Charlie Kaufman makes directorial debut

NEW YORK, July 25 (UPI) -- Sony Pictures Classics says it has purchased the U.S. rights to Charlie Kaufman's directorial debut, "Synecdoche, New York," from Sidney Kimmel Entertainment.

In the movie, which screened in official competition at the Cannes International Film Festival, Philip Seymour Hoffman plays Caden Cotard, a theater director who views his life in Schenectady, N.Y. as bleak since his wife Adele, played by Catherine Keener, has left him to pursue her painting in Berlin, taking their young daughter Olive with her.

"A new relationship with the alluringly candid Hazel, (played by Samantha Morton) has prematurely run aground and a mysterious condition is systematically shutting down each of his body's autonomic functions," SPC said in a release.

Kaufman wrote and directed the film, which co-stars Dianne Wiest, Michelle Williams, Emily Watson, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Hope Davis and Tom Noonan.

Kaufman's previous writing credits include "Being John Malkovich," "Adaptation" and "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind."

"Sony Classics is the ideal home for a film with 'Synecdoche, New York's' complexity and ambition," producer Anthony Bregman said in a statement. "Charlie Kaufman made a film more singular and captivating than anything in recent memory -- but a unique film requires a unique release. SPC's gift is that they embrace the challenge of distribution with creativity, invention and relentless energy."