Adaptation.
Short description
Charlie Kaufman is a Los Angeles screenwriter struggling to turn Susan Orlean's nonfiction book about orchid poaching into a screenplay. Insecure, lonely and stalled, he finds his situation made worse by his twin brother Donald, who moves in with him and casually produces a screenplay of his own. Charlie eventually decides to write his own difficulties into the script, a choice that draws him, Orlean and the orchid hunter John Laroche together in ways that blur the line between what is real and what is invented.
Spike Jonze directed the film, his second feature after Being John Malkovich in 1999 and the second of six features he has directed to date. Charlie Kaufman wrote the screenplay, and Nicolas Cage plays both Kaufman brothers, with Meryl Streep as Orlean, Chris Cooper as Laroche and Tilda Swinton as Valerie Thomas. Jonathan Demme, Edward Saxon and Vincent Landay produced for Columbia Pictures and other companies.
Made for about 19 million dollars, the film took roughly 33 million dollars worldwide. It holds a 7.6 rating on IMDb from over 213,000 votes and a 7.3 on TMDB from a much smaller number of users, while a film critics' rating of 8.4 from 209 reviews places it above both audiences.
What's left behind the scenes
- The film is based on Susan Orlean's novel «The Orchid Thief» (1998).
- Donald, as an example of a film about flowers, mentions «Flowers for Algernon». Charlie replies to him: «It’s not about flowers; besides, it's not a movie». In fact, there are two adaptations of this book – the film «Charly» (1968) and the television film «Flowers for Algernon» (2000).
- Robert McKee personally suggested to the producers that Brian Cox play him in the film.
- Tom Hanks was initially planned to play the dual role of the Kaufman brothers.
- During filming, Nicolas Cage had to wear artificial prosthetics to appear overweight.
- Meryl Streep was interested in the role of Susan even before auditions and even agreed to a salary reduction to get the film's budget approved.
- Initially, Laroche was supposed to be played by John Turturro. Chris Cooper considered the role too challenging, but agreed to take it on after persuasion from his wife.
- Albert Finney, Terence Stamp, Michael Caine, and Christopher Plummer all auditioned for the role of Robert McKee.
- In one scene, Charlie comes home and checks his mail. He stands in front of a mirror while his brother Donald speaks to him from behind. Donald's reflection in the mirror is the real Charlie Kaufman (the film's screenwriter).
- Preparing for filming, Chris Cooper grew long hair and lost weight. He used dentures to create the illusion of a toothless mouth. In choosing the exact image of his character, Cooper, with the permission of director Spike Jonze, repeatedly played numerous takes of the same scenes.
- In the original script, the character played by Chris Cooper was killed by a cryptid called the Bog Creature (a cryptid is an animal or plant whose existence is denied by mainstream science, but which is considered possible by proponents of pseudosciences such as cryptozoology or cryptobotany). Robert McKee (played by Brian Cox in the film) asked to have the cryptid removed from the script. He said the following: “I agree to become a character in the film, but I do not agree to become a character in a bad film.”
- Donald Kaufman is credited as a co-writer of the screenplay in the credits. He also appears in the film as one of the characters, and the film is dedicated «to his bright memory». In reality, Donald is a fictional character.
- John Cusack, Catherine Keener, John Malkovich, Lance Eekord, and Spike Jonze are uncredited; they played cameos of themselves in the filming episode of the movie 'Being John Malkovich'.
- According to Nicolas Cage, while working on this film, he ignored his own acting intuition and played Charlie Kaufman exactly as director Spike Jonze instructed him.
- The film tells the story of Charlie Kaufman's efforts to adapt Susan Orlean's bestseller 'The Orchid Thief' for the screen. For a number of reasons, Kaufman decided to write a screenplay about his own struggle to adapt the book, exaggerating certain plot elements and characters and inventing new storylines and personas (for example, Donald Kaufman, a twin who does not exist in real life). Knowing that producers would reject the idea, he only proposed it to them once he had a finished script. Spike Jonze liked the idea, but Kaufman believed it would end his entire career (which, fortunately, did not happen).
- Joaquin Phoenix auditioned for the role that eventually went to Chris Cooper. According to Spike Jonze, during one of their final meetings, Phoenix stated himself that the role was not right for him and suggested that Spike look for someone else.
- Charlie Kaufman worked on the screenplay without even knowing Susan Orlean. They only met a year after filming had begun, when she visited the set and was introduced to him by Nicolas Cage. Their next face-to-face meeting didn't happen for another year.
- The costume used to visually bulk up Nicolas Cage's character was stuffed with lentil seeds and beads. Cage sweated so much in it that the seeds actually began to sprout.
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