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Andy Kaufman was beloved for his time playing Latka Gravas on Taxi, even if it wasn’t his favorite point in his career.
The latest documentary on the famed comedian’s short life, Andy Kaufman is Me, directed by Clay Tweel, examines Kaufman’s personal archive, with many never-before-seen photos and audio recordings.
Kaufman’s beloved foreign character, perfected before it came to the Taxi audience, was what drew producers of the show to him. He took a chance on the role, and while it was a smash hit with audiences, as a creative, the comedian found himself frustrated.
“He wasn’t overjoyed doing Taxi because it was confinement to him,” Cindy Williams is heard explaining. “He was restricted by, you know, lines that people had written for him. And Andy, he was his own creator.”
In a clip shared exclusively with PEOPLE ahead of the film’s Tribeca Film Festival debut, Kaufman can be heard talking about his rising star status.
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“This year has been a very commercial year for me. And I’ve been doing a lot of compromise, and it’s been good, very commercial. But artistically, I felt down about it lately,” he says.
“This is my act, and I just want to start having some integrity within myself again,” Kaufman continues. “This is my playground. That’s what it should be, my playground. And it just has to be that, or else I’m not happy. Then, I’m just like every other performer.”
Tweel tells PEOPLE that fans of the hit sitcom who only saw Kaufman as Latka missed a whole other side of the comedian.
“I think a lot of what Taxi fans might have missed was just how confrontational Andy was in all of his other performances beyond that TV show. Even his more lighthearted and sweeter moments on stage were engaging the audience in a way that bordered on uncomfortable because you were always wondering what was real and what was just for show,” Tweel says.
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“One of the many things that draws me to Andy is how he evoked such complicated and often contrasting emotions from an audience on stage, which is part of why I think his performances were so poignant and are still talked about even today.”
In the process of creating this documentary, Tweel got the chance to meet and chat with Andy’s loved ones, as well as “access to over 84 hours of audio tape of Andy’s phone calls, inner monologues, and brainstorming sessions for bits with friends.”
“I knew that these should be the central pillar to build the story around. The ability to hear directly from someone, as opposed to a third party, will always be a more intimate and authentic perspective to me,” the director explains.
“Even if that person is purposely abstracting a part of themselves for the recording, because that is part of their story too! So listening to these tapes was the first research we all did on the project, and it very much was our guiding light for how to lay out the story.”
As a director, Tweel prides himself in “trying to get beyond the preconceived notions to a particular person or story.”
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“Due to the fact that I was a huge fan of Andy’s performances, I saw the project as a unique challenge,” he admits. “Then I talked to the family, and things really clicked into place. They told me they wanted to show the full scope of who they knew their brother to be, and to go beyond the caricatures of him that are often shown. I was really drawn to that idea, and thankfully, they gave me the tools to do that by allowing us access to so much archive of Andy that has never been seen or heard before.”
Throughout the process, even a longtime fan like Tweel says he was surprised by “how relatable Andy was.”
“Talking to the people that really knew him the best, and hearing his inner monologues on the tapes, I got a clear sense of how meticulously planned all of his acts were and how down-to-earth Andy could be behind the scenes. He was a master of disguise, and in doing so, he made us all think about the disguises we all wear.”
Andy Kaufman Is Me premieres at the Tribeca Film Festival Friday, June 6 at 8:00 p.m.
