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Editorial Reviews:

Product Description
From the director and writer of Being John Malkovich—a film by Spike Jonze, starring Nicolas Cage and Meryl Streep, from a screenplay by Charlie and Donald Kaufman about the adaptation of the bestselling book The Orchid Thief—an exciting new filmbook in the Newmarket Shooting Script series.

This latest head trip from director Spike Jonze (Being John Malkovich) concerns an orchid collector (Chris Cooper), a journalist (Meryl Streep as author Susan Orlean), and the screenwriter (Charlie Kaufman, played by Nicolas Cage) who, in adapting Susan Orlean's book The Orchid Thief, writes himself into the movie.

The Orchid Thief tells the story of a Florida man who schemes to clone the "ghost orchid" and sell it to people all over the world who are struck with orchidelirium, the obsession with collecting rare orchids at any price. Adaptation: The Shooting Script includes the complete screenplay, a selection of 20 black-and-white movie stills, as well as an introduction by Charlie Kaufman.

Customer Reviews: Read 2 more reviews...

4 out of 5 stars

Beautifully done September 25, 2004
2 out of 6 found this review helpful

I have not yet read 'The Orchid Theif', and as such am in a good position to comment on the greatness of this movie in stand-alone form.

Charlie Kaufman is a brilliant screenwriter - and Adaptation is a masterpiece. The point he has tried to make in adapting 'The Orchid Theif' to screenplay is that if he were to adapt the book in it's original form, it would not 'make it' in the movie industry without any cliched Hollywood moments (scandal, sex, murder etc..). A movie built solely on 'flowers' would not grab the audience's attention and keep them interested.

This point is further reinforced by the fact that Charlie's twin, Donald produces his first screenplay using the exact cliches Charlie has been trying to avoid - but his script is deemed a masterpiece!

In Charlie's script, he pieces together parts of 'The Orchid Theif' (presented in the most beautiful way - Merryl Streep is superb in this role!), with pieces of his own tormented life.

The end result, is a movie about making a movie about adapting a book to a movie. Confused? Watch it with no expectations, and you will be pleasantly suprised at how much you enjoy Adaptation.

5 out of 5 stars

It's About The Process! April 23, 2004
First and foremost, I would have to say that this is one of my favorite movies. Charlie Kaufman really knows how to write such a compelling and remarkable movie. Second, many people have this misconception that ther movie was supposed to be based on the novel "The Orchid Thief". What people fail to realize is that once a screenwriter is hired to adapt a novel, it is their job to write the screenplay in dramatic screen form. In ther movie, if people paid closer attention, Kaufman was clearly trying to illustrate the problems of adapting such a beautiful novel without risking authenticity because of pressures from mainstream Hollywood.

Although the film turns out to be a bit autobiographical, Kaufman still manages to remain close to the general theme of the novel which is how we are all trying to adapt to our surroundings(hence the title-"Adaptation"), Either way, Kaufman still manages to show the intricate nature of the orchids, and how they serve as a symbol to the characters that embody the movie. Not to be too analytical, the script/movie is still great. Don't take my word for it, just watch it for youself.

5 out of 5 stars

This is about a screenplay.. not a book. January 25, 2004
15 out of 16 found this review helpful

Adaptation by Charlie Kaufman (film dir. by Spike Jonze) is like the name might imply, about adaptation. Many critics of this script complain that it is a failure of Suzanne Orlean's novel "The Orchid Thief" but I disagree. The first point to make I've already said: it's about adapting a book. Now, there are plenty of references to the orchid thief, and this script is inexticably linked with the book, but the novel, as Kaufman says in the movie "is a beautiful book about flowers... I just want to make a movie about flowers" (not an actual quote, but it's kinda' close to what he says throughout). The script constantly praises the novel, but the movie is really about what it takes to write a screenplay, and is therefore almost more of a creative work than an actual adaptation. As such, the screenplay is excellent. It is witty, careful, and through many twists and turns, becomes the very item that it claims, maybe even strives, to not be: a product of hollywood. What makes this movie more than a car-chase-sex-scene-drugs-love-insert-archetypical-theme-here kinda' movie is the fact that Kaufman's writing is brilliant. He tastefully inserts every single hollywood cliche from theme song to personal struggle into the film in a way that won't make you puke. Instead of being a lame rehash, adaptation leaves the viewer wondering what it really was that just took place. The story is well-paced, characters are stongly developed, and plot twists don't feel thrown in at the last moment: you feel that this could honestly happen, at least most of the time. While it strays significantly from the orchid thief, the script stands well on its own two legs, slinking through the plot in a way that will have you before you even realize it, then turns you on your head. Both the book and script are great literary works, but, even with their strong kinship, it's best to view them separately than attack the latter for it's liberal use of the former.

1 out of 5 stars

An abomination November 18, 2003
2 out of 48 found this review helpful

Susan Orlean's book The Orchid Thief is a true gem - wonderfully written and highly entertaining. I don't know what Charlie Kaufman was thinking but this is no "adaptation" of The Orchid Thief. It's really a shame that such a fine book is associated with this screenplay. Surely, Kaufman could have come up with a more creative way to adapt The Orchid Thief for the screen. This screenplay is little more than a rant on the film industry. It doesn't do justice to Orlean's work.

1 out of 5 stars

Want your taste & intelligence insulted? Read this book! September 5, 2003
3 out of 51 found this review helpful

This self-aggrandizing autobiographical screenplay has virtually nothing to do with Susan Orlean's fascinating book "The Orchid Thief", which is about legal inequality at the Federal level. Instead, Kaufman insults his employers character and our taste & intelligence by insisting that no one will see any film that doesn't have drugs, sleazy sex and high speed chases - none of which appear in Orlean's fine book, but are substituted by Kaufman for the entire premise of the original work. Some of Kaufman's past work was novel and entertaining. This screenplay is, at best, depressing. Read Orlean's book instead.