Robert Zemeckis Approved That Joke in I’m Thinking of Ending Things

Charlie Kaufman's newest film, I’m Thinking of Ending Things, hit Netflix yesterday and has been [...]

By Jamie Jirak

Charlie Kaufman's newest film, I'm Thinking of Ending Things, hit Netflix yesterday and has been incredibly well-received by critics. The movie currently has an 82% critics score and has been a hot topic among film fans on social media. While the movie is mostly dramatic and unsettling, there are a couple of laugh-out-loud moments; the best of which takes a jab at Robert Zemeckis. Zemeckis is best known for directing films such as Back to the Future and Forrest Gump, and was credited in I'm Thinking of Ending Things for helming a very cheesy romantic movie that's seen during the film. A recent tweet from @NetflixFilm explains that Kaufman got Zemeckis' permission to keep the moment in the movie.

"True story behind the Robert Zemeckis credit in I'm Thinking of Ending Things: Kaufman never wrote a name in the script so the assistant editor used the end credit from CONTACT as a placeholder. When Kaufman saw it he burst out laughing and asked Zemeckis' permission to keep it."

I'm Thinking of Ending Things stars Jessie Buckley (Chernobyl, Wild Rose), Jesse Plemons (Breaking Bad, Black Mirror), Toni Collette (Hereditary, Knives Out), and David Thewlis (Harry Potter, Wonder Woman). You can read IndieWire's official film description below:

"In this surreal and melancholy study of loneliness that's one of the fall's must-see films, Buckley plays an unnamed woman who accompanies her boyfriend Jake (Plemons) on a road trip in a snowstorm to meet his parents (Collette and Thewlis) for dinner at their farmhouse. Six weeks into their courtship and Buckley's character already has plans to break the relationship off but can't bring herself to do so. Once they arrive at Jake's parent's house, events spiral into decidedly Kaufman territory as the woman begins to question her surroundings, her sanity, and the fabric of the world around her."

In a recent interview with Entertainment Weekly, Kaufman spoke about the film, saying he doesn't "set out to do a mindf*ck."

"I'm not setting out to do something that 'tops' some sort of brainteaser I might have done before. But there's no question that I'm trying to build on the stuff that I've already done," Karman explained. "Loneliness and hopelessness and regret — these are things that are part of the fabric of this film."

I'm Thinking of Ending Things is now streaming on Netflix.

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