Charlie Kaufman's "Synecdoche, New York"

syn-ec-do-che [si-nek-duh-kee] Rhetoric. a figure of speech in which a part is used for the whole or the whole for a part, the special for the general or the general for the special, as in ten sail for ten ships or a Croesus for a rich man.

Ever the metaphysical dadaist, Charlie Kaufman ("Human Nature," "Being John Malkovich," "Adaptation," "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind") will direct his next script, "Synecdoche, New York," as Spike Jonze is busy with the in-production "Where The Wild Things Are." "Synecdoche, New York" follows a theater director (Philip Seymour Hoffman) as he mounts an ambitious play with the construction of an actual-size replica of New York City inside a warehouse. While in production, he must contend with his first wife (Catherine Keener), his second wife (Michelle Williams), his sometime lover (Samantha Morton), his daughter's dubious mentor (Tilda Swinton) and his belief that he is, in fact, dying. Over at The Los Angeles Times, Jay A. Fernandez read Kaufman's screenplay and wrote a review, in a special Scriptland feature, of the "sublime" and "scary" "Synecdoche, New York." Fernandez's words:

"I've read it. No, lived it. I've been moved and astounded by it. And I'm tortured by the dilemma of what I should or should not say about it here. I feel a bit like Frodo palming the One Ring. ... 'Synecdoche' will make 'Adaptation' and 'Eternal Sunshine' look like instructional industrial films."

Expect Kaufman to begin production on "Synecdoche, New York" sometime in the spring. Visit The Los Angeles Times to read more of Fernandez's article.