Adaptation. (2002)
12-month trend
12-month trend
Monthly article views
2025-09 to 2026-08
A struggling screenwriter faces a creative crisis while attempting to adapt a non-fiction book about the orchid trade.
The story
In the fall of 1999, self-loathing screenwriter Charlie Kaufman is hired to write an adaptation of Susan Orlean's The Orchid Thief. He struggles with anxiety, social phobia, depression, and low self-esteem. His twin brother, Donald, has moved into his house and is freeloading there. Donald decides to become a screenwriter like Charlie and attends seminars by screenwriting guru Robert McKee. Charlie, who rejects formulaic scriptwriting, wants to ensure that his script is a faithful adaptation but comes to feel that the book lacks a usable narrative and is impossible to turn into a film, which leaves him with a serious case of writer's block.
Full plot (contains spoilers)
Charlie Kaufman struggles to adapt Susan Orlean's book 'The Orchid Thief' while dealing with writer's block and his freeloading twin brother, Donald. After traveling to New York to meet Orlean, Charlie's social anxiety leads him to involve Donald in the process. They follow Orlean to Florida, where she meets her secret lover, John Laroche, an orchid thief. The narrative weaves in fictional elements, including a drug used to induce fascination with orchids. After a tense confrontation where Orlean attempts to silence Charlie, Donald intervenes. The story culminates in a series of chaotic events in a swamp: Donald is accidentally shot by Laroche and later dies in a car crash. Charlie survives and eventually reconciles with his mother and a former love interest, finally completing his script with a sense of hope.
- First release year
- 2002
- Runtime (minutes)
- 115
- Production countries
- United States
- Original languages
- English
- Directors
- Spike Jonze
- Writers
- Charlie Kaufman · screenplay
- Cast and characters
- Nicolas Cage · Charlie and Donald Kaufman; Meryl Streep · Susan Orlean; Chris Cooper · John Laroche; Tilda Swinton · Valerie Thomas; Cara Seymour · Amelia Kavan; Brian Cox · Robert McKee; Maggie Gyllenhaal · Caroline Cunningham; Ron Livingston · Marty Bowen
- Genres
- comedy-drama; black comedy
- Themes
- obsession; artistic struggle; identity
- Tone and mood
- quirky; metafictional
- Premise and plot tags
- meta-narrative; adaptation; twin brothers
- Reception
- The film received widespread critical acclaim for its direction, screenplay, humor, and the performances of Cage, Cooper, and Streep.
- Reported review scores
- Rotten Tomatoes · score: 90% · scale: percentage · review count: 208; Metacritic · score: 83 · scale: 100 · review count: 40
- Awards and nominations
- Academy Award · Best Supporting Actor · win; BAFTA Award · Best Adapted Screenplay · win
- Production trivia
- The film was ranked as one of the best of the 2000s by the British Film Institute.
Film metadata comes from the open sources listed in Credits & Contact. Catalogue details may be incomplete.
Your lists
Loading your lists…