‘I’m Thinking of Ending Things’: First look at Charlie Kaufman’s Netflix film

Charlie Kaufman is giving fans a peek at his first live action movie in over a decade. The Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind writer is heading to Netflix for his upcoming project, I’m Thinking of Ending Things, and he shared some exclusive first look photos with Entertainment Weekly.

Ending Things, which is based on a 2016 novel by Ian Reid, turns an ordinary roadtrip into something much stranger. The film stars Jesse Plemons as Jake, who takes his girlfriend (Jessie Buckley) to visit his childhood home and see his parents (Toni Collette and David Thewlis). “Loneliness and hopelessness and regret — these are things that are part of the fabric of this film,” Kaufman told EW.

While Jake doesn’t know it, his girlfriend wants to end their relationship, but once the two arrive at his parents’ home, she begins to question everything about herself, Jake and their situation. “The house represents the imagined interaction between someone you bring home to your parents — that panic that is twoheaded at that point,” Kaufman explained. “You’re worried about what they’re going to think about your parents, and you’re always worried about what your parents are going to think of them.”

The filmmaker shared why he chose Buckley for the role of Jake’s girlfriend, even though he had never heard of her before. The actress, who’s also appeared in Judy and Wild Rose, recited a poem from the film during her audition for Ending Things. “It was one of those things where you see somebody who’s not yet known, and you go, ‘Oh my God, I have to get this person,'” Kaufman said. “She’s present with whatever is happening. Whatever she does, it’s real. It happens in reaction to the thing that she’s given.”

Kaufman, who directed 2008’s Synecdoche, New York, is known for his mind-bending films. Yet he insists, “I don’t set out to do a mindfuck.” “I’m not setting out to do something that ‘tops’ some sort of brainteaser I might have done before,” he said. “But there’s no question that I’m trying to build on the stuff that I’ve already done.”

I’m Thinking of Ending Things premieres on Netflix Sept. 4. Head to Entertainment Weekly to check out the first look images.