Adaptation
Sign in to save2002 film directed by Spike Jonze
Film · TMDB
7.3Charlie Kaufman is a confused L.A. screenwriter overwhelmed by feelings of inadequacy, sexual frustration, self-loathing, and by the screenwriting ambitions of his freeloading twin brother Donald. While struggling to adapt "The Orchid Thief," by Susan Orlean, Kaufman's life spins from pathetic to bizarre. The lives of Kaufman and Orlean's book become strangely intertwined as each one's search for passion collides with the other's.
Released: 2002-12-06115 minDir: Spike JonzeComedy, Crime, Drama
Cast
- Nicolas Cage as Charlie Kaufman / Donald Kaufman
- Meryl Streep as Susan Orlean
- Chris Cooper as John Laroche
- Tilda Swinton as Valerie Thomas
- Jay Tavare as Matthew Osceola
- Litefoot as Russell
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Key facts
- Directed by
- Spike Jonze
- Screenplay by
- Charlie Kaufman
- Based on
- The Orchid Thief , by Susan Orlean
- Produced by
- Edward Saxon Vincent Landay Jonathan Demme
- Starring
- Nicolas Cage Meryl Streep Chris Cooper
- Cinematography
- Lance Acord
- Edited by
- Eric Zumbrunnen
- Music by
- Carter Burwell
- Production companies
- Columbia Pictures Intermedia Films Magnet Productions Clinica Estetico Productions
- Distributed by
- Sony Pictures Releasing
- Release date
- December 6, 2002 ( 2002-12-06 )
- Running time
- 115 minutes
- Country
Key dates
- Published
- 13 March 2003
via Wikidata · CC0
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- film
- Genre
- drama film
- Country of origin
- United States
- Original language
- English language
- Creator
- Spike Jonze
- Director
- Spike Jonze
- Screenwriter
- Charlie Kaufman
- Composer
- Carter Burwell
- Producer
Article
Adaptation (stylized as Adaptation.) is a 2002 American metafictional comedy-drama film directed by Spike Jonze and written by Charlie Kaufman. It features an ensemble cast led by Nicolas Cage, Meryl Streep, and Chris Cooper, with Tilda Swinton, Cara Seymour, Brian Cox, Maggie Gyllenhaal, and Ron Livingston in supporting roles.
Kaufman based Adaptation on his struggles to adapt Susan Orlean's 1998 nonfiction book The Orchid Thief while suffering from writer's block. It involves elements adapted from the book, plus fictitious elements, including Kaufman's twin brother (also credited as a writer for the film) and a romance between Orlean and John Laroche (Cooper). It culminates in completely invented elements, including versions of Orlean and Laroche three years after the events of The Orchid Thief.