Sad news for Charlie Kaufman fans excited for his upcoming movie Frank or Francis: according to Elizabeth Banks, who was supposed to be in it, the whole thing “fell apart at the last minute.” It was supposed to star Steve Carell, Jack Black, Kevin Kline, Kate Winslet, Catherine Keener, and Nicolas Cage in addition to Banks, and the plot was said to center on a bitter online film critic to be played by Black. All is not lost, however, as it may just have been pushed back for scheduling reasons. And if you were a bigger fan of Kaufman’s collaborations with Spike Jonze than his own directorial work, you’ve still got the Kaufman-penned, Jonze-directed movie about “how world leaders gather to figure out all the seismic events that will take place in the world, from oil prices to wars that will be waged” that may be starring Joaquin Phoenix to look forward to. If that movie is still a thing, that is. Which it may not be. Hollywood! Much like the realities in Kaufman’s movies, it is full of mysteries and exists on a plane where nothing can ever be fully trusted.
