More of this Feature • Part 1: Rosie Perez • Part 2: Patricia Arquette • Part 3: Tim Robbins and Rhys Ifans

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Charlie Kaufman
Kaufman is a funny looking little man with puffy hair (ha) and hairy chest, hairy arms visible from his short sleeved button down shirt. Maybe there is the fixation. He didn't want to be at our little roundtable, we didn't have questions, but the college boy and I come up with them. His first comment was a good one; he had hoped he wouldn't win the Oscar for "Being John Malkovich" because he didn't want to go up there to make a speech. "Too terrifying," he said. I didn't know if he did win or not, didn't ask.

Most interesting fact: Mr. Kaufman has stopped going to movies. He doesn't feel any passion for them anymore. He doesn't like sitting in the theater, even though he still writes, still wants to make his own movies.

All of his projects are high profile, big deal pictures, starting with "Being John Malkovich" to his upcoming picture, "Adaptations," which stars Meryl Streep and Nicholas Cage, and then the one after, which is a big starring vehicle for Jim Carrey. I asked Kaufman if he was surprised his films attracted such high profile stars, and did he write for specific actors in mind. He didn't much like that question. He doesn't write for actors, and he's glad stars want to be in his pictures.

Michel Gondry
Everybody loves him and wants to be in his movies. Because of these famous music videos and commercials I have never seen. I guess he is a technical genius. His next film will be from Kaufman's script, the Jim Carrey movie. He looks like a fussy little man, he's wearing a blue v-neck sweater, blue button shirt, maroon corduroys, small blue eyes. The gossip columnist has no questions for him at all, though she did tell him she loved the film. (She told all of them she loved the film.) Gondry's cell phone rings once.

The college boy comes up with all the right questions: influence, favorite directors, upcoming projects, etc. eliciting answers that I find myself not listening to. Here are my two questions:

Do you have any interest in directing a film in French?
Yes, yes he does, he wrote a script and Rhys is going to star in it, but it's about an Englishman and it's going to be in English. Gondry's accent is thick and this seems strange to me. Why not make French movies, they are so good? It must be Hollywood, the lure of the industry, those Spago parties. I don't ask this.

I ask him what instrument he used to play.
He was a drummer. This sort of surprises me because all of the drummers I have ever know fidget like crazy, shake their legs, drum with their fingers, and Gondry was entirely controlled.

One thing I know: everybody loves him, wants to make movies with him.

In the hall, I wait for the elevator. There are a couple of publicists leaning against walls, an agent lying on the floor, Rosie Perez standing at the end of the corridor with her hands on her hips, and Michel Gondry, talking to the agent about some script, some project. "I'll talk to you more about it at Cannes," he says.

My elevator comes. I am glad.

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