ADAPTATION

2002 - USA - 114 min. - Feature, Color

Director - Spike Jonze

From book The Orchid Thief

Produced by Clinica Estetica

Release Jan 10, 2002 (USA) / Dec 6, 2002 (USA- Limited)

Released by Columbia Pictures

PLOT SYNOPSIS:

The creative team behind Being John Malkovich - director Spike Jonze and screenwriter Charlie Kaufman - return with this equally offbeat comedy, in which Kaufman himself becomes the leading character. Charlie Kaufman (Nicholas Cage) is a gifted but profoundly neurotic screenwriter who, after the success of Being John Malkovich, has been hired to write a script adapted from the non-fiction book The Orchid Thief by Susan Orlean. But while Charlie is obsessive about his work, he's also intensely paranoid, given to deep depression, socially inept, and terrified of talking to women, qualities which are making it difficult to get on with his work or hold on to his tenuous relationship with girlfriend Amelia (Cara Seymour. Meanwhile, Charlie's identical twin brother Donald Kaufman (also played by Cage) has shown up to move in with his brother. Emotionally, Donald is Charlie's polar opposite - a loudmouthed, over-confident, superficial party animal who has an easy way with the ladies. Donald has decided to follow his brother's footsteps and take up screenwriting as well, but embracing the dictates of screenwriting tutor Robert McKee (Brian Cox), he's cranking out a cliché-ridden serial-killer thriller when not busy making time with new g.f. Caroline (Maggie Gyllenhaal). As Donald blazes through his screenplay, Charlie slowly picks away at his story, in which author Susan Orlean (Meryl Streep) chronicles John Laroche (Chris Cooper), a scruffy but devoted plant enthusiast who tries to save rare species of orchids by stealing them from their natural home in the swamps of Florida. As John and Susan become better acquainted, they find themselves attracted to one another; similarly, Charlie finds himself increasingly fascinated with Susan, and finds himself falling in love with her, even though he's only seen her photo on the dust jacket of her book. Charlie arranges to meet Susan, but is too nervous to confront her face to face, so he sends Donald (who has just scored a seven-figure deal for his script) in his place, while he attends a screenwriting seminar held by McKee. Adaptation also features Tilda Swinton, Judy Greer, and Stephen Tobolowsky. - Mark Deming

REVIEW:

Critics charged with the divine headache of describing Adaptation, in all its twisted magnificence, should find it appropriate that the story concentrates on the paralysis of writer's block, brought on by the impossible urge to say everything. The sophomore collaboration between screenwriter Charlie Kaufman and director Spike Jonze is so drenched with unorthodox ideas, yet so fundamentally accessible, that it actually outdoes the groundbreaking Being John Malkovich in existential pretzel logic, while remaining digestible to a middle-brow audience. Kaufman's real-life struggles adapting Susan Orlean's The Orchid Thief get brilliantly expanded into a self-reflexive narrative of sublime originality, in which screenwriter, author, and muse become intertwined, and such rich topics as artistic integrity, social awkwardness, and sibling rivalry get teased and prodded. Not only has Kaufman written himself into the proceedings, but in Nicolas Cage, he's found an exquisite choice to interpret himself and his twin brother - an imaginary character given "real" life by receiving a screenwriting credit. Sweating, stammering, lowering his eyes, and imploding in a crisis of relevance - then doing just the opposite as Donald - Cage kicks his own career out of neutral, at least briefly exchanging the hunt for ever-bigger paychecks with work that truly matters. Although the stories of Orlean (Meryl Streep) and John Laroche (Chris Cooper) both carry a vital urgency, this is Kaufman's film, full of the anxieties of a kinky-haired shlub whose overactive imagination is both his meal ticket and his curse. Inasmuch as it eventually imitates the very story structure it abhors, Adaptation is the rare film that both attacks and revels in the humbling, soul-crushing yet exhilarating mechanics of Hollywood moviemaking. - Derek Armstrong

CAST:

Nicolas Cage - Charlie Kaufman

Nicolas Cage - Donald Kaufman

Meryl Streep - Susan Orlean

Chris Cooper - John Laroche

Tilda Swinton - Valerie

Cara Seymour - Amelia

Brian Cox - Robert McKee

Judy Greer - Alice the Waitress

Maggie Gyllenhaal - Caroline

Ron Livingston - Marty

Jay Tavare - Matthew Osceola

Stephen Tobolowsky - Neely

Peter Jason - Defense Attorney

Curtis Hanson - Orlean's Husband

Lance Acord - Himself

Catherine Keener - Herself

John Cusack - Himself

John Malkovich - Himself

PRODUCTION CREDITS:

Spike Jonze - Director

Jonathan Demme - Producer

Vincent Landay - Producer

Edward Saxon - Producer

Charlie Kaufman - Screenwriter / Executive Producer

Donald Kaufman - Screenwriter

Susan Orlean - Book Author

Lance Acord - Cinematographer

Carter Burwell - Composer (Music Score)

Eric Zumbrunnen - Editor

KK Barrett - Production Designer

Peter Andrus - Art Director

Peter Saraf - Executive Producer

Gene Serdena - Set Designer

Ann Roth - Costume Designer

Casey Storm - Costume Designer

Gray Matter FX - Special Effects

Thomas Patrick Smith - First Assistant Director

Richard Beggs - Sound/Sound Designer

Drew Kunin - Sound/Sound Designer

Justine Baddeley - Casting

Kim Davis-Wagner - Casting

Dan Bradley - Second Unit Director

James Fealy - Additional Photography

Michael Kirchberger - Supervising Sound Editor

Gray Marshall - Visual Effects Supervisor

AWARDS:

Top Ten Movie of the Year (win) - 2002 AFI

Best Actor (nom) - Nicolas Cage - 2002 Academy

Best Adapted Screenplay (nom) - Charlie Kaufman - 2002 Academy

Best Adapted Screenplay (nom) - Donald Kaufman - 2002 Academy

Best Supporting Actor (nom) - Chris Cooper - 2002 Academy

Best Supporting Actress (nom) - Meryl Streep - 2002 Academy

Best Picture (nom) - 2002 Broadcast Film Critics Association

Best Supporting Actor (nom) - Chris Cooper - 2002 Broadcast Film Critics Association

Best Supporting Actress (nom) - Meryl Streep - 2002 Broadcast Film Critics Association

Best Writer (nom) - Charlie Kaufman - 2002 Broadcast Film Critics Association

Best Actor - Musical or Comedy (nom) - Nicolas Cage - 2002 Golden Globe

Best Director (nom) - Spike Jonze - 2002 Golden Globe

Best Picture - Musical or Comedy (nom) - 2002 Golden Globe

Best Screenplay (nom) - Charlie Kaufman - 2002 Golden Globe

Best Screenplay (nom) - Donald Kaufman - 2002 Golden Globe

Best Supporting Actor (win) - Chris Cooper - 2002 Golden Globe

Best Supporting Actress (win) - Meryl Streep - 2002 Golden Globe

Best Screenplay (Runner-up) (win) - Donald Kaufman - 2002 L.A. Film Critics Association

Best Screenplay (Runner-up) (win) - Charlie Kaufman - 2002 L.A. Film Critics Association

Best Supporting Actor (win) - Chris Cooper - 2002 L.A. Film Critics Association

#5 Film of the Year (win) - 2002 National Board of Review

Best Supporting Actor (win) - Chris Cooper - 2002 National Board of Review

Screenwriter of the Year (win) - Charlie Kaufman - 2002 National Board of Review

Best Supporting Actor (Runner-up) (win) - Chris Cooper - 2002 National Society of Film Critics

Best Screenplay - Donald Kaufman - 2002 New York Film Critics Circle

Best Actor (nom) - Nicolas Cage - 2002 Screen Actors Guild

Best Cast (nom) - 2002 Screen Actors Guild

Best Supporting Actor (nom) - Chris Cooper - 2002 Screen Actors Guild

Best Adapted Screenplay (nom) - Donald Kaufman - 2002 Writers Guild of America

Best Adapted Screenplay (nom) - Charlie Kaufman - 2002 Writers Guild of America

The Jury Grand Prix (Silver Bear) (win) - Spike Jonze - 2003 Berlin Film Festival

SIMILAR MOVIES:

Punch-Drunk Love (2002, Paul Thomas Anderson)

8 1/2 (1963, Federico Fellini)

Alex in Wonderland (1970, Paul Mazursky)

The Playhouse (1921, Edward F. Cline, Buster Keaton)

Barton Fink (1991, Joel Coen)

F. Scott Fitzgerald and the Last of the Belles (1974, George Schaefer)

Wonder Boys (2000, Curtis Hanson)

Stardust Memories (1980, Woody Allen)

La Fête à Henriette (1952, Julien Duvivier, Henri Jeanson)

OTHER RELATED MOVIES:

features: Being John Malkovich (1999, Spike Jonze)

Being John Malkovich (1999, Spike Jonze)