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Anomalisa Scribe Charlie Kaufman Open To Penning Superhero Script

Anomalisa scribe Charlie Kaufman has admitted he's open to the idea of penning a superhero script should the opportunity come calling.

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Charlie Kaufman, the prestigious writer-director behind such atypical greats as Being John Malkovich and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, has admitted that he’s open to the possibility of one day penning the script for a superhero movie.

Word comes by way of The Wrap, who quizzed the scribe soon after Anomalisa marched into theaters to stellar reviews and, sadly, lowly box office returns.

That places Kaufman on something of a creative crossroads, and it’s no secret that the award-winning screenwriter has struggled to secure financing for his latest script, Frank or Francis.  When asked if he would helm a superhero tentpole movie to ensure Frank or Francis would see the light of day, Kaufman entertained the notion of creating something “a little more mainstream.”

So if Disney comes calling and says, “We’ll make ‘Frank or Francis,’ but we want you to do three drafts of ‘Avengers 8,’” could you make that trade?

Of course. But — no one wants me to do that. I have to prove myself in that world, I think. Why would they want me? It isn’t like I’m turning down those things left and right; I’m actually embarking on something a little more mainstream now for a studio, and if that does well, if that would affect me as a writer…it could happen. That would be nice. I’ve never even seen any “Avengers” movie, so I don’t know what they’d be. Because when I think of “The Avengers,” I think of, um…

It certainly presents food for thought. Marvel, Fox and Warner Bros. likely have their talent locked down long in advance, even if much of those details remain behind-closed-doors, but if the opportunity came calling, Charlie Kaufman would surely bring something a little different to a genre that has become so entrenched in recent years.

Anomalisa, meanwhile, made its bow in select theaters late last year.