Mike Fleming

EXCLUSIVE: Screenwriter Charlie Kaufman is putting that cosmic mind of his toward his first book. Kaufman, whose scripts include Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Adaptation, Confessions of a Dangerous Mind, Human Nature and Being John Malkovich, has just closed a deal for his first novel for Grand Central Publishing, I’m told. The subject of the novel is being kept under wraps, which is probably just as well since it is pretty close to impossible to log line any of his original script creations anyway, even if you try after seeing his wonderfully imaginative movies. Kaufman takes this on even as he continues to develop to direct his script Frank or Francis, a Hollywood satire set to music where a film director feuds with a blogger and…oh, never mind, what the hell does that mean anyway? Nic Cage, Steve Carell, Elizabeth Banks, Catherine Keener, Jack Black, Kevin Kline and Paul Reubens are all circling that one. Kaufman is repped by WME.