Culture: Don't mess with Charlie Kaufman

As anyone who's seen his films will know, Charlie Kaufman is a strange fish. As the author of Being John Malkovich, Adaptation and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, he's probably the most famous screenwriter in America – and now he has turned his hand to directing. His debut, Synecdoche, New York, was released here on Friday.

I interviewed him on stage at the London Film Festival last year and it was one of the toughest interviews I've ever done. He is nervous and awkward, but don't let that fool you into thinking he's vulnerable. As Freud said, shyness is a form of aggression, and Charlie Kaufman uses his social ineptitude like a very precise form of karate.

He answered several of my questions with a simple "no" and, if I pressed him, he would then dispute the premise. Often, he seemed to want to argue with me, rather than engage in a friendly discussion, and scrutinised every question with a laser-like concentration, trying to discover a pretext for picking a fight. If he succeeded – and he often did – I would inevitably be pummelled into the ground. It was the intellectual equivalent of catching the eye of some hoodie on a Saturday night: "What you staring at?"

In fairness to Kaufman, he has clearly had some bad experiences with journalists. "I did an interview for Time magazine several years ago, and there's a thing that journalists do where they befriend you and they make you think that they like you, then you trust them, then they kill you," he said.

It was obvious that I was on a hiding to nothing and, as soon as I could, I invited members of the audience to ask questions. His response to them was so different it was as if someone had thrown a switch. He was all sweetness and light. If I then tried to follow up, Mr Happy would vanish and it would be back to Mr Grumpy. The difference in his responses was so profound, it was almost comic.

Ironically, a recording of the interview became an "extra" on the American DVD of Synecdoche, New York, so Kaufman must have enjoyed it. In truth, I did, too. It was an honour to be beaten up by such a genius.

Synechdoche, New York (15) is out now on general release