Jonze's first feature film received rapturous responses for its quirky imagination - partly thanks to an amazing script by Charlie Kaufman.

Given his usual quiet, nervous style, it's a wonder the director ever got Malkovich to agree to the film, especially after his first impression…

“He mentioned some projects he’d worked on, and they were interesting,” Malkovich told  the New York Times, “but none of them showed that he was necessarily well-suited to make this film.

 “I thought he was Czech. He had such a funny way of expressing himself. It sounded like he’d learned English as a second language.”

Still, the actor found, “funny and charming and strange, and he seemed to desperately want to do this film.”