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ADAPTATION
Growth
involves learning to love or to overcome suffering and hardship,
it is a spiritual matter. Charlie Kaufman begins his own adaptation
in the process of writing this film. Perhaps it will aid us all
in our adapting to what lies before us in our lives.
Review by Darrel Manson
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ADAPTATION
(2002)
This page was created on December 2, 2002
This page was last updated on
May 21, 2005
Review -click here
Trailers, Photos -click here
About this Film -click here
Spiritual Connections -click
here
Forum -click
here
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CREDITS
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 Directed
by Spike Jonze
Book
by Susan Orlean (The Orchid Thief)
Screenplay by Charlie Kaufman and Donald Kaufman
Nicolas Cage .... Charlie Kaufman/Donald Kaufman
Meryl Streep .... Susan Orlean/Orlean's Mother
Chris Cooper .... John Laroche
Cara Seymour .... Amelia
Rheagan Wallace .... Kim Canetti
Jane Adams .... Margaret
Agnes Baddoo .... Herself
Jim Beaver .... Ranger Tony
Ray Berrios .... Officer
Brigitte Bogle .... Teenage Orlean
Caron Colvett .... Laroche's Wife
Lynn Court .... Laroche's dad
Brian Cox .... Robert McKee
John Cusack .... Himself
John Etter .... A Robert McKee seminar day player
Roger Fanter .... Uncle Jim
Gary Farmer .... Buster Baxley
Paul Fortune .... Himself
Sandra Lee Gimpel .... Laroche's Mom
Judy Greer .... Alice
Maggie Gyllenhaal .... Caroline
Curtis Hanson .... Orlean's Husband
Gregory Itzin .... Prosecutor
Paul Jasmin .... Himself
 Peter
Jason .... Alan Lerner
Catherine Keener .... Herself
Fred Lerner .... Aristotle
Litefoot .... Russell (as G. Paul Davis)
Ron Livingston .... Marty
Laura Love .... Diane
Lisa Love .... Herself
Harris Mann .... Kaufman Twin
Wendy Mogel .... Herself
Don Moss .... Park Official
Terence O'Brien .... Teen Kaufman
Allison O'Donnell .... Orlean Age 7
Lupe Ontiveros .... Therapist
Toni Oswald .... Cashier
David O. Russell .... Himself
Robert J. Stephenson .... Peter
Jeremy Sumpter .... Laroche Age 10
Tilda Swinton .... Valerie
Jay Tavare .... Matthew Osceola
Stephen Tobolowsky .... Steve Neely
Roger Willie .... Randy
Bob Yerkes .... Darwin
Produced
by
Jonathan Demme .... producer
Charlie Kaufman .... executive producer
Vincent Landay .... producer
Peter Saraf .... executive producer
Edward Saxon .... producer
Original Music by Carter Burwell
Cinematography by Lance Acord
Film Editing byEric Zumbrunnen
MPAA:
Rated R for language, sexuality, some drug use and violent
images.
Runtime: 114 min
For rating reasons, go to FILMRATINGS.COM,
and MPAA.ORG.
Parents, please refer to PARENTALGUIDE.ORG
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TRAILERS
AND CLIPS
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CD
SOUNDTRACK
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Adaptation
Adaptation reunites Carter Burwell (of Coen brothers renown) with
director Spike Jonze and writer Charlie Kaufman, the creative team
behind 1999's Being John Malkovich,
with equally noteworthy results. Although selections like "The
Unexpressed Expressed" lean heavily on romantic strings, Burwell's
harmonic progressions rarely culminate in obvious resolutions, mirroring
the frustration of the film's protagonist, a screenwriter struggling
to translate a nonfiction work into a workable screenplay. Less predictable
timbres propel other cuts--"The Evolution of Evolution"
marries kalimba and steel drums to Duane Eddy-style twang guitar and
sly bass licks--and, as with Malkovich, the music of Adaptation often
feels as though it were emanating from the murky ocean depths or the
mechanized bowels of Big Ben. The disc is book-ended by Fatboy Slim's
mercifully low-key "Adaptation" remix (essentially the vibraphone
and harp vignette "The Writer and the Crazy White Man" plus
a drum loop), and the Turtles' 1967 hit "Happy Together,"
a somewhat incongruous conclusion to Burwell's dark, riveting score.
--Kurt B. Reighley
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POSTER
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No
available poster Dec 2 2002
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2
BOOKS
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Adaptation:
The Shooting Script (Newmarket Shooting Script Series)
by Charlie Kaufman
 The
Orchid Thief
(Ballantine Reader's Circle)
by Susan Orlea
Orchidelirium is the name the Victorians gave to the flower madness
that is for botanical collectors the equivalent of gold fever. Wealthy
orchid fanatics of that era sent explorers (heavily armed, more
to protect themselves against other orchid seekers than against
hostile natives or wild animals) to unmapped territories in search
of new varieties of Cattleya and Paphiopedilum. As knowledge of
the family Orchidaceae grew to encompass the currently more than
60,000 species and over 100,000 hybrids, orchidelirium might have
been expected to go the way of Dutch tulip mania. Yet, as journalist
Susan Orlean found out, there still exists a vein of orchid madness
strong enough to inspire larceny among collectors.
The
Orchid Thief centers on south Florida and John Laroche, a quixotic,
charismatic schemer once convicted of attempting to take endangered
orchids from the Fakahatchee swamp, a state preserve. Laroche, a
horticultural consultant who once ran an extensive nursery for the
Seminole tribe, dreams of making a fortune for the Seminoles and
himself by cloning the rare ghost orchid Polyrrhiza lindenii. Laroche
sums up the obsession that drives him and so many others:
I
really have to watch myself, especially around plants. Even now,
just being here, I still get that collector feeling. You know
what I mean. I'll see something and then suddenly I get that feeling.
It's like I can't just have something--I have to have it and learn
about it and grow it and sell it and master it and have a million
of it.
Even
Orlean--so leery of orchid fever that she immediately gives away
any plant that's pressed upon her by the growers in Laroche's circle--develops
a desire to see a ghost orchid blooming and makes several ultimately
unsuccessful treks into the Fakahatchee. Filled with Palm Beach
socialites, Native Americans, English peers, smugglers, and naturalists
as improbably colorful as the tropical blossoms that inspire them,
this is a lyrical, funny, addictively entertaining read. --Barrie
Trinkle --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition
of this title.
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AVAILABILITY
ON VIDEO AND DVD
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SYNOPSIS
Charlie
Kaufman writes the way he lives...
With Great Difficulty.
His Twin Brother Donald Lives the way
he writes... with foolish abandon.
Susan writes about life... But can't
live it.
John's life is a book... Waiting to
be adapted.
One story... Four Lives... A million ways it can end.
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 From
director Spike Jonze and screenwriter Charlie Kaufman, the team
responsible for the highly acclaimed Being John Malkovich,
comes Adaptation, a wildly unconventional comedy about a
writer who, out of sheer desperation, decides to insert himself
into the screenplay he's struggling to adapt. It's a great idea,
until reality and fiction begin to overlap in the most unexpected
ways.
Despite
the success of his first produced script, Being John Malkovich,
for which he received an Academy Award® nomination for best
original screenplay, Charlie Kaufman (Nicolas Cage) is plagued by
insecurities, both in his career and his personal life. When he
is hired to adapt The Orchid Thief, a nonfiction book about
a fanatical orchid breeder, John Laroche (Chris Cooper), he is completely
stumped. Though, on the surface, the book is about Laroche's flower
poaching adventures in the Florida Everglades, on another level
it's also about the desire in all of us to experience passion. This
longing plagues the book's author, Susan Orlean (Meryl Streep) and,
Charlie realizes, himself as well.
Charlie's
twin brother, Donald Kaufman (also played by Nicolas Cage), only
makes things worse when he moves in with Charlie and announces he's
going to be a screenwriter too. As Charlie battles his severe case
of writer's block, Donald cheerily types away on a script about
a serial killer with multiple-personality disorder. Donald's script
immediately sells, making him the "hot" new writer in town. As if
Charlie wasn't feeling bad enough, Donald is also getting laid regularly,
while Charlie can't even get to first base.
Then,
one day, Charlie has a last ditch inspiration. He'll use his own
dilemma as a framework for the script about Laroche and Orlean.
But as the words start to flow, and the story takes shape, Charlie
inadvertently sets in motion a chain of events impacting on the
lives of all the characters.
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PICTORIAL
REVIEW
By David Bruce
Web Master, HollywoodJesus.com
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Meryl Streep plays author Susan Orlean, a woman who discovers real
passion for the first time in her life |
Screenwriter Charlie Kaufman (Nicolas Cage) trails journalist Susan
Orlean (Meryl Streep), seeking to find a way to adapt her book The
Orchid Thief to the screen |
Twin-brothers Charlie, left, and Donald Kaufman (both played by Nicolas
Cage) couldn't be less alike |
They travel across the country in their attempt to unlock the mysteries
of The Orchid Thief |
Chris Cooper, who plays orchid thief John Laroche, will go to any
lengths to find rare species of the flower |
When screenwriter Charlie Kaufman tries to adapt The Orchid Thief
to the screen, he develops a serious case of writer's block |
Charlie Kaufman seeks advice from screenwriting guru Robert McKee
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Review by
DARREL MANSON BLOG
Pastor,
Artesia Christian Church, Artesia, CA
http://netministries.org/see/churches/ch01198
Darrel
has an incredible love and interest in the cinematic arts.
His reviews usually include independent and significantly important
film.
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 In
Being John Malcovich, scriptwriter
Charlie Kaufman takes us on a fictional trip through a mysterious
portal into someone's brain. In Adaptation he takes us on a somewhat
less fictional trip into a brain -- his own.
Adaptation is the story of Kaufman's attempt to adapt Susan Orlean's
book, The
Orchid Thief, into a screenplay. The book is a non-fiction book
about flowers and the people who obsess over them. There really
isn't a plot, which is pretty much a requirement for a successful
film.
Usually, such books are transformed into some sort of high concept
film with a love story, or adventure story that really wasn't part
of the book. Charlie doesn't want to do that. He wants to remain
true to the book. But how can you do that and still create a screenplay
that will be acceptable to the studio?
There are portions of the book that make it into the film, but basically,
the film is Charlie's struggle and an examination of the creative
process. The credits on the film show the screenplay by Charlie
and Donald Kaufman. As the story progresses, we meet Charlie's twin
brother Donald, who has decided that he will also become a screenwriter.
 The
truth of the matter is that there is no Donald Kaufman; he is a
fictional character. He allows Charlie to show us two sides of himself,
the one that wants to be an artist, and the one who wants to have
success. But the interplay between Charlie and Donald allows Charlie
to critique and ridicule all the clichéd devices that are
so often used: voice-overs, multiple personalities, deus ex machina,
sex and violence, dreams. (Everything he ridicules ends up in the
movie -- which represents Donald's contribution to the script.)
I was surprised at how much I identified with Charlie's struggle.
It wasn't just that he had a bit of writer's block. He was struggling
with his own understanding of his worth and ability. He wanted to
do quality work, but often something popular is what is wanted.
From
the beginning as he wonders why he accepted to this job, I knew
I'd been there -- almost every Monday morning when I begin work
on Sunday's sermon. Why did I pick this scripture? How do I stay
true to the writer's idea and adapt it to today and this congregation?
Can I jazz it up to make it exciting? Where will I start and where
do I want to go? Like Charlie, I almost always think I'm going to
fail this time. It is almost always a struggle to give birth to
something that requires creativity.
While the film is great fun, the trip into Charlie's being isn't
always comfortable. There is almost a sense of self-loathing in
his struggle. It is difficult to watch his shyness block his happiness.
It is difficult to watch as he is nearly paralyzed by his fears.
 But
the film is not just about adapting a book; it is about the adaptations
that we make in our struggles. Just as in nature flowers adapt to
new environments (see The
Orchid Thief), we adapt in our lives as we face and conquer
the many things and people who come into our lives. It is called
growth. And when that growth involves learning to love or to overcome
suffering and hardship, it is a spiritual matter. Charlie begins
his own adaptation in the process of writing this film. Perhaps
it will aid us all in our adapting to what lies before us in our
lives. |
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PHOTOS
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CONTINUE:
Review
-click here
Trailers, Photos -click here
About this Film -click here
Spiritual Connections -click here
Forum -click
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COMMENT
ON THIS FILM
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BULLETIN
BOARD (Rules)
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Adaptation ©
2002 Columbia Pictures. All Rights Reserved.
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