cringe-worthy live show slowly go from bad to worst in a shameless cabaret which includes bringing his family up onto the stage and humiliating them.
The next DVD that I purchased was the amazing I’m From Hollywood (http://amzn.to/2hMiuno), which was the story of his career as an intergender wrestler, right through to his rivalry with wrestling legend Jerry Lawler. This is a great collection of his wrestling footage, and you can really see the guy loving every minute of his being a wrestling villain.
Intergender wrestling champion – Andy Kaufman
Another book I read, but which is hardly as memorable as either Lost in The Funhouse of Zamuda’s biography, was a thin paperback called Is This Man a Genius? ( http://amzn.to/2AmKlCd ) a short story compiled from a collection of interviews with the late entertainer, whose author Julie Hecht found herself keenly interested in the style of this funnyman who refused to be called a comedian, but soon finds herself falling prey of his shenanigans and toying, teasing personality.
Finally I read the screenplay by Scott Alexander and Larry Karaszewski (http://amzn.to/2j9YWgt), which not only contained a handful of deleted and omitted scenes but also included a great introduction by the two writers who claim that they once again were tasked with writing a biopic for someone who didn’t deserve one (their previous screenplays were that of Tim Burton’s Ed Wood (http://amzn.to/2j6MUEk) and another Forman directed picture The People Versus Larry Flint ( http://amzn.to/2ha1l6o ) ). But their little introduction also went into a brief and hilarious behind the scenes commentary which in turn delved into the depths of Jim Carrey’s immersion into the role of the late entertainer, an example of method acting that Kaufman would have been proud of.
It’s been a long time since I was caught in the Kaufman headlights, but having been scrolling the internet for the links to share with you all, so that you too can follow in my footsteps, I Am beginning to think that it may be time to revisit this old obsession of mine, as there seem to be more books and DVDs on the subject already, (the following descriptions are taken from customer reviews as I haven’t seen or read any of the following as of yet) such as Andy Kaufman – The Truth, Finally (http://amzn.to/2AqhHA2) – written once again by Bob Zamuda, this time also with Kaufman’s girlfriend Lynne Marguiles lending a hand, and which also goes into some detail about the production of Man On The Moon, whilst also including an explanation of how Zamuda believes that Kaufman did fake his own death and how he believes he will return.
There’s also a DVD available called The Death Of Andy Kaufman (http://amzn.to/2h9aLz3) where filmmaker and Kaufman obsessive Christopher Malone offers his take on whether or not Kaufman actually did fake his own death or not, whilst also making a heartfelt homage to the madman himself.
Is This Guy For Real ( http://amzn.to/2ApxCim ) another retelling of Kaufman’s career by Box Brown, this time as a graphic novel. The book is another search for the real Kaufman, and which surmises that the Kaufman lunacy was all a complete fallacy and that the real Kaufman was a sensitive soul who was misunderstood and waaaayyy ahead of his time. It has received some great reviews, and I think will be the first of the new additions to the Kaufman collection that I will pick up myself.
We Need To Talk About Movies Podcast 