Screenwriter Charlie Kaufman got stuck. Unable to go any farther, he decided to use what he already had and still produce the tightest and wittiest script of the past few years.
The result of this simple case of writer’s block is “Adaptation,” a creative and meaningful meta-movie from “Being John Malkovich” visionaries Kaufman and director Spike Jonze.
Though the first five minutes may have the viewer thinking otherwise, this is no mere “making of” documentary. “Adaptation” recounts the journey Kaufman commenced after gaining Hollywood’s respect with “Being John Malkovich.” Sony Pictures hired him to write a script adapting Susan Orlean’s novel “The Orchid Thief” to the screen. It didn’t go as planned.
Kaufman immediately characterizes himself as a blundering, self-conscious buffoon with a passion for meaning. He has no skills with romance, unlike his fabricated alter ego, Donald. But a change occurs in Charlie as the film progresses and the audience sees the artist’s internal battles.
Nicholas Cage plays both Charlie and Donald Kaufman as he delivers a career performance. Meryl Streep is Orlean, a New Yorker writer who develops a liking for the drug extracted from the orchids and becomes obsessed with dial tones. Chris Cooper of “American Beauty” fame is energetic and animated as the toothless John Laroche, an orchid fanatic, for the moment, and the subject of Orlean’s novel.
The characters all come together in the true story of Kaufman’s struggle to write a movie. The theme of stillness is thick until Charlie, against his will, attends Robert McKee’s famous Hollywood screenwriting seminar. In a bar after the seminar, McKee tells Kaufman his characters must change, or his audience will be “bored to tears.”
With this help, Kaufman has a newfound drive, and Jonze shows this with active handheld camera movements. Kaufman becomes so obsessed with changing and adapting he includes a cameo from Mr. Evolution himself, Charles Darwin. The theme of changing becomes central and eventually takes over his screenwriting in his decision to include Orlean, and later himself, in the film.
Kaufman and Jonze once again establish themselves as the most creative team in Hollywood. They break down the walls of genre, narrative and characterization without looking back for a second. Many may have the courage to take on this type of challenge, but few would stomp it and shine like these two.