I love the one-on-one interview, the tte--tte over coffee or lunch where you can really get inside somebody's head. Perhaps that was too much to ask from the makers of Being John Malkovich, after the film has already taken you quite literally into the head of Mr. Malkovich himself. Instead, I had to content myself with a frenzied conversation with all the luminaries involved with the film on the top floor of a New York high-rise hotel. Sometimes it was hard to tell them all apart; everyone who worked on the movie seemed to wear many proverbial hats. Plainspoken wunderkind director Spike Jonze is basking in the glow of his meaty supporting role acting in Three Kings. The producer Michael Stipe is also the frontman for R.E.M.--and, incidentally, likes to wear sparkly eyeshadow. Curlyheaded screenwriter Charlie Kaufman doubled as the executive producer of the film (and has a slew of strange projects in development). John Cusack likes to direct himself. Cameron Diaz likes to change the color of her hair - for the interview, long brunette tresses, in case you wondered. And then there's the real John Malkovich himself. No, he isn't quite as creepy in person. Well, almost.

The Harvard Crimson: Mr. Malkovich, I have to ask you a question first, because this really intrigued me when I saw the film. How much of the John Horatio Malkovich in the film was actually you, the real John Malkovich? How much was it an invented character?

John Malkovich (speaking languidly, as if reciting a solilquoy in creepy monotone): I don't know if I can answer that, because I can't tell who the real John Malkovich is at all. Certainly, when I first read the script, it struck me as being something familiar to me. Perhaps this story is something I could have lived, without being something I actually lived in reality. I don't think [the Malkovich of the film] is so much like me, but I like that. I remember one of the first reactions I had when reading it was quite creepy: when I did live in New York, which I have not done for many, many years now, I lived at 7 1/2 W 75th Street. So when I read the first few pages and saw the number 7 1/2, I thought that perhaps someone was stalking me.

THC: After this movie, maybe someone will. You reveal a lot in the movie, especially when you enter your own subconscious where you are everyone - men, women, torch singer - did that worry you? Did you think you were revealing too much?

JM: Well, in my subconscious, I think I am a woman singing on a piano. Hard knowledge to have of yourself.

Did you find in any way that the film changed you in any way?

JM: I think John Cusack can field this one.