Charlie Kaufman is back, and he's bringing Channing Tatum and Tessa Thompson with him. The project is called Later The War, based on Iddo Gefen's short story Debby's Dream House, and yes, it sounds exactly as wonderfully strange as you'd hope.
The plot involves a man who manufactures dreams and nightmares for others, including his own wife. Which is Kaufman distilled to his purest essence: take a high-concept sci-fi premise, strip away the spectacle, and examine what it means for human relationships. This is Eternal Sunshine territory, and I'm here for it.
What's fascinating is the casting. Tatum and Thompson are both actors who've spent the last few years choosing weirder, more challenging projects. Tatum could coast on charm in rom-coms forever - instead he's doing Kaufman films. Thompson could stay in the Marvel machine - instead she's seeking out auteurs. This signals that Later The War isn't just another quirky indie; it's a real creative bet.
Deadline reports the film shoots in Cyprus in 2027, which gives Kaufman time to workshop his notoriously dense scripts. The man writes the way some people solve Rubik's cubes - obsessively, recursively, and with the confidence that there's an elegant solution buried somewhere in the chaos.
It's been too long since we've had a proper Kaufman original. I'm Thinking of Ending Things was fascinating but polarizing. Anomalisa was heartbreaking but niche. Later The War feels like it could be his return to the emotional accessibility of Eternal Sunshine - strange and sad and ultimately humane.
In Hollywood, nobody knows anything - except that Charlie Kaufman is going to make you feel things you didn't know you could feel. Buckle up.
