..Gary Dretzka
..Noah Forrest
..Leonard Klady
..R.J. Matson
..David Poland
..Douglas Pratt
..Ray Pride
..Michael Wilmington

“… print the legend”
The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance

Whether urban legend or fact, the yarn behind the adaptation of the film Adaptation makes for excellent copy. The yarn spun is that screenwriter Charlie Kaufman of Being John Malkovich acclaim was hired to adapt Susan Orlean’s non-fiction book The Orchid Thief, the colorful saga of a Florida man who waded into the Everglades and purloined valuable and endangered species of the flower. The legend is that in an effort to be faithful to the source material, Kaufman ultimately was done in by its lack of drama, and in desperation wrote himself into the script and his failure to fulfill the assignment.

The film is very inside Hollywood and the way movies are made circa 2002. However, it in no way resembles a documentary. One must assume Kaufman also came to the conclusion that his personal life was as dry and unadaptable as The Orchid Thief and proceeded to give himself a twin brother (who, though as palpable as ethe,r generously receives a writing credit) who’s employed dramatically as his doppelganger.

Veracity aside, the irony of the piece is that while its inventions, asides and observations are amusing and sometimes painfully familiar, the film is most potent when chronicling Orlean’s writing of what began as a piece for the New Yorker and her growing sexual attraction to her subject. Kaufman’s neurotic quest that touches briefly on going to see Orlean becomes the fingernails on the chalk board of the story - distracting, prankish and irritating.

The film begins with the assignment and Charlie Kaufman’s (Nicolas Cage) awkward lunch with a studio executive. It allows the film to wallow in the writer’s self doubts and unconvincing show of confidence.  Back at his apartment, brother Donald (also Cage) lolls about and comes to the casual decision that he too could write a screenplay, albeit not of the caliber of his lauded brother. His idea is a pastiche of conventional thriller elements and illogical twists. Charlie is at once contemptuous of Donald’s glib attitude and covetous of the sibling’s facile nature that allows him to write angst free, party and establish instant rapport with the opposite sex.

Hunched over his word processor, Charlie begins to put down in words his version of The Orchid Thief. But, in fact, his adaptation isn’t it all the faithful, honest translation he promised himself or the studio. Orlean (Meryl Streep) becomes a major part of the article she’s researching much in the way Kaufman invades the story. She even embodies Kaufman’s personal and professional anxieties.

When the journalist ventures down to Florida to meet Larouche (Chris Cooper), she encounters someone who, despite having the physical appearance of a cartoon rube (baseball cap, missing teeth, stringy hair), possesses a charm and confidence that sweeps her off her feet. He speaks at length and with seeming assurance of his legal right to take the orchids and it’s impossible for Orlean or the audience not to come under his spell. Larouche, in his own odd way, resembles Donald.

The screenplay is a house of mirrors that is entirely reflective and, thanks to director Spike Jonze’s adroit grasp of filmmaking, gives the appearance of substance where none exists. So it is the parts that finally move us emotionally or cause us to laugh. The former derives chiefly from the interplay between Streep and Cooper who discover there’s more than a professional relationship between them and convey a real poignancy as they gingerly approach crossing the line.

And, while hilarious, Kaufman’s encounter with screenwriting guru Robert McKee (Brian Cox) is rife with ambivalence. Though clearly Charlie Kaufman has disdain for anyone who teaches a formulaic method of writing, his McKee is given a sympathetic hearing. And whether he likes what he has to say or not, his adaptation - the one played for an audience - winds up having the car chases and explosions McKee’s program mandates.

Kaufman’s penchant for mixing real people with fantastic, absurd situations - the melding of fact and fiction - produces something aptly coined as “fraction.” As the term implies, it is not wholly anything and in this instance partially completed ideas render half baked conclusions. One admires the craft of much of the writing, the precision of the craftspeople, the professionalism of the cast especially Cage who dives into the makeup box to create a physically grotesque creature. But at the final fade out, the fraction that is Adaptation is not wholly satisfying.

A Sony Pictures release in association with Intermedia Films of a Magnet/Clinica Estetico production. Produced by Edward Saxon, Vincent Landay, Jonathan Demme. Director, Spike Jonze. Screenplay, Charlie and Donald Kaufman, based upon the book The Orchid Thief by Susan Orlean. Camera, Lance Acord. Editor, Eric Zumbrunnen. Music, Carter Burwell. Production design, K.K. Barrett. Costumes, Casey Storm, Ann Roth.

Nicolas Cage (Charlie/Donald Kaufman), Meryl Streep (Susan Orleans ), Chris Cooper (John Laroche), Cara Seymour (Amelie), Rheagan Wallace (Kim Canetti), Brian Cox (Robert McKee), Tilda Swinton (Valerie), Maggie Gyllenhaal (Caroline).

- Leonard Klady