Adaptation (film)

Adaptation (film)

Adaptation. is a 2002 American semi-autobiographical drama film directed by Spike Jonze and written by Charlie Kaufman. The film is based on Susan Orlean's non-fiction book The Orchid Thief, with numerous self-referential events added. The film stars Nicolas Cage as Charlie and Donald Kaufman, Meryl Streep as Susan Orlean, with Chris Cooper as John Laroche, Cara Seymour, Brian Cox, Tilda Swinton, Ron Livingston and Maggie Gyllenhaal.

Though the film is billed as an adaptation of The Orchid Thief, its primary narrative focus is Charlie Kaufman's difficult struggle to adapt The Orchid Thief into a film, while dramatizing the events of the book in parallel. Adaptation. also adds a number of fictitious elements, including Kaufman's twin brother (also credited as a writer for the film) and a romance between Orlean and Laroche, and culminates in completely invented events including fictional versions of Orlean and Laroche three years after the events related in The Orchid Thief, Kaufman and his fictional twin brother.

The film had been in development as far back as 1994. Jonathan Demme brought the project to Columbia Pictures with Kaufman writing the script. Kaufman went through writer's block and did not know what to think of The Orchid Thief. Finally he wrote a script based on his experience of adapting The Orchid Thief as a screenplay. Jonze signed to direct, and filming was finished in June 2001. Adaptation achieved critical acclaim, and gained numerous awards at the 75th Academy Awards, 60th Golden Globe Awards and 56th British Academy Film Awards, especially for its writing and acting. Cooper won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, while Kaufman won the BAFTA Award for Best Adapted Screenplay.