Edited sentence: Coppola liked it very much and showed it to his daughter's husband, Spike Jonze.Eventually after a couple of years Malkovich's will was worn down and he agreed to star in the film.He became the film's director.In the first draft of the script, Lester and his friends weren't using Malkovich's portal as a means for extending their lives, but in a plot to take over the world in the name of Satan.John Malkovich was approached about this film several times and loved the script, but he and his production crew felt that another actor would fit the role better.Jonze liked the screenplay so much that he approached Kaufman about directing the movie.Malkovich offered to help produce the film, and aid Spike Jonze in any way, but refused to star in it.Satan was the mysterious 'Flemmer' that the Merton-Flemmer building was half named after.Screenwiter Charlie Kaufman sent the screenplay to Francis Ford Coppola after he wrote it.The director Spike Jonze claimed in an interview that when he was shopping the screenplay around Hollywood, at least one unspecified producer asked if he could possibly rewrite the film as "Being Tom Cruise".The original script also originally had Kevin Bacon in place of Charlie Sheen, as Malkovich's actor friend.There were some chages in the scipt's history