Adaptation
Comedy, Drama
Sony Pictures Home Entertainment  (2002) 114 mins R

7.8 (53,921 votes)
"Two very enthusiastic thumbs up!" -Ebert & Roeper

Director Spike Jonze delivers a stunningly original comedy that seamlessly blends fictional characters and situations with the lives of real people: obsessive orchid hunter John Laroche (Cooper), New Yorker journalist Susan Orlean (Streep), Hollywood screenwriter Charlie Kaufman (Cage), and his twin brother Donald (also Cage). As Charlie struggles to adapt Orlean's best-selling book The Orchid Thief, he writes himself into his own movie. The various stories crash into one another exploding into a wildly imaginative film. Adaptation, the year's most talked about movie, is at once a hilarious drama and a moving comedy. Nicolas Cage is Charlie Kaufman, a confused L.A. screenwriter overwhelmed by feelings of inadequacy, sexual frustration, self-loathing-and by the screenwriting ambitions of his freelo...

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Cast and Crew
Nicolas Cage  ......  Charlie Kaufman / Donald Kaufman
Tilda Swinton  ......  Valerie Thomas
Meryl Streep  ......  Susan Orlean
Chris Cooper  ......  John Laroche
Jay Tavare  ......  Matthew Osceola
Litefoot  ......  Russell (as G. Paul Davis)
Director  .....  Spike Jonze
Producer  .....  Jonathan Demme; Vincent Landay; Johnathan Demme; Edward Saxon
Writer  .....  Susan Orlean; Charlie Kaufman; Donald Kaufman
Notes
Goofs:
Continuity: During his conversation with Susan at the nursery, Laroche's assistant's ponytail appears and disappears over his shoulder between shots (more)

Trivia:
Weezer recorded an acoustic version of "Happy Together" to be included in the film. However, Spike Jonze felt the original version by The Turtles was a better fit for the film. (more)

Filming Locations:
Polsa Rosa Ranch - 5726 Soledad Canyon Road, Acton, California, USA (more)

Quotes:
[first lines]
Charlie Kaufman: [voiceover] Do I have an original thought in my head? My bald head. Maybe if I were happier, my hair wouldn't be falling out. Life is short. I need to make the most of it. Today is the first day of the rest of my life. I'm a walking cliché. I really need to go to the doctor and have my leg checked...
(more)

Awards:
Won Oscar. Another 39 wins & 48 nominations (more)