Barfly (1987): The Only Screenplay Bukowski Wrote Against Hollywood

Charles Bukowski hated Hollywood. He did not hide it either. “Fake people, fake smiles, fake emotions,” he would say. But then one day he sat down and wrote a film screenplay. On top of that, he also cashed Hollywood’s checks for that screenplay. This is exactly the contradiction behind Barfly.

Although Barfly was the only film screenplay Bukowski personally wrote, there are many other projects where his writings were adapted into films and documentaries. For those who want to look at this world more broadly: Every Film And Documentary Adapted From Charles Bukowski’s Books>>

If Bukowski feels unfamiliar to you, maybe the right way to understand him is not to start randomly, but to follow a certain order. Because Bukowski is not a man who can be fully understood through one book or one film. For that, you can also check this reading roadmap: A Roadmap to the Madness: How to Read Charles Bukowski >>

Seven Years Of Chaos

In 1979, a director named Barbet Schroeder knocked on Bukowski’s door. “I want to make a film about your life,” he said. Bukowski laughed at first. Then he thought: “Why not? At least they’ll pay.”

Barbet Schroeder and Charles Bukowski 

But it was not as easy as he imagined. Schroeder believed in the project so much that he fought with studios for seven years. No major production company wanted to make a film about a man like Bukowski. “Who is going to watch a drunk poet wander from bar to bar?” they said.

Schroeder did not give up. At one point, he went to Francis Ford Coppola. “If I can’t make this project, I will cut off my own finger,” he said. He pulled out an electric saw in front of Coppola. Just as he was about to cut off his finger, Coppola had to shout, “Okay, okay! I’ll do it!” This is the real story. For a man like Bukowski, only a director this insane would have been enough.

Schroeder: The Man Who Recorded Bukowski’s Darkest Moments

Schroeder’s relationship with Bukowski was not one-sided. In 1984, he had filmed one of Bukowski’s darkest moments. At the time, he was shooting a documentary about the novel Women. ( Books I Read - Women - Charles Bukowski >> ) Bukowski was drunk, furious, and attacked his wife Linda Lee. Did Schroeder turn off the camera? No. He recorded everything.

This was the man now directing Bukowski’s own screenplay. They knew each other. Schroeder knew Bukowski did not want a fake version of himself. Bukowski also knew that Schroeder had the courage to show the truth.

Mickey Rourke: The Rebel Who Played Chinaski

The casting process was full of fights. The studio wanted big names. Names like Sean Penn and Dennis Hopper were mentioned. But Bukowski wanted Mickey Rourke. Why? “Because he is an outcast piece of shit like me,” Bukowski said. Rourke had that tiredness on his face, that look of a man trying to stay standing despite everything. Bukowski saw that.

When Rourke accepted the role, he went to real bars. The kind of bars Bukowski used to go to. He sat with drunks there, got into fights, took punches. This was not method acting or anything like that. He was just trying to understand the character.

Watching Rourke on set, Bukowski reportedly said: “Good. I feel like myself. But younger.”

Faye Dunaway: Wanda’s Tired Beauty

Faye Dunaway was 46 when she played the character Wanda Wilcox. By Hollywood standards, she was old. But this was exactly what Bukowski wanted. “Not a young and shiny actress. I need a woman crushed by life, but still standing,” he said.

Wanda is one of Bukowski’s most complex female characters. She is like a cinematic version of the women in the novel Women. She is neither a victim nor a hero. She is simply a woman trying to live, drinking, getting involved with the wrong men. Dunaway captured this perfectly.

During filming, there were tensions between Dunaway and Rourke. Dunaway complained about Rourke’s lack of discipline. Rourke said Dunaway took things too seriously. When Bukowski heard this, he laughed: “Just like in the film. Two drunks hate each other, but they can’t stay apart either.”

The Screenplay: A Genius With No Technical Knowledge

Bukowski did not know how to write a screenplay. He had no technical training. He did not know the formatting rules. But he sat down and wrote it.

The scene numbers in the screenplay were wrong. There were no camera angles. There were only dialogues and actions. When Schroeder received the screenplay, he was surprised. “This is technically terrible. But it is great.”

Because even though Bukowski did not know the language of cinema, he knew his own language. The dialogues were real. The characters were not fake. The bars, the fights, the drunkenness, the women... All of it had already been lived. Schroeder did not fix the screenplay. He used it as it was. “If I change Bukowski’s language, I lose him,” he said.

The Hollywood Contradiction: Hate It, But Take The Money

Bukowski received $100,000 for Barfly. It was big money at the time. He was not ashamed of taking it. Later, he wrote his novel Hollywood. In it, he brutally criticized the film industry, studio executives, and fake actors. “They are all liars, all fake, all dying for money,” he wrote. ( Bukowski And Hollywood: The Man Who Hated The Machine That Fed Him >> ) 

But in the same book, he also wrote this: “I took their money too. Does that make me like them? Maybe. But at least I can write about it.”

This is the real story of Barfly. The meeting of underground literature’s most rebellious figure with Hollywood. And neither side came out of that meeting clean.

After The Film: Bukowski’s Judgment

The film was released in 1987. Critics were divided. Some said, “This is the real Bukowski.” Others said, “This is a romanticized story of a drunk.”

Bukowski watched the film. Then he wrote: “It is a good film. But that is not me. He is more handsome.”

About Mickey Rourke’s performance, he said: “He played well. But the real Henry Chinaski is dirtier, more tired, more careless.” 

Barfly holds a special place in Bukowski cinema today. Because here, the story was written not by someone else, but by Bukowski himself. Despite all its technical flaws, despite all the rules of Hollywood, the film speaks Bukowski’s language.

In an interview, Schroeder reportedly said: “Barfly is not Bukowski’s autobiography. But it is the autobiography of his soul.”

And maybe the most important thing is this: a man who hated Hollywood answered Hollywood with its own weapon. He took their money, wrote his own story, and said, “fuck off.”