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ADAPTATION
The
Adaptation Begins
"Adaptation
is a profound process. It means you figure out how to survive in
the world."
--
John Laroche, The Orchid Thief
In
1999, just as screenwriter Charlie Kaufman?s Being John Malkovich
was being brought to the screen by director Spike Jonze, he had
been commissioned, by Academy Award®-winning director/producer
Jonathan Demme and his producing partner Ed Saxon, to adapt New
Yorker writer Susan Orlean?s best-selling non-fiction book The
Orchid Thief. The book is a widely praised tale of a journalist
who discovers the roots of her own passion while chronicling the
adventures of John Laroche, a man who is obsessed with his love
for rare orchids. Discursive and introspective, the book lacked
a conventional narrative structure, which initially frustrated Kaufman.
Yet, at the same time, he was intrigued by the unique nature of
the source material. "I remember being cocky and thinking, yeah,
I like this. I can turn this into a movie."
However,
when he was unable to conceive of a suitable way to shape the material
into a narrative screenplay, his self-confidence soon turned into
depression. "If it had been a spec script of my own, I might have
abandoned it at a certain point," Kaufman admits. "In this case,
though, I had been hired by others. They had expectations of me.
So I had to adapt to being an adaptor."
Throughout
the torturous process, Kaufman remained steadfast in his commitment
of finding a way to address the theme of passion. "Passion was something
I wanted to write about, because it?s what Susan Orlean was writing
about," he says. "It was always in my head to try and capture the
emptiness people feel when they don?t have passion, and the directionless
longing it can cause."
Since,
by its very nature, passion requires "stepping over the edge, moving
away from what feels safe and taking some kind of risk," Kaufman
reasoned, the idea of incorporating the emotional process of writing
a screenplay into the script evolved. "It became a kind of metaphor
for ideas feeding upon themselves and how they eventually tie together
in the end," he says.
Kaufman
shared his radical approach to adapting The Orchid Thief
with Jonze. "As I grew more and more interested in his ideas," Jonze
recalls, "Charlie grew more and more nervous that he wasn?t doing
what the producers had hired him to do. I just tried to support
him, but then again, unlike Charlie, I didn?t have anything to lose.
It just sounded like fun to me."
Meanwhile,
producer Ed Saxon was patiently awaiting Kaufman?s first draft.
It would be six months before he received the script, entitled Adaptation.
"I was immediately suspicious," Saxon says. "That wasn?t the title
of the book we had optioned. And then it said ?written by Charlie
and Donald Kaufman.? And I thought, ?who is Donald Kaufman? I didn?t
know he was going to be writing with a partner.? But, once I started
reading the script, it clicked. I was stunned and amazed by how
intricately woven it was."
While
the script worked purely as entertainment, it also delivered on
other levels, according to Saxon. "Adaptation is about art
being challenging and motion pictures being challenging. It?s about
how alienated people are from each other in our contemporary culture,
about how hard it is to have love in your life and how hard it is
to connect with people, to be honest and open. It?s a movie about
being demanding of yourself and admitting to the basic human frailties
and yet, being able to adapt to all the curve balls that life throws
your way."
"In
Adaptation, I tried to work through some ideas. What I wanted
to end up with, though, was a discussion rather than a conclusion."
--
Screenwriter Charlie Kaufman
When
Susan Orlean first heard from her agent that Hollywood was interested
in The Orchid Thief, she was a bit surprised, not to mention
curious. Her book, though hailed by critics and embraced by readers,
was, she admits, "layered like an onion." It seemed to defy adaptation
into a movie. "The book is a kind of soulful meditation on passion
and love sickness and subcultures and belonging. Those aren?t very
typical Hollywood themes," she says.
The
screenwriter who had been hired to bring her book to the screen
was Charlie Kaufman, whose breakthrough movie, Being John Malkovich,
was then in production. When Orlean heard the title and the plot
line of Malkovich (it?s the tale of a struggling puppeteer
who discovers a secret portal into actor John Malkovich?s inner
mind) her immediate reaction was, "What kind of weirdo is this guy?"
she admits. When she saw the finished film, she was even more perplexed.
She could not imagine how he would approach something as comparatively
straightforward as The Orchid Thief.
After
Orlean read the script, she was almost speechless. Kaufman had taken
her journey and combined it with his own, crossing the border from
fact into fiction. "I thought the script was completely strange
and yet, wonderful. When I read the sections about the Susan Orlean
character, I was absolutely convinced that Charlie Kaufman had indeed
come to New York and secretly followed me around, studying me,"
she says. "By and large the character is quite different from me.
But the initial portrait of me as a writer contained certain details
that were startlingly accurate. I never could figure out how he
did that. But the important thing is that, in the end, this was
the perfect thing to have happened to this book. It has become more
of a character in the movie than the actual basis for the movie."
"Adaptation
was an opportunity to do something totally brand
new, to really transform myself. I?m playing the writer
of the movie in which I?m appearing, and his brother. It?s
a Cubist thing, very exciting."
--Nicolas
Cage
The
concept of a screenwriter being a character in his own screenplay
? or at least the screenwriter?s darkest fears about himself ? presented
Oscar® winner Nicolas Cage with a unique creative opportunity.
The fact that he was being asked to portray both Charlie Kaufman
and his identical twin brother Donald, only doubled his pleasure.
"Though they?re twins, Donald and Charlie are total opposites,"
Cage explains. "Charlie hates himself. He?s morose, hypercritical
and joyless. Donald feels pretty good about himself. He?s amusing,
easygoing and optimistic. But the interesting thing is that Charlie
is the true artist, whereas Donald aspires to be an artist but,
seems more like a commercialist."
Cage
experimented with different techniques before deciding on how to
tackle the two roles. "I approached it from the British school of
acting, creating the characters externally and then working inward,
rather than the Method school, in which you work from the inside
out," he explains.
The
result is a seamless interplay between the two characters. "Nic
moved effortlessly back and forth between the stultifying anxiety
and neurosis of Charlie and the relaxed joyfulness of Donald," says
director Spike Jonze. "It was almost like a schizophrenic form of
alchemy."
As
he prepared to tackle his fictional doppelganger on screen, Cage
decided to spend some time with the real Charlie Kaufman. "It was
kind of a surreal experience. I would scrutinize him and, at the
same time, he was scrutinizing me to figure out how I was going
to play him," Cage observes. " Sometimes I?d catch him trying to
fake me out. We?d go to lunch and he?d start flapping the menu around
just to see if I?d pick up that mannerism and use it in the movie.
Later, when he visited the set, it was mind blowing. He?d be sitting
off camera watching me play him in a scene he wrote about himself
? only it wasn?t him really, but a projection of himself. Like I
said, cubist."
As
he delved deeper into Kaufman?s psyche, Cage realized that, behind
the facade of his dark self-image, there was an almost childlike
need for absolute purity. "I discovered that Charlie was someone
who is very devoted to being honest and totally naked in his art.
He wants to rip the masks off himself, off everybody."
"I
suppose I do have one unembarrassed passion. I wanted to know what
it feels like to care about something passionately?"
--
Susan Orlean, author The Orchid Thief
For
the casting of Susan Orlean, Jonze imagined Meryl Streep, reasoning
that it would take an actress of her talent and caliber to capture
the subtleties in the script, which not only looked at the creative
process of researching and writing The Orchid Thief, but
also at how Orlean?s exploration of John Laroche?s passion for orchids
unleashed her own hidden passions. The more Jonze thought about
Streep, the more he realized, "it was a pipe dream," he confesses.
But
Streep responded enthusiastically to the script. "It was simply
one of the best screenplays I?d ever read," she says. "There was
no other script like it. So, I had to say yes."
Having
seen Kaufman and Jonze?s previous collaboration, she was prepared
for their unorthodox approach to filmmaking. "The sensibility of
Being John Malkovich definitely resides in Adaptation,"
she adds. "It?s obvious that they both sprang from the same brain."
As for Jonze, she continues, "he was inventive, sure, unfailingly
sensitive and very well prepared. I truly enjoyed making this movie
? except for the parts where I was waist deep in a swamp."
Jonze
returns the compliment. "Meryl was always our first choice and even
now, when I step back, I?m amazed that we got to work with her.
On the set, she would just set the tone. She?d get there, and you
wouldn?t even realize it, but she might be intense and serious,
or playful and funny, and it would get everybody else in the mood
for that particular scene."
In
preparing for the role, Streep chose to rely on Kaufman?s character,
a composite of the actual New Yorker writer and his own fictional
musings. "The first time I met Susan Orlean was at the screening
of the finished film," says Streep. "I asked for her forgiveness
and understanding for the liberties we took with her name and reputation.
And she said, ?Oh! That?s okay. I wish I were Susan Orlean!? I?m
a great admirer of her work and I do think parts of it reside in
this film, but I?m not sure I can say the same about the character
bearing her name."
For
Orlean, the fact that she was going to be portrayed on screen by
Meryl Streep was "absolutely unimaginable," she admits. Yet, it
was one of those moments in life that seems almost fated. Though
they were never formally introduced, Streep and Orlean had actually
appeared in the same movie almost 25 years ago. "I?ve only been
a movie extra once in my life and that was in The Deer Hunter,
starring Meryl Streep," Orlean relates. "So it somehow seemed like
karma that she was going to play me. To have such a great actress
wanting to play a character based on you is thrilling. It gave me
confidence about the outcome. Watching where she takes the character
of Susan is like taking the most amazing virtual reality ride."
"The
story deals with peoples? obsessions and perhaps the fact that some
of us don?t fully realize what we want out of life, because of the
restrictions we put on ourselves."
--
Chris Cooper (John Laroche)
At
the center of Susan Orlean?s book The Orchid Thief is John
Laroche, the true-life orchid hunter and his intense, almost pathological,
obsession with rare species of the flower. Orlean describes the
larger-than-life man as "a tall guy, skinny as a stick, pale eyed,
slouch shouldered, and sharply handsome, in spite of the fact that
he is missing all his front teeth."
Actor
Chris Cooper was immediately captivated. "I usually play very contained
characters. This was a precious opportunity because, with Laroche,
I could explode out there," says Cooper. "He is a very big character
who considers himself one of the smartest, most incredible, people
you?ve ever met. That was very interesting and challenging, because
that kind of confidence is not something that comes easily to me."
Cooper
set off on his own investigative journey through the swamps of South
Florida, immersing himself in Laroche?s obsession. He also put himself
through "orchid school," spending weekends attending flower shows
and attempting to catch a bit of the fever. Like Cage, Cooper altered
his physical appearance, working with a trainer to mimic Laroche?s
frenetically lean, wiry physique. "I haven?t been this weight since
high school," he laughs.
In
his research, Cooper began to tap into the wellspring of Laroche?s
fascination with orchids and how it dovetailed with the film?s themes.
"I became amazed at the orchid species? ability to adapt. It?s truly
amazing what, over the years, orchids have been able to do. They?ve
been able to mutate in order to survive. To imagine that a flower
could take on the color and shape or stripes of a certain bee in
order to attract that bee for the purposes of pollination, I mean,
that?s mind boggling."
ABOUT
THE PRODUCTION
As
with his work in Being John Malkovich, production designer
KK Barrett?s settings for Adaptation were constructed to
reflect "what is going on in the character?s heads, their emotional
state," he says. For example, the character of Charlie Kaufman lives
in an oversized, sparsely decorated house. "The surroundings reflect
Charlie?s state of mind," Barrett explains. "He?s in his literary
head all the time, and he pays little attention to what furnishings
or style surround him. He?s not a social animal."
Though
the story travels to Florida, most of the exteriors were actually
shot on the west coast. Laroche?s Florida home is in the suburb
of Reseda, in the San Fernando Valley. "Florida, like California,
is a fairly new world," says Barrett. "Much of it was built up in
the ?50s or ?60s, so a lot of the architecture is interchangeable.
The house we found was spot-on identical with Laroche?s Florida
home. We only had to add a sunroom and a greenhouse."
In
decorating the interior, Barrett again reflected on Laroche?s state
of mind, cramming it with items that spoke to his fanatical nature,
including impressive collections of turtles and pornographic photographs.
"His house is about all the phases of his obsessions, both past
and present."
By
Spike Jonze?s standards the shoot was lengthy, 53 days. "The story
is so sprawling and nonlinear that we had to keep changing locations
and shooting in little scenes," explains Jonze. "We rarely spent
more than a few days in any one spot."
The
most time consuming scenes were those between Charlie Kaufman and
his brother Donald, both played by Nicolas Cage. They entailed extensive
use of green screen and other camera tricks. Jonze collaborated
closely with director of photography Lance Acord, to bring visual
variety and emotional resonance to these crucial scenes. "We used,
pretty much, every technique that exists for shooting doubles ?
split frames, motion control, green screen, etcetera. It required
a lot of exhausting work from Nic and the crew," says Jonze.
Adds
Cage: "I would be playing a scene as Charlie opposite Donald, who
was represented by a tennis ball. Or sometimes, Spike would be there
in full makeup to look like me and I?d act with him. I don?t really
understand how it was all done, but it was exhausting. I?d never
want to do it again," he laughs.
Producer
Ed Saxon describes Jonze?s shooting style as having all the hallmarks
of a small, independent production, but with a big movie feel. "Spike
combines the religious preparation of a studio film with the manic,
exalted energy of an independent movie," Saxon explains. "He photo-storyboards
many of the scenes and thinks through the whole script. At the same
time, he is almost psychedelically freeform and spontaneous. He
brings that kind of energy to the set every day, which helps make
the actors feel free and confident, and helps the cast and crew
to do their best work and have a good time doing it."
Jonze
has worked with the same crew for the better part of a decade, he
says. "We have a tight sort of communal group. It?s not departmentalized
with the director of photography doing his thing and the wardrobe
guy doing his thing. Everybody sort of contributes ideas to everyone
else in a free-flowing way. It raises the level of the whole thing."
Orchid
Delirium: Signs and Symptoms
"Nothing
in science can account for the way people feel about orchids. Orchids
seem to drive people crazy. Those who love them, love them madly
. . . They are the sexiest flowers on earth."
--
Susan Orlean, The Orchid Thief
?Orchid
Delirium? is the name for a widespread phenomenon also known as
"flower madness" or "flower lust." The syndrome dates back to Victorian
times. Wealthy orchid fanatics in Europe, obsessed with finding
ever more unusual orchids, hired heavily armed explorers to go off
into the world?s most exotic, unmapped lands and bring back never
before seen varieties. Today, ?Orchid Delirium? continues to drive
men and women to near sexual passion in their search for the rarest
forms of the sensuously shaped species:
* The
international trade in orchids is a $10 billion a year business.
* More
than three million Americans have orchids in their home.
* Some
300,000 Americans are avid collectors of orchids.
*
There are 150,000 members of the American Orchid Society.
*
There are 30,000 varieties of orchids.
Among
the early symptoms of ?Orchid Delirium? are a desire for something
to be deeply passionate about, and an appreciation for the strange
beauty, otherworldly shapes and offbeat colors of the more than
30,000 orchid varieties. It begins with the decision to own a few
orchids and discover their temperamental nature, their savvy adaptation
to their environment, their sublime fragility and their uncommon
sensitivity, which calls for more than ordinary nurturing. Then
comes collecting, at which point the syndrome becomes quite serious.
Those who begin to collect can rarely stop. They might lead perfectly
ordinary lives, but inside they are waiting to swoon over their
next big orchid score. It is said that just viewing a friend?s orchid
collection can be enough to spark the fever.
According
to Susan Orlean, those who are obsessed with orchids believe it
is an addiction more gripping than alcohol or drugs. In Eric Hansen?s
book Orchid Fever, orchid grower Joe Kunisch says: "You can
get off alcohol, drugs, women, food and cars, but once you're hooked
on orchids, you're finished. You never get off orchids ... never."
Writes Orlean: "To desire orchids is to have a desire that will
never be, can never be, fully requited."
A
Brief History of Adaptations
"Adaptation
is a highly subjective autobiography, like Pirandello?s ?Six Characters
in Search of an Author.?"
--
Robert McKee, screenwriting guru
More
than 50 percent of current feature length films produced for the
screen and television are adaptations of other materials such as
novels, plays, short stories and nonfiction journalism.
In
the beginning of film history that number was closer to 100 percent.
The earliest surviving American feature, a 1912 silent film, is
an adaptation of Shakespeare?s "Richard III." In 1915, D.W. Griffith
adapted the controversial novel, "The Clansmen," into the groundbreaking,
and equally controversial, motion picture Birth of a Nation.
Today,
countless books are turned into movies and, in turn, movies are
often turned back into books. Adaptation blurs the line,
turning a nonfiction book about a larger-than-life character into
a fictional adventure. Screenwriter Charlie Kaufman gives up the
endless struggle for the perfect adaptation, instead adapting the
world to serve his screenplay and his passions as a writer.
ABOUT
THE CAST
NICOLAS
CAGE (Charlie Kaufman/Donald Kaufman) is known as one
of Hollywood?s most versatile actors, having proven his talent in
every genre, from action thrillers, to poignant dramas, to romantic
comedies. His daring performance in Mike Figgis' Leaving Las
Vegas garnered him an Academy Award® for Best Actor. He
also received a Golden Globe, and Best Actor awards from the New
York Film Critics Circle, the Los Angeles Film Critics Association,
the Chicago Film Critics and the National Board of Review.
Cage?s
recent roles include the moving holiday film The Family Man,
the auto theft thriller Gone in 60 Seconds and Martin Scorsese?s
gritty story of urban paramedics, Bringing Out The Dead.
In 1998, Cage starred in the box office success City of Angels,
opposite Meg Ryan. He previously starred in John Woo?s critically
acclaimed action-thriller Face/Off, with John Travolta. The
role earned him numerous accolades including, the Blockbuster Entertainment
Award for Best Actor and three MTV Movie Award nominations. Cage
also starred, opposite John Cusack and John Malkovich, in Con
Air and, opposite Sean Connery and Ed Harris, in the blockbuster
action film The Rock. Recently, Cage switched to producing
with Shadow of the Vampire, starring Willem Dafoe and John
Malkovich.
Cage
has also proven himself adept at handling romantic comedy, receiving
a Golden Globe nomination for Best Actor in the offbeat romantic
comedy Moonstruck, in which he co-starred with Cher. He followed
it with a second Golden Globe nomination for his comedic role in
Honeymoon in Vegas. His other film credits include Guarding
Tess, opposite Shirley MacLaine, the highly acclaimed film-noir
Red Rock West, David Lynch's Wild at Heart, which
garnered the Palm d'Or at the 1990 Cannes Film Festival, It Could
Happen to You, Barbet Schroeder's Kiss of Death, Birdy, Valley
Girl, the Coen Brothers? Raising Arizona, The Cotton Club
and Peggy Sue Got Married. He most recently starred in
John Woo's Windtalkers and John Madden?s Captain Corelli's
Mandolin.
Cage
recently made his directorial debut with the drama Sonny.
Upcoming projects include Matchstick Men, for director Ridley
Scott.
MERYL
STREEP (Susan Orlean) Meryl Streep has won the Academy
Award® twice, as Best Actress for Sophie?s Choice and
as Best Supporting Actress in Kramer Vs. Kramer. She recently
received her 12th Oscar® nomination, as Best Actress,
for her portrayal of music teacher Roberta Guaspari, in Wes Craven?s
Music Of The Heart.
Streep?s
recent roles also include an Oscar®-nominated performance in
One True Thing and the period ensemble drama Dancing at
Lughnasa. She will next be seen in Stephen Daldry?s adaptation
of Michael Cunningham?s The Hours.
A
graduate of Vassar and Yale Drama School, Streep began her career
onstage, appearing in seven plays during her first season in New
York. She has won an Outer Critics Circle Award, a Theater World
Award, an Obie Award and received a Tony nomination. Streep made
her film debut in Julia, then starred opposite Robert DeNiro
in The Deer Hunter, for which she picked up her first Oscar
nomination in the best supporting actress category. After supporting
roles in Manhattan and The Seduction Of Joe Tynan,
she won her first Oscar® for the family drama Kramer Vs.
Kramer, starring opposite Dustin Hoffman. A string of memorable
films followed, including The French Lieutenant's Woman, Sophie's
Choice, Silkwood, Falling In Love, Plenty, Out Of Africa, Heartburn
and Ironweed.
Streep
also starred as an Australian mother accused of murder in Fred Schepisi?s
A Cry in the Dark, for which she received the Best Actress
prize at the Cannes Film Festival. She then changed the pace with
such comedies as She-Devil, Death Becomes Her, Defending Your
Life and Postcards From The Edge. More recently, she
has starred in such diverse films as Before and After, The Bridges
Of Madison County, The River Wild, The House Of The Spirits andMarvin's
Room.
Streep
received an Emmy for her performance in the TV miniseries "Holocaust."
She also secured an Emmy nomination for her work in "First, Do No
Harm," which she also co-produced. She is currently working on the
television movie version of the Pulitzer Prize-winning drama "Angels
in America," for director Mike Nichols and co-starring fellow Oscar®
winners Al Pacino and Emma Thompson.
CHRIS
COOPER (John Laroche) made his motion picture debut in
John Sayles' 1987 drama Matewan. He went on to appear
in the director?s sprawling urban epic City of Hope and his
Oscar®-nominated drama Lone Star, for which Cooper earned
a Best Actor nomination from the Independent Spirit Awards.
Cooper
recently won accolades for his searing performance as Kevin Spacey?s
neighbor in the Oscar®-winning American Beauty, and for
his rousing portrayal, opposite Mel Gibson, in Roland Emmerich's
Revolutionary War epic The Patriot. He also starred in the
Farrelly Brothers? rollicking comedy Me, Myself and Irene,
with Jim Carrey.
Cooper?s
other film credits include October Sky, The Horse Whisperer,
Great Expectations, A Time To Kill, Money Train, Boys, Pharaoh's
Army, This Boy's Life, Guilty by Suspicion, To the Moon, Alice
and A Thousand Pieces of Gold. Most recently, he appeared
in The Bourne Identity and The Ring.
Cooper
portrayed July Johnson in the memorable television mini-series "Lonesome
Dove." He reprised the role in the sequel "Return to Lonesome Dove."
Other television credits include Horton Foote's "Alone," "One More
Mountain," "Ned Blessing," "Bed of Lies," "In Broad Daylight," "Darrow,"
"A Little Piece of Sunshine," "Lifestories" and "Journey to Genius."
He has also guest starred on such series as "Law and Order," "Miami
Vice" and "The Equalizer."
Following
high school, the Kansas City, Missouri native served in the U.S.
Coast Guard. He is a graduate of the University of Missouri, where
he made his acting debut understudying for actor Tom Berenger. He
relocated to New York and studied his craft with renowned coach
Stella Adler before beginning a career that included several stage
appearances on Broadway, off-Broadway and in regional theater. His
theater credits include "Of the Fields Lately," "Cobb," "The Ballad
of Soapy Smith," "The Grapes of Wrath" and "Sweet Bird of Youth."
Upcoming
projects for Cooper include the movie Seabiscuit and the
HBO movie "My House in Umbria."
TILDA
SWINTON (Valerie) A native of Scotland, Tilda Swinton
is best known for her galvanizing portrait of the title character
in Orlando, Sally Potter?s award-winning adaptation of Virginia
Woolf?s novel. Swinton and Potter worked for years to create the
stunning role of a character who journeys across both time and gender
in search of her destiny. The role won Swinton international accolades,
including comparisons to Greta Garbo.
Prior
to Orlando, Swinton collaborated extensively with director
Derek Jarman, appearing in Caravaggio, War Requiem and Edward
II. Since then, Swinton has chosen a diverse range of projects,
including the experimental Conceiving Ada, the daring Female
Perversions and Danny Boyle?s The Beach, with Leonardo
DiCaprio. In the process, she has emerged as one of the most talented
and fascinating actresses of her generation.
Swinton
most recently won accolades for her performance as an American housewife,
who is willing to go to any extreme to protect her son from a murder
charge, in the noir thriller The Deep End. She will next
appear in the sci-fi thriller Teknolust. Upcoming projects
include, Young Adam and Thumbsucker.
MAGGIE
GYLLENHAAL (Caroline) made her feature film debut in
1992, alongside Jeremy Irons and Ethan Hawke, in Waterland.
It was followed by roles in A Dangerous Woman and television
appearances in both "Shattered Mind" and "The Patron Saint of Liars."
A
memorable performance, as ?Raven,? the Satan worshipping make-up
artist in John Waters? quirky Hollywood satire Cecil B. Demented,
led her to a co-starring role in Donnie Darko, a fantasy-thriller
about disturbed adolescence. Gyllenhaal was recently seen in the
dark comedy Secretary, opposite James Spader, Penny Marshall?s
Riding In Cars With Boys, with Drew Barrymore, and Miramax?s
40 Days and 40 Nights, starring Josh Hartnett. Additional
film credits include Homegrown and The Photographer.
Upcoming features include John Sayles? Casa de Los Babys
and Mona Lisa Smile, starring Julia Roberts.
Also
accomplished on stage, Gyllenhaal starred as ?Alice? in the Mark
Taper Forum?s production of Patrick Marber?s award-winning "Closer,"
directed by Robert Egan, and prior to that, at the Berkeley Repertory
Theatre. She has also appeared in "Anthony and Cleopatra," at the
Vanborough Theatre in London. Gyllenhaal is a 1999 graduate of Columbia
University, where she studied Literature and Eastern Religion.
ABOUT
THE FILMMAKERS
SPIKE
JONZE (Director)
Adaptation is the second feature film directed by Spike
Jonze, who made his debut with Being John Malkovich, which
garnered four Academy Award® nominations.
Prior
to Being John Malkovich, Jonze was best known as an award-winning
music-video, short film and commercial director. He got his start
working as a photographer and co-directing (with Mark Gonzales),
Blind Video Days (skate video).
His
direction of the Beastie Boys' "Sabotage" music-video (1994), a
spoof of 1970s television cop shows, received critical praise and
numerous awards. Ever since, Jonze's music-videos have regularly
been nominated for MTV Video Music Awards. He has worked with such
talented artists as Bjork, The Pharcyde, Fat Boy Slim, Daft Punk,
R.E.M., Sean Lennon and Weezer.
He
recently produced Human Nature, based on an original script
by Charlie Kaufman.
CHARLIE
KAUFMAN (Screenplay By/Executive Producer) Charlie Kaufman
previously collaborated with director Spike Jonze on Being John
Malkovich, for which he received an Academy Award® nomination
for Best Original Screenplay. Kaufman?s next script was Human
Nature, starring Tim Robbins, Patricia Arquette and Rhys Ifans,
directed by Michel Gondry and produced by Jonze. Due shortly from
Kaufman is Confessions of A Dangerous Mind, directed by George
Clooney. Mind is adapted from game-show host Chuck Barris?
cult memoir about his days in the CIA. Next up for Kaufman is Eternal
Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, directed by Gondry, starring
Jim Carrey and Kate Winslet.
Kaufman
has also written for several television series, including "The Dana
Carvey Show," "Get A Life" and "Ned and Stacey."
SUSAN
ORLEAN (Based on the book by) has been a staff writer
at The New Yorker since 1992. She has established a reputation for
her own mesmerizing take on literary journalism in a wide ranging
series of profiles and portraits. Her articles have also appeared
in Outside, Rolling Stone, Vogue and Esquire. In 1990, she published
her first book, the critically acclaimed Saturday Night,
which was named a New York Times Notable Book. She most recently
published a collection of her writings, The Bullfighter Checks
Her Makeup: My Encounters with Extraordinary People.
Orlean?s
The Orchid Thief, brought her to the bestseller lists. Ostensibly
the tale of a Florida orchid poacher, Orlean?s adventurous and erudite
journey through the swamps became a riveting look at the nature
of obsession and the lengths people will go to in the name of passion.
EDWARD
SAXON(Producer) Saxon won an Academy Award® for Best
Picture in 1991 for The Silence of the Lambs. The films he
has produced have won seven Academy Awards® and received 16
nominations in various categories, as well as recognition from a
variety of festivals and critics groups, including Berlin, Deauville,
San Sebastian, and The New York Film Critics Circle.
He
has produced feature films, television films, music-videos and musical
soundtracks. As a partner of director Jonathan Demme, Saxon produced
the features Something Wild, Married to the Mob, The Silence
of the Lamb, Philadelphia, Beloved and most recently, The
Truth About Charlie, starring Mark Wahlberg, Thandie Newton
and Tim Robbins. Saxon's other producing credits include Miami
Blues, Devil in a Blue Dress, Ulee?s Gold, The Opportunists,
That Thing You Do! and the omnibus feature, "Subway Stories,"
for HBO. He is currently in pre-production on a new film version
of Around the World in Eighty Days, starring Jackie Chan.
Saxon?s
documentary credits include Cousin Bobby (which premiered
at the Cannes Film Festival in1992) and the Academy Award®-nominated
Mandela. A graduate of USC?s Peter Stark Motion Picture producing
program, Saxon lives in New York City with his wife, the artist
Kirsten Coyne, and their two daughters.
VINCENT
LANDAY(Producer) has enjoyed working in a variety of
filmmaking mediums, from episodic television, on the ABC series
"Moonlighting," to feature films, such as Red Rock West,
to commercials and music-videos, with directors such as David Fincher,
Michael Bay, James Foley, David Lynch, Roman Coppola and John Dahl.
Landay
has spent the last nine years producing with director Spike Jonze,
a collaboration that has been fruitful and rewarding. It has included
music-videos for bands such as Björk, R.E.M, Weezer, Chemical
Brothers & Fatboy Slim and commercials for Coca-Cola, Nike and
Levis -- which have led to numerous awards from MTV, the Grammys,
the Emmys, the Museum of Modern Art and Cannes.
In
1999, Landay produced Jonze's debut feature film, Being John
Malkovich, which received Academy Award® and Golden Globe
nominations, and was honored with awards from the Producer's Guild,
BAFTA, the Independent Spirit and MTV.
JONATHAN
DEMME (Producer) has directed 17 films including Beloved,
The Silence of the Lambs (for which he won an Academy Award®),
Philadelphia, Married to the Mob, Something Wild,
Swimming to Cambodia and Melvin and Howard, for which
he was named Best Director by the New York Film Critics. He most
recently directed The Truth About Charlie, starring Mark
Wahlberg.
In
addition, Demme has been involved in the production and presentation
of various films with other directors at the helm. He was part of
the production team on Miami Blues (directed by George Armitage),
Devil in a Blue Dress (directed by Carl Franklin), That
Thing You Do! (directed by Tom Hanks), The Opportunists
(directed by Myles Connell), Household Saints (directed by
Nancy Savoca), Ulee?s Gold (directed by Victor Nunez), A
Domestic Dilemma (directed by Kristi Zea) and "Subway Stories"
(various directors) for HBO.
Last
year, Demme had the honor of presenting Gillo Pontecorvo?s 1956
film The Wide Blue Road, in its long overdue American premiere.
In all, Demme?s films have been nominated for 20 Academy Awards®.
The Silence of the Lambs received five Academy Awards®
including, Best Picture, Best Director and Best Actress. Two of
his films have won screenplay Oscars®, Melvin and Howard
(Best Original Screenplay, 1980) and The Silence of the Lambs
(Best Screenplay Adaptation, 1991). In addition, two of the Best
Actor awards during the 1990s went to performers in Demme?s films,
Anthony Hopkins in The Silence of the Lambs (1991) and Tom
Hanks in Philadelphia (1993).
A
strong advocate of human rights, Demme has produced and directed
several documentaries about the plight of Haitians, including the
acclaimed Haiti: Dreams of Democracy, Haiti: Killing the Dream,
Tonbe Leve (Fall Down, Get Up) and Courage and Pain.
In addition, Demme directed the documentary Cousin Bobby. He
produced the Academy Award®-nominated biography Mandela,
as well as The Uttmost, One Foot on a Banana Peel, the Other
Foot in the Grave and Into the Rope! Demme is also producing
a documentary on the life of Beah Richards, along with Lisa Gay
Hamilton, who will make her directorial debut. He is currently directing
The Agronomist, a documentary about a Haitian radio journalist,
Jean Dominique, who was assassinated on the steps of his radio station.
Demme
has also directed two feature length musical performance films,
the Robyn Hitchcock performance movie Storefront Hitchcock
(1998) and the Talking Heads? concert film Stop Making Sense
(1984), which was awarded Best Documentary of 1985 by the National
Society of Film Critics. He has directed music-videos for The Neville
Brothers, Neil Young, Bruce Springsteen, Suzanne Vega, Les Frères
Parent, KRS-One, UB40, Chrissie Hynde, New Order, Fine Young Cannibals
and the Feelies, among others. He also produced "Konbit," an album
of Haitian music, for A&M Records.
PETER
SARAF(Executive Producer) began his film career in 1992
when he began working with Jonathan Demme and Edward Saxon. He has
since produced numerous projects and is now a principal partner
at Magnet Entertainment. Saraf?s producing credits include the multiple
award-winning Ulee?s Gold, directed by Victor Nunez, starring
Peter Fonda (Best Actor Academy Award® nomination) and the independent
feature The Opportunists, starring Christopher Walken.
Saraf
has produced several documentaries including Mandela, Father
of a Nation, Courage and Pain, and One Foot on a Banana Peel,
the Other Foot in the Grave, a portrait of the AIDS crisis.
He is currently producing The Agronomist, a documentary about
the slain Haitian journalist Jean Dominique. Combining his passion
for music with his film career, Saraf has been prolific in the area
of filmed music, producing such projects as "The Complex Sessions"
with Neil Young and Crazy Horse, several music videos with Bruce
Springsteen and the E Street Band, and the concert feature film
Storefront Hitchcock, featuring Robyn Hitchcock. Along with
David Byrne, he remixed and re-mastered the 10th anniversary
re-release edition of the seminal Talking Heads concert film Stop
Making Sense. Saraf is a founding member of the advisory board
of the Woodstock Film Festival, which is dedicated to celebrating
the intersection of film and music.
LANCE
ACORD (Director of Photography) was raised in Northern
California. He studied photography and filmmaking at the San Francisco
Art Institute. After graduation, he began his professional career
working with acclaimed photographer/filmmaker Bruce Weber. They
have collaborated on several documentaries, commercials and music-videos.
Over
the next ten years, Acord?s talent led him to the top of the commercial
and music-video industries. He has teamed up with such innovative
directors as Spike Jonze, Stephane Sednaoui, Jonathan Dayton and
Valerie Faris, Mark Romanek, Peter Care and Michel Gondry, to name
a few.
Combining
the stylistic cinematographic technique he used in his commercials
and music-videos with the subtle, yet detailed, craft of narrative
filmmaking, Lance crossed over to feature films. He made an auspicious
debut with the strikingly visual Buffalo 66 and went on to
shoot Spike Jonze?s Being John Malkovich. Other notable credits
include The Dangerous Lives of Altar Boys, starring Kieran
Culkin, Jena Malone, Jodie Foster and Vincent D?Onofrio.
KK
BARRETT (Production Designer) has had a long association
with Spike Jonze. He previously designed Being John Malkovich
and Human Nature. He is currently working on Lost in Translation,
with Sofia Coppola, in Tokyo. He first worked with Jonze on two
Silver Clio Award-winning commercials, one for Nissan ("Lazy Boy
Chair") and the other for Sprite ("Sun Fizz"). He also designed
a popular commercial for Levi's ("Hospital [Tainted Love]") and
many music videos.
Barrett
has twice been honored with the MTV Video Music Award for Best Art
Direction. The first was for The Smashing Pumpkins' "Tonight, Tonight"
(1996). The second was for Beck's "New Pollution" (1997).
Barrett's
extensive commercials credits include spots for The Gap, Levis,
Volvo, Budweiser, Hewlett Packard and Mercedes-Benz. He has worked
with such directors as Simon West, Herb Ritts, Dayton-Faris and
Daniel Kleinman and on music-videos for such artists as The Chemical
Brothers ("Let Forever Be") and The Red Hot Chili Peppers ("By the
Way").
ERIC
ZUMBRUNNEN, A.C.E. (Editor) has worked with Spike Jonze
for the last eight years. His work on Being John Malkovich
was nominated for a BAFTA award and honored with the American Cinema
Editors award for Best Edited Feature Film (comedy or musical).
In addition to the short films How They Get There, Amarillo by
Morning, Lick the Star and The Date, he has also edited
numerous commercials and music-videos. He has won two MTV Video
awards for Best Editing, for Weezer's "Buddy Holly" and Fat Boy
Slim's "Weapon of Choice."
GRAY
MARSHALL(Visual Effects Supervisor) is a partner in the
visual effects house Gray Matter FX, which he co-founded in 1997,
with Margaux Mackay. He has worked as visual effects supervisor
on such films as Being John Malkovich and Fight Club,
and on such commercials as Sun Microsystems? "The Doty" and Nike?s
"Morning After" spots. Most recently he created effects for Cats
& Dogs and Simone.
Marshall
began his career as an assistant cameraman and motion control operator
on motion pictures and television series. He joined Boss Films in
1993, to make moving images digitally. He later took his talents
to Digital Domain, where he was assistant digital effects supervisor
on True Lies and Sgt. Bilko, and night compositing
supervisor on Apollo 13. After heading the pre-visualization
team on The Fifth Element, Gray was visual and digital effects
supervisor on spots for Coca-Cola, Diet Coke and Packard Bell.
CARTER
BURWELL(Composer) is a veteran of New York's downtown
art music
scene.
Following his first film score, for the 1984 feature Blood Simple,
he quickly became a composer in demand, scoring such films as Psycho
III, Raising Arizona, Miller's Crossing and Barton Fink.
His
credits continued in the '90s with a wide variety of films including
Doc Hollywood, Storyville, Waterland, Buffy The Vampire Slayer,
This Boy's Life, Kalifornia, Wayne's World 2, The Hudsucker Proxy,
Airheads, It Could Happen To You, Rob Roy, as well as Fear, Joe's
Apartment, The Chamber, Fargo, The Spanish Prisoner, The Jackal,
Conspiracy Theory, The Big Lebowski, Gods and Monsters, Velvet Goldmine
and The Hi-Lo Country.
Most
recently Burwell has composed scores for Mystery, Alaska, The
Corruptor, The General's Daughter, Being John Malkovich, Three Kings,
What Planet Are You From?, O Brother, Where Art Thou?, Book Of Shadows:
Blair Witch 2, A Knight?s Tale, The Man Who Wasn?t There, The Rookie
and Simone.
CASEY
STORM (Costume Designer) made his feature film debut
with Being John Malkovich. He previously worked with Spike
Jonze on more than a dozen commercials, including the Silver Clio
Award-winning spots for Nissan ("Lazy Boy Chair") and Sprite ("Sun
Fizz"), and several music-videos, including Bjork's "It's Oh So
Quiet" and Weezer's "Buddy Holly."
In
addition, Storm has worked on commercials, for a wide variety of
products, with such directors as David Kellogg, David Dobkin, and
Larry Clark. His many music-video credits include spots for such
artists as Beck ("Where It's At"), Coolio ("Gangsta's Paradise")
and Beastie Boys ("Sabotage").
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