Movies You Might Have Missed: Andy Kaufman in I'm From Hollywood

Kaufman's foray into the world of professional wrestling forms the basis of this 1989 documentary directed by his girlfriend Lynne Margulies and Joe Orr who completed the film after his death

Andy Kaufman in the comedy documentary 'I'm From Hollywood'

Jim & Andy will be released on Netflix next month, a documentary exploring Jim Carrey’s miraculous performance as Andy Kaufman in Milos Forman’s brilliant 1999 biopic Man on the Moon.

Kaufman was an enigmatic figure, best known for his portrayal of Latka in Taxi but seemingly more concerned with absurdist pranks and performance art than becoming a household name through his sitcom work.

At the peak of his fame, the comedian began wrestling women as part of his act, claiming he was “Inter-Gender Wrestling Champion of the World”. His adventures in the world of professional wrestling form the basis of I’m from Hollywood, a 1989 documentary directed by Lynne Margulies and Joe Orr.

Margulies was Kaufman’s girlfriend at the time of his death in 1984 and work on the film actually began shortly before he was diagnosed with cancer in 1983. Production halted after that diagnosis and resumed a year after his death for another few years before the film was finally released half a decade after Kaufman’s death. We are treated to a few of the comic’s greatest hits and talking heads like Tony Danza and Robin Williams waxing lyrical about the genius of their friend and colleague before the story begins in earnest.

The film, like its subject, is somewhat inscrutable. Whether Kaufman’s passion for wrestling was sincere or merely a vehicle for his unique brand of absurdist anarchy is hard to tell. His persona in the ring was that of a brash and arrogant showbiz star who would taunt his opponents with the words, “I’m from Hollywood” and persistently threaten to sue them.

After being rebuffed by the World Wrestling Federation, the television star took matters into his own hands and eventually teamed up with wrestler Jerry Lawler for a staged feud that resulted in an on-air “fight” on Late Night with David Letterman in 1982 that most viewers assumed was genuine.

Margulies, perhaps because of her closeness to the film’s subject, focuses more on the myth than the man. Lawler refuses to break character and his interviews maintain the illusion of animosity.

It is Kaufman, however, who emerges as an utterly compelling figure. Inspired by the theatricality of a world with cartoon notions of good and bad, he realised his idiosyncratic brand of performance art would fit like a glove. The footage of this TV star brazenly insulting Southerners and whipping the crowd into a frenzy proves that Kaufman was inspired, inspiring and brave in the truest sense of the word.