The independent writer-director Nicole Holofcener had a fresh idea for a movie: how would three well-off married women (Catherine Keener, Frances McDormand, Joan Cusack), living in Los Angeles, sustain their friendship with a younger woman who is unmarried, broke, working as a housekeeper, and given to meaningless relationships with jerks?

NEWYORKER: Friends With Money

An out-of-work puppeteer (John Cusack), his pet-loving girlfriend (Cameron Diaz), and a cynical office worker (Catherine Keener) take turns entering the head of the actor John Malkovich, where they remain for fifteen minutes at a time, experiencing everything he does, before being deposited with a whoosh beside the New Jersey Turnpike.

NEWYORKER: Being John Malkovich