I Give It:	(Film)
	(Script, second draft)

Release Date: December 6 2002 - limited release (originally fall 2001), Dec. 26 (Australia)

Official Sites:	www.sonypictures.com/movies/adaptation/
	www.susanorlean.com
	www.astralwerks.com/adaptation (Official soundtrack)

Fan Sites:Meryl Streep Online, www.spike-jonze.tk, Cage by Page

Meryl Streep as Susan Orlean

The Pitch: Oh man. Okay. Screenwriter Charlie Kaufman is given the assignment of adapting for the big-screen Susan Orlean's book The Orchid Thief, which tells the true story of a plant dealer named John Laroche and three Seminole Indians who conspired to clone rare orchids and sell them at exorbitant rates to plant collectors. But Charlie worries that the book doesn't have enough plot to sustain a full movie, and he doesn't want to do the standard Hollywood thing and turn it into a heist movie or something like that. Plus he's becoming attracted to Orlean herself. Meanwhile Charlie's brother Donald, also a screenwriter, is writing cliche Hollywood thrillers, much to Charlie's disdain. This - every single word I just said - is the plot of Adaptation, the movie; it's what you'll see on the big screen. Nicolas Cage will be playing both Charlie Kaufman and Donald Kaufman. (Donald doesn't exist in real-life, just in the movie.) In real life, the real Charlie Kaufman really was asked to write an adaptation of The Orchid Thief, and the above stuff is what he came up with - he wrote about himself writing the movie. Whoa, my head hurts.
The Buzz: The script generated a lot of excitement and quickly became somewhat legendary. The film garnered almost universal acclaim among critics, winning loads of awards (particularly for Chris Cooper's performance and Charlie's script), and a fairly good reception from audiences. Some found the film too self-indulgent, but - as with Being John Malkovich - the main sticking point seemed to be the film's third act.

Kaufman (Cage) and Orlean (Streep)

Cast: Nicolas Cage (Charlie and Donald Kaufman), Meryl Streep (Susan Orlean and Orlean's mother), Chris Cooper (John Laroche), Brian Cox (Robert McKee), John Cusack (Himself), Catherine Keener (Herself), Ron Livingston (Marty - Charlie's agent), Tilda Swinton (Valerie),Maggie Gyllenhaal (Caroline), Cara Seymour, Rheagan Wallace (Kim Canetti), Fred Lerner (Aristotle), Terrence O'Brien (Teen Kaufman), Allison O'Donnell (Orlean Age 7), David O. Russell (Himself), Jeremy Sumpter (Laroche Age 10), Bob Yerkes (Darwin), Lynn Court (Laroche's Dad), Caron Colvett (Laroche's wife), Brigitte Bogle (Teenage Orlean), Agnes Baddoo (Herself), Sandra Gimpel (Laroche's mother), Curtis Hanson (Orlean's husband), Spike Jonze (Himself), Judy Greer.
NB: For more cast and crew info, visit Adaptation's listing here at the IMDB.
Crew: Spike Jonze (Director), Jonathan Demme, Ed Saxon and Vincent Landay (Producers), Eric Zumbrunnen (Film Editing), Carter Burwell (Music), Lance Acord (Cinematography), Justine Baddeley & Kim Davis-Wagner (Casting), K.K. Barrett (Production Design), Peter Andrus (Art Direction), Gene Serdena (Set Decoration), Gary D'Amico (Special Effects Co-Ordinator), James Ferguson (Special Make-Up Effects)
NB: For more cast and crew info, visit Adaptation's listing here at the IMDB.

Trailer/Clips: Go here to view the trailer, interviews and clips from the film. They're in Quicktime, Windows Media, and Real Media.
The Screenplay: Two early drafts of Adaptation are available for download here: the legendary 2nd draft, dated September 24, 1999 (that's the one with the swamp monster - it's also the one most film sites reviewed a couple of years ago); and the 2nd draft revised, from November 21 2000, which is a lot closer to the shooting draft (the swamp monster's out and Donald's "It's what you love" speech is in, among other things). The shooting script is available from Amazon, via the BCK shop. (A percentage of every sale goes to BCK, and will be used to buy more downloadable scripts for the site.)

Fantasy vs. Reality: In response to the innumerable emails I receive asking about what's real and what's not in this movie, here's a brief rundown (a lot of this is mentioned in "The Pitch" up above, but apparently nobody bothers to read anything near the top of the page):

• Charlie Kaufman, Susan Orlean, John Laroche, Marty Bowen, Robert McKee and Valerie (the studio exec) are all real people.
• Donald Kaufman is not real. The real-life Charlie Kaufman has one sister but no brother.
• The real-life counterparts of the characters in this movie all gave permission to be portrayed as they have been. Apparently Susan Orlean was really happy with the way the movie turned out.
• There really is a book called The Orchid Thief (written by Susan Orlean), which tells the true story of John Laroche and his attempt to steal a bunch of rare orchids from a Florida swamp with the aid of some native Americans.
• Charlie Kaufman really was hired by Columbia Pictures to adapt the book.
• He really did intend to make a straight adaptation of the book, but couldn't figure out how to do it. Just like in the movie, he struggled, developed writer's block, and drove himself a little nuts trying to write the project. Eventually he decided to write about how hard it was to adapt the novel.
• There have been a few suggestions as to why Charlie invented Donald: firstly, to represent the "mainstream" Hollywood that Charlie rails against; secondly, to perhaps acknowledge that even though Charlie rails against the mainstream, sometimes you have to put a few mainstream ingredients into a screenplay if you want it to work; thirdly, as a dramatic counterpoint to the character of fictional Charlie. There are other theories, but you get the gist. Critic David Poland has interesting theories about Donald in particular and the movie in general. I HIGHLY ADVISE that you read his piece if you're serious about understanding the movie. Even if you disagree with him, it might get you to thinking about the movie in a slightly different light.
• In the movie, after the point where Charlie Kaufman attends Robert McKee's screenwriting seminar, nothing that happens in the movie happened in real-life.
• Susan Orlean never saw a ghost orchid - the reality of her story ends in the scene where Charlie finishes reading her book. All of Meryl Streep's voice-over narration up to that points comes directly from The Orchid Thief. Everything after that point is fiction invented by Charlie Kaufman.
• John Laroche is not dead and as far as I know, has never been attacked by an alligator (or a bigfoot creature, which was in early drafts of the script instead of the 'gator).
• The porn website Donald Kaufman mentions is real... sort of. It was created by a company John Laroche worked for. Susan Orlean never appeared on it. This info comes straight from John himself, who sent me a few emails and posted with his fiance on the BCK message board.
• Orlean and Laroche never had any kind of romantic involvement at all.
• The orchids were not used to make illegal drugs.
• Everything in the final act of the movie - drugs, car chases, sex etc. - came straight from the imagination of Charlie Kaufman. It's meant to be a jab at the kind of screenplay Donald Kaufman would write. ie. the kind of screenplay that Charlie believes could result from attending a Robert McKee seminar. But you will note that McKee is painted in a fairly good, sincere light, indicating that Charlie might grudgingly agree there is at least a little merit in some of the things McKee espouses. Or not. In any case, this is why you see "written by Charlie and Donald Kaufman" in the opening credits - it's an in-joke.
• In real-life, Charlie probably never attended a McKee seminar. (BCK.com staffer rObix recalls reading an article somewhere in which Charlie states that he never attended one.) If he did, it was probably only for the purposes of research while writing this movie.
• Charlie did not stalk Susan Orlean. In reality they only met once, on the set of the movie, and only for a couple of minutes.
• Charlie is not fat, bald or repulsive. Just look at the banner at the top of this website. He is thin with a head of thick curly hair. However, he does admit to having a bunch of his own insecurities and neuroses.
• I - the webmaster of BCK.com - am not Charlie Kaufman and never have been.
• All of this information came from a couple dozen articles that are dead easy to find but which you were possibly too lazy to click on.
• If you have any other questions, feel free to hit me with 'em. I just wanted to try warding off the most popular ones.

Cage as Charlie and Donald

Articles/Interviews: The Professor adds bitters when the sting is too sweet - SFGate.com
Gray Marshall & Margaux Mackay Interview - Film & Video Magazine
A writing guru's very own 'Story' - CNN.com
The Real McKee - The New Yorker
CINEMA: EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW WITH CHARLIE KAUFMAN - Clarín.com (roughly translated from Spanish)
Let's make a meta-movie - Guardian Unlimited
The Anxiety of Adaptation - IFCRant (scanned)
Adapt or Die - Hot Dog
Truth and Fiction in Charlie Kaufman’s Adaptation - Cyber Film School
Unhappy Endings: Big Studios Find Quality Films Too Often Are a Losing Proposition - Washington Post
An Unorthodox ADAPTATION: Deciphering Charlie Kaufman - Screenwriters Monthly
This is not a Celebrity Profile - Los Angeles (scanned)
This is Your Auteur on Drugs - Creative Screenwriting
Being Charlie Kaufman - Sunday Herald
Wild Hollywood Orchid - Macleans.ca
It's Evolution Baby! - Film Festival Today
What does Charles Kaufman think he's doing? - Zeek
Confessions of an Outrageous Mind - MSNBC
Creative Licensees - Spliced Online
Spike Jonze and Charlie Kaufman Adapt to Adaptation - Prevue Magazine
The Man Who Wasn't There - Rolling Stone
Biggest adaptation goes to movie's actors - Kansas City Star
Being Charlie Kaufman can't be a bad thing - Canada.com
Script tease - The Oregonian
(Almost) all in the mind - The Age
The joy of trying to figure out a film - LA Times
IMDb Interviews Charlie Kaufman, Spike Jonze and Nicolas Cage - IMDB
Postmodern Celebrity and the Knack of Adaptation - Exclaim!
A Staggering Adaptation of Heartbreaking Genius - Entertainment Today
"Adaptation" and the perils of adaptation - Salon
Spike Jonze and Charlie Kaufman, “really surreal” - Audience
The Stars and I - CAGE, JONZE and KAUFMAN on the Fine Art of Adaptation - Tablet
Twin Pleasures - Chicago Sun-Times
Writer Takes the Reins - The West
'Adaptation' effects: seamless, unsung - LA Times
New Yorker Writer Turns Gun-Toting Floozy? That's Showbiz - New York Times
Writer's block? Insert self into script. Problem solved! - Christian Science Monitor
In Praise of Confusion - Written By
Spike Jonze, Charlie Kaufman and Nicolas Cage Break All the Rules - NOW
Adapting the Unadaptable - Reel.com
Spike Jonze and Charlie Kaufman Discuss Adaptation - IGN Film Force
Being Charlie Kaufman - Eye Weekly
Keeping Up With Jonze - The Independent Weekly
Adapting Spike and Charlie - Adaptation Blogspot (and 7x7 Magazine)
The Power of Negative Thinking - The Globe and Mail
Nicolas Cage is rocking, rolling, adapting - USA Today
Q&A; With Kaufman, Cage & Jonze!! - AICN
Orchid Fever - The New Yorker (this is the original article that inspired the book that inspired the film)
Adaptation Forum - The Onion A.V. Club
Brief Interviews With Devious Men - The Village Voice
Don't Say 'Pitch'! - The Village Voice
Learning Curves - The Village Voice
The Current Cinema - The Village Voice
The 'I' Cure for Writer's Block - New York Times
Susan Orlean and John Laroche at the World Premiere of "Adaptation" - About.com
Judy Greer and Cara Seymour Talk About "Adaptation" - About.com
Meryl Streep Talks About "Adaptation" - About.com
Director Spike Jonze and Screenwriter Charlie Kaufman Talk About "Adaptation" - About.com
Writer Susan Orlean and Producer Edward Saxon Talk About "Adaptation" and "The Orchid Thief" - About.com
Nicolas Cage and team test film in Seattle - Seattle PI
Charlie's Angle - Entertainment Weekly (4 pages, scanned)
The Power Behind The Flower - Premiere (scan)
Being Robert McKee - LA Times
Charlie Kaufman talks shop - IGN Film Force
How crazy is Spike Jonze? - AICN
Adaptation photo online - AICN
The Next Jonze Project - AICN

Chris Cooper as John Laroche

Reviews: Adaptation (DVD) - Guardian Unlimited
Adaptation - Hot Dog
The Adaptation Column - David Poland
Adaptations, The Movie [sic] - Absolute Write
Cogito Ergo Kaufman - Shaking Through
Balancing act: `Adaptation' works as sleight of hand - Kansas City Star
Being Charlie Kaufman - The Guardian
Adaptation - Hollywood Bitchslap
Adaptation - Slush Factory
Adaptation - New York Press
Adaptation - Images Journal
The Collision of Truth and Fiction - Daily Telegraph
Twin Pleasures - Chicago Sun-Times
If you can't write it, join in - Christian Science Monitor
An 'Adaptation' like no other - LA Times
Jonze Adapts - NOW
Adaptation - Salon
Adaptation - Jo Blo's Movie Emporium
Obsession Made Even More Lunatic: Jonze and Kaufman's Fearless "Adaptation" - indieWIRE
Adaptation - Slant Magazine
Adaptation - Film Threat
The Subject Was Orchids - In These Times
Hothouse - The New Yorker
Capone reviews ADAPTATION - AICN
The Truth About Charlie - The Village Voice
Adaptation - The Cranky Critic
Adaptation - Film Freak Central
Adaptation - Entertainment Weekly
Adaptation - Screen Daily
MORIARTY’s Mind Officially Blown!! ADAPTATION Is To Blame!! - AICN
Mr. Beaks Wrestles With Adaptation - AICN
Adaptation - Rolling Stone
Adaptation - Films In Review
Adaptation - Variety
Adaptation - Hollywood Reporter
Adaptation - Moviehole
I literally jumped out of my seat with joy... - David Poland
An Adept "Adaptation" - New York Newsday
Adaptation Script Review - The Trades (written by me)
Stax Special Edition: Adaptation Script Review - IGN Film Force
Jeffrey Wells' script review - Reel.com
Darwin Mayflower reviews Adaptation screenplay - Screenwriter's Utopia
Script review - IGN Film Force
Rumbles about Adaptation - AICN
Extremely early look at Adaptation - AICN
Mysterio ponders ADAPTATION - AICN
'Disturbed' schizophrenically talks about Adaptation - AICN

Awards: National Board of Review - Charlie Kaufman, Screenwriter of the Year
National Board of Review - Adaptation, #5 Film of the Year
National Board of Review - Chris Cooper, Best Featured Actor (ie. Best Supporting)
Los Angeles Film Critics Assoc. - Charlie & Donald Kaufman, Best Screenplay Runner-up
Los Angeles Film Critics Assoc. - Chris Cooper, Best Supporting Actor
Boston Film Critics Assoc. - Charlie & Donald Kaufman, Best Screenplay
New York Film Critics Circle - Charlie & Donald Kaufman, Best Screenplay
American Film Institute - Top 10 films of the year (an unranked list)
Toronto Film Critics Association - Charlie & Donald Kaufman, Best Screenplay
Toronto Film Critics Association - Best Picture,
Toronto Film Critics Association - Nicolas Cage, Best Male Performance
Toronto Film Critics Association - Chris Cooper, Best Supporting Male Performance
Seattle Film Critics - Chris Cooper, Best Supporting Actor
Hollywood Foreign Press - Charlie & Donald Kaufman, Best Screenwriting
Washington Area Film Critics Association - Adaptation, Best Film (runner-up)
Washington Area Film Critics Association - Spike Jonze, Best Director (tie with Sam Mendes & Denzel Washington)
Washington Area Film Critics Association - Chris Cooper, Best Supporting Actor (tie with Dennis Haysbert)
Washington Area Film Critics Association - Charlie Kaufman, Best Adapted Screenplay
Florida Film Critics Circle - Adaptation, Best Film
Florida Film Critics Circle - Charlie & Donald Kaufman, Best Screenplay
Florida Film Critics Circle - Meryl Streep, Best Supporting Actress
Florida Film Critics Circle - Chris Cooper, Best Supporting Actor
Online Film Critics' Society - Charlie & Donald Kaufman, Best Adapted Screenplay
Golden Satellite Awards - Charlie & Donald Kaufman, Best Adapted Screenplay
Golden Satellite Awards - Chris Cooper, Best Supporting Actor (Musical/Comedy - nomination)
Golden Globe Awards - Chris Cooper, Best Supporting Actor
Golden Globe Awards - Meryl Streep, Best Supporting Actress
Golden Globe Awards - Adaptation, Best Film, Musical/Comedy (nomination)
Golden Globe Awards - Nicolas Cage, Best Actor, Musical/Comedy, (nomination)
Golden Globe Awards - Spike Jonze, Best Director (nomination)
Golden Globe Awards - Charlie & Donald Kaufman, Best Screenplay (nomination)
Critics Choice Awards - Charlie Kaufman, Best Screenplay
Critics Choice Awards - Chris Cooper, Best Supporting Actor
Cinemarati Awards - Charlie and Donald Kaufman, Best Adapted Screenplay
Cinemarati Awards - Meryl Streep, Best Supporting Actress
BAFTAs - Charlie and Donald Kaufman, Best Adapted Screenplay
BAFTAs - Nicolas Cage, Best Performance by Lead Actor (nomination)
BAFTAs - Meryl Streep, Best Performance by Supporting Actress (nomination)
BAFTAs - Chris Cooper, Best Performance by Supporting Actor (nomination)
Writer's Guild of America Awards - Charlie and Donald Kaufman, Best Adapted Screenplay (nomination)
Academy Awards - Chris Cooper, Best Supporting Actor
Academy Awards - Nicolas Cage, Best Actor (nomination)
Academy Awards - Meryl Streep, Best Supporting Actress (nomination)
Academy Awards - Charlie and Donald Kaufman, Best Adapted Screenplay (nomination)

I Say: I loved the script's second draft, which is the version looked at and dissected by most online script reviewers and their dogs. I did not want Spike Jonze to direct the movie. Not at all. The idea gave me chills, because I hated what he did with Being John Malkovich. I like Spike, don't get me wrong - great music videos and commercials - but his big-screen directorial debut made me squirm and check my watch for two hours. A load of interesting people contacted my because of this movie. John Laroche, Sony Pictures, the cousin of an actress in the movie, the webmaster of Susan Orlean's official site, blah blah blah. I did not want to have promoted this film for the better part of a year, only to see the finished product and realise it was a piece of crap. Part of me didn't want to see it. The other part had to. So finally I saw it (I was the last person on Earth to do so, excluding people who have no intention of seeing it at all)... and was relieved. Spike Jonze has done a great, great job. The final draft of the script was different to the versions I had read, but the changes remained totally true to the early drafts. (Unlike Being John Malkovich, in which the original third act was completely thrown out and the final film was entirely different to the first draft in tone, pacing and wit.) Well directed, great acting (particularly from Chris Cooper all of the female leads), and I'm glad to have played a part in the movie's promotion. For a more detailed look at my opinion of the script's second draft, click here to read a script review I wrote for The Trades. (Many thanks to Chris Faile and Raul Burriel.)

Latest: 16/10/04 - An orchid-based alcoholic beverage in honour of Adaptation? Why the hell not? Thanks to Justin.

14/10/04 - Gray Marshall and Margaux Mackay did a lot of the visual effects for Adaptation and Being John Malkovich. They quite like Spike. Over here is a short interview with the duo. Mucho thanks to Justin for passing along the link.

2/10/04 - CNN has a good interview with Robert McKee, wherein Adaptation gets a mention. Interesting comments about the third act. Eric sent that one in, so YAY to him.

3/9/04 - A reminder for the Aussies: you might want to tune into Rage on the ABC tomorrow night, because they're having a marathon of Spike Jonze / Michel Gondry / Chris Cunningham music vids. Mr. Fist has rather enthusiastically provided the playlist. You're gonna need a blank video or some uppers.

31/8/04 - Got an email today and maybe you guyses and girlses can help, because a lot of you are damned smart:

I am an Australian student undertaking yr 12, and my final schooling year exam - the Higher School Certificate. This shapes my university entrance options for next year!! The modules we study must include an area of study on "The Imaginative Journey". I am to express how this is conveyed, and the protagonist's outcomes from this imaginative journey. For this I have chosen 'Adaptation', along with other, related texts.

I was wondering if you could tell me of any specific cinematic techniques that highlight the transformation from reality into fantasy and the imagination. How the imagination has changed 'Charlie' through the course of the journey.

ps. Brief is fine, I don't want to take up too much of your time.

I did the HSC. It was damned hard, and bloody stressful. So whaddaya say? Help an Aussie sister out, hey? My mind only stretches so far when it comes to analysing stuff. Email me yer thoughts if you have the inclination, and I'll pass them along. Every little bit helps. And if you can remember any relevant articles I've posted too, that'd be neat. The Poland one was good.

20/8/04 - News for Aussies! Mr. Fist of the BCK forum advises us to tune into Rage (ABC) on Saturday night, 4 September, because they're gonna hit us with an avalanche of Jonze, Gondry and Chris Cunningham music videos, in anticipation of the Directors' DVD release out here. Set your VCRs. If you're half as excited as I am, I'm twice as excited as you.

27/7/04 - A nice wallpapery image sent in by Kris:

20/7/04 - Lately I've been getting a fair few emails asking about the status of the long-awaited Adaptation Special Edition DVD, so I emailed Susan Orlean to find out if she has any current info. There's still no sign of a release date, and nothing particularly new, but here's what she had to say:

hi mick --
well, i'm as unsure as you are. i know they're working on it -- or were working on it -- and i know that among other things is an interview with me... i asked a while ago when it was going to be released (actually, i asked about six months ago) and was told that it would be "soon". sorry i can't give you anything more specific than that -- i wish i knew. i do think there's quite a lot of extra stuff, and that they weren't going to have a release date until it was all finished, so that's partly why it's taken so long...but my guess is that it really is almost finished or definitely finished, by now.

If Susan hears anything new, she'll put in on her site.

4/12/03 - Three weeks 'til Christmas, and I have it on good authority that nothing says "I love you" like two vinyl Kaufman dolls.

Ha ha ha. The Toy Chest site says the dolls are officially endorsed, which I find hard to believe, but there you go. Thanks to David for pointing these out.

I'm not gonna fork out $50US for them, and I'd still rather have that smoking alien in a cage that The X-Files released years ago, but if you want to show me your love I wouldn't knock back the Kaufman dolls. Or the smoking alien, for that matter.

9/11/03 - rObix sends streaming audio goodness, via the Charlie Rose site:

Roger Ebert on Adaptation, briefly.

Nic and Meryl on the Adaptation show.

29/10/03 - The Work of Director Spike Jonze and Michel Gondry DVDs are released today. You can grab them via the BCK store.

15/10/03 - Robert McKee killed the swamp ape. At least, that's according to McKee himself in this New Yorker article, found by the ever-cool easyconfessions. When producers approached McKee about using him as a character in Adaptation, he gave them a yes with two conditions: 1. his character needed a redeeming scene, and 2. the script needed a better 3rd Act than the one with the swamp ape. The article's about McKee rather than Adaptation, and it's an interesting read. (If you've never read the swamp-ape finale, go download the September 1999 draft of Adaptation here.)

25/9/03 - There will definitely be an Adaptation Special Edition DVD. How do I know this? I have psychic powers. Plus Brian told me. He caught a short preview of it on the upcoming Spike Jonze DVD (which, you'll realise if you've been paying attention, can be pre-ordered via the BCK store).

And just for you doubting Thomases out there, here's pictorial proof in the form of a screen-cap:

(Clickety-boo)

Ask me not about release dates or special features. My psychic ability works only so well. You know, when I was a kid I could see the future, but of course I didn't realise that's what I was seeing. So now I'm getting all my premonitions as flashbacks.

Brian also spotted a review of the Spike Jonze DVD here at AICN. He had a close encounter of the Spikely kind a few months back, and has posted photographic evidence of it over on the BCK board.

7/9/03 - Thar be a new Spike Jonze site on the web, run by long-time friend of BCK, Mackenzie Payne - the artist formerly known as kJ. Go check out www.spike-jonze.tk and tell MacP what you think!

2/9/03 - The Work of Director Spike Jonze (an imaginative DVD title if ever there was one) comes out on October 28. Click here for info... and a trailer, if you're lucky. You can pre-order that DVD here at BCK, too (visit the shop - we get a small percentage from every purchase, the better to buy more screenplays for the site).

23/8/03 - Old-new article! CINEMA: EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW WITH CHARLIE KAUFMAN, which has helpfully been translated into English by Babelfish, via my good buddy Laura (also known as mojajojajojajojajoja on the BCK boards). You can read the English translation over here. It's pretty rough, but you get the gist of it. I could tidy it up a little but it's so much more funner imagining Charlie saying things like "I fear to Hollywood," and my personal favourite "I do not become position." What?

Yes, I said "funner."

Big thanks to Laura for sending along the article and the piccy that goes with it.

20/8/03 - More from the Guardian, this time a 3-star review of the DVD. Thanks to Madelaine.

19/8/03 - Let's make a meta-movie, from the Guardian! It's a new old interview with Cage, Jonze, and our boy Kaufman about Adaptation! Thanks to Madelaine!

Look for more new oldness in the coming days, wahoo!

Exclamation point!

8/8/03 - "I think I just have some fluttering menu problem." So says Charlie K in The Anxiety of Adaptation, scanned by easyconfessions of the BCK Board (we have one of those, you know). Key word being "scanned," so you have to wait for the images to load up. And no, easyconfessions does not have problems operating a scanner - the actual article is printed diagonally, because IFC is so trendy.

5/8/03 - Every couple of days for the last few weeks, someone has sent me an email asking if there will be a Special Edition of Adaptation released on DVD, with a bunch of nifty extras. So here's my answer for all to see: I'm 95% sure there will be, but I haven't heard any official word. Susan Orlean says there definitely will be a Special Ed but I don't know if she knows that for a fact or if she's just assuming. The original cut of Adaptation was 4 hours long, so it's not like they're lacking extra material.

20/6/03 - As promised, more scanly goodness from WiLL. Still from the March Hot Dog, this 4-page piece on Adaptation, with quotes from Charlie and the gang. Same warning as on Wednesday: biggish scans, so they may take a while to load up if you have a slow connection.

18/6/03 - Scanned from the March 2003 Hot Dog magazine, this fascinating piece on why tomato sauce (or "ketchup," for you USAers) is a better hot dog topping than mustard. Okay, I lied. It's a review of Adaptation. "There's smart, there's really smart, there's Albert Einstein and then there's Adaptation," they say, which pretty much tells you what they thought of the film. Might take a while to load up if you have a slow connection, cos it's a biggish scan. Thanks to WiLL.

Also from the Dog, as I have come to know and love it over the past 3 days, a brief review of the film's soundtrack. It's short enough for me to just paste right here:

15/6/03 - Meryl Streep will be appearing on Inside the Actors Studio Sunday, June 15 - ie. today... or tomorrow, depending on your time-zone. Maybe Adaptation will get a mention, maybe not. I understand this woman has acted in a couple of other films as well, so... you know.

Thanks to rObix, who's pretty sure the show's on at 9pm.

20/5/03 - BCK's resident PDFer extraordinaire has been working over-time. Adaptation's second draft has been on the site for some time, lifted from another site, and it was missing a page. (Plus, for some reason a lot of you had difficulty opening it.) Welllll, BCK's PDFer has whipped up our own fresh copy of that draft. The missing page is there, the whole thing looks a lot tidier and takes up less memory.

Adaptation, 2nd draft (Sept. 24, 1999)

He also brings us a slightly later draft: Adaptation, 2nd draft revised (Nov. 21, 2000). That one's a lot closer to the shooting script - the swamp monster's gone, and the "It's what you love" scene is there, among other things. It's interesting to check out the changes. Needless to add, you need Acrobat Reader to open the files.

So. Big thanks to our resident PDFin' dude, and also to the source who supplied me with the November 2000 draft a couple of months ago.

15/5/03 - Gabrielle S. Prendergast (apparently a fellow Aussie, wahoo) takes a crack at identifying Adaptation's various truths and fictions in this piece, published late last month over at Cyber Film School.

13/5/03 - Unhappy Endings: Big Studios Find Quality Films Too Often Are a Losing Proposition, from the Washington Post, discusses critically-acclaimed films that fail to set theatres on fire. Adaptation gets numerous mentions.

28/4/03 - Aussies like myself will be interested to know that Adaptation is due for a DVD release out here on June 25. Other than trailers, no special features are listed. At least, not yet.

22/4/03 - Late entry in the field of Adaptation-related interviews: An Unorthodox ADAPTATION: Deciphering Charlie Kaufman, from February 23's Screenwriters Monthly. It's just the beginning of the interview, for the rest you need to subscribe. (Relevant link at end of article excerpt.) Thanks Justin for passing it along.

7/4/03 - rObix sends along along this link to an interview with Spike Jonze. I haven't watched it myself, but here's what rObix had to say:

it mentions adaptation in the text before the video, but everytime i try and watch the video my computer crashes. so i don't know whats up with it.

Consider yourself warned. He got it working a bit later, though.

4/4/03 - This is not a Celebrity Profile, from the March issue of Los Angeles magazine, sent in by Armin and scanned by yours truly. It's a lengthy piece about Charlie, and also the art of writing a celebrity profile. I repeat: scanned. It's not a transcript. Quote of note:

In his absence, Kaufman inspires followers. They chatter among themselves online. Like monks carving statues to prove God's existence, they build web temples to their idol. They leave, then return, attaching images to the temples, claiming they were snapped of Kaufman at a film premiere, on a beach, in Canada.

Boy, those guys must be real losers, hey?! Other quote of note, drawn from a media Q&A; with Spike and Charlie:

"Charlie," a large red-haired woman said. "Besides writing it, you actually played yourself in the movie. Did you receive two salaries?"

Kaufman looked dumbfounded. "I was in the movie?"

Now the woman was confused.

"You mean you weren't?"

The table went silent.

Ahaha. Someone else wanted to know what Charlie's relationship with Donald was like. Where do they get these people?

This is Your Auteur on Drugs. If you've been coming here a while, you may remember back in November Marla from Admiring Kate sent word of a long interview with Charlie in that month's Creative Screenwriting mag. I put that on the new Wanted page and within a week Justin came through with the goods. It's a 9-page article where Charlie talks mostly about Adaptation, but also Spotless, Confessions and other stuff. Well worth reading. It's a 9-pager, all of them formatted as separate PDFs. So you'll hafta download them. They look very pretty.

2/4/03 - These are pretty late, but here are a couple of quick interviews with Susan Orlean and John Laroche, and here are Judy Greer and Cara Seymour.

29/3/03 - Ray from UCLA has posted his essay on the board. Adaptation, Augmentation and Kaufman. Note the word "essay." Not "article," not "interview," not "nudie pics." Essay. Ray's looking for feedback so once you've read it, how's about dropping him a note?

28/3/03 - A while back I linked to David Poland's excellent 3-part analysis of Adaptation, but I neglected to add it to the list of reviews above. So I did it today. For those of you who haven't read it, clickety.

26/3/03 - Here be the back cover of the DVD, as provided by WiLL:

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25/3/03 - BASTARDS.

Stupid Ronald Harwood. Yet again thwarted are my efforts to see a walking, talking Charlie. So, Charlie misses out on an Oscar. Again. Pfffft.

Good news is, Chris Cooper can add another statuette to his cabinet.

13/3/03 - WiLL sent in a pic of the Adaptation DVD's menu:

(Shazam)

I can think of more pleasant menu images than the soles of Meryl Streep's feet, but hey.

6/3/03 - 2nd Update: here's the cover art for the DVD, thanks to regarding: Adaptation.

1st Update: Here's something cool. Donald Kaufman has a fan club over at Yahoo. The group has only just been born, so go on over there and join the festivities - later on you can go "Yeah, but I'm an old school Donald fan." It infinitely amuses me that the deceased brother (of questionable reality, no less) is the one who gets a fan club first.

Also, rObix pointed out that the DVD mentioned yesterday is a Super-Bit, ergo any extra features would be on a second disc.

5/3/03 - regarding: Adaptation brings news that British radio show Back Row recently interviewed Nicolas Cage to get the low-down on his stint at Charlie. There's an info page here where you can also find the RealAudio stream of the broadcast.

Forgot to mention in the last update, WiLL found a listing for the Adaptation DVD here, which says it'll be out on May 20. Hmm. No extra features mentioned, other than the trailer. Also on that site is news that a series of DVDs will be released around August, showcasing the early work of Spike Jonze, Michel Gondry and Chris Cunningham - music videos and all that jazz. (Scroll down to the March 1 update.)

27/2/03 - Charlie Kaufman: Harpist. According to Tilda Swinton in her profile of Kaufman, Charlie is presently taking harp lessons. Hmmm.

26/2/03 - From DollyCali over at the brand spanking new message board, comes this bit of BAFTAness:

In rather more comic highlight of the evening was Meryl Streep accepting Charlie Kaufman's prize in his absence, and reading out a statement from the writer that she clearly hadn't had a chance to scan beforehand.

Kaufman's speech, as spoken by Streep, largely consisted of him agonizing about whether he could write a good enough speech for Streep to deliver, and worrying that if he wrote a joke, it would fall flat, and then "It will be as if I had spit on Meryl Streep across the ocean and this after she has been kind enough to accept on my behalf."

Streep then found herself reading Kaufman's words about how great an actress she is, and then about how she is "maybe one of the most modest, nicest people ever."

In today's Daily Telegraph here in Australia, there's another brief quote from the speech:

"I would like to spank Spike Jonze. Sorry, I would like to thank Spike Jonze."

24/2/03 - Charlie and Donald won themselves a BAFTA for Best Adapted Screenplay. Other winners and losers (sorry... nominees who feel honoured just to be nominated) here.

23/2/03 - Winners in the 3rd annual Cinemarati Awards have been announced. Charlie and Donald won Best Adapted Screenplay, Meryl took out Best Supporting Actress. More info.

16/2/03 - Adaptation took out the Jury Grand Prix (cos it was in a McLaren, nyuk nyuk), and was one of the runners-up for the Golden Berlin Bear prize over at the Berlin Film Festival. In This World took out the big one. More info.

Still in Berlin, 'member that media conference attended by Charlie, Spike and Nic? Here it is. It should automatically set itself to run on your computer, but if not you can fix it up manually with a few clicks. You gotta sit through a bunch of preliminary introductory stuff (some of it in Berlinian - either that or I was exceedingly tired when I started watching it) but then you get the good stuff. Needless to add (which I will anyway), I have yet to see the good stuff because I had no time... and even so, my dial-up will probably feed me a series of static images with good audio. Anyhoo, there you go. Many mucho thanks to BCK's good friend Renee, from Admire My Cage.

15/2/03 - Here's what Charlie, Nic and Meryl have to say about their Oscar nominations. Thanks Sis.

12/2/03 - 2nd Update: Oscar nominees were announced today. To quote Cage-as-Kaufman, drumroll please - d-d-d-d-d-d: Charlie & Donald (Best Adapted Screenplay), Nicolas Cage (Best Actor), Meryl Streep (Best Supporting Actress), and Chris Cooper (Best Supporting Actor). Nothing for Spike. Thanks to Robert. Not that he's to blame for Spike missing out. I was just thanking him for emailing me about the Oscars. Robert, not Spike. So. Yeah.

1st Update: Voting for the Internet Movie Awards is underway and open to all. Adaptation's up for some gongs, so storm the booths and get behind our buddy Charlie! Voting closes at the end of Feb. Thanks to Raul from The Trades for the tip.

11/2/03 - Charlie's over at the Berlin Film Festival, plugging Adaptation. Photographic evidence:

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Spike and Nic are there, too. More photos thanks to Renee. Big thanks to Sis for sending in the Charlie pic, and also this:

Wild Hollywood Orchid, circa December 2002.

I found It's Evolution Baby! by myself. Because I'm so damn Google-savvy.

Thar be an Adaptation Yahoo group, too.

8/2/03 - 2nd Update: Charlie and Donald are up for Best Adapted Screenplay in this year's Writers Guild Awards. As if that's not enough, they've posted a new pic of our mysterious dude on that page:

Not to get all Joan Rivers, but it ain't the most flattering angle.

Thanks to Robert for the news.

1st Update: If you're passing through Germany on Saturday or Sunday, stop by the Berlin Film Festival, where Adaptation is being screened in competition. Relevant link. Thanks Renee.

6/2/03 - 2nd Update: What does Charles Kaufman think he's doing?, a neato article by Dan Friedman... even though he dumps on my buddy Bono on the first page. But we'll forgive him. Thanks to Dan for sending me the link.

1st Update: Adaptation, Charlie and Donald, Nicolas Cage, Chris Cooper, Meryl Streep and Spike Jonze are all nominated in this year's Cinemarati Awards. They have kind of a weird "showdown" system. Anyway, info here. Thanks MaryAnn Johanson.

28/1/03 - Ah, those crazy Brits. Adaptation is up for 4 gongs at the 2003 BAFTAs: Charlie & Donald (Best Adapted Screenplay); Nicolas Cage (Best Male Lead); Meryl Streep (Best Supporting); Chris Cooper (Best Supporting). Spike misses out. Winners announced Feb 23rd. Thanks Sis.

Over at Sakebomb you can find a series of Adaptation behind-the-scenes clips, detailing production assistant Lloyd Rice's escapades on the set. This is the same Lloyd who did a similar thing for Being John Malkovich. Info via regarding: Adaptation.

And I found the quote mentioned yesterday. Which, had I not been stupid, I now realise I could have found myself, because it's been sitting on the board for days. Duh.

27/1/03 - I'm a terrible webmaster because I still haven't seen the movie, and I haven't read anything later than the 2nd draft of the script. Not entirely my fault, thank-you very much small-town Australia. Sooooo, hopefully a kind soul will come through with a longish patch of dialogue Brian asked me about:

You know Donald's awesome little speech/story about love at the end when they're hiding in the swamp? "It was mine, even she couldn't take it away from me. You are what you love, not what loves you" etc., and the story about Charlie seeing Donald flirting with the girl back in high school....well, as you know, it's not in the second draft that's online, and I haven't been able to get my hands on a copy of the shooting script that's in stores. Would you happen to know exactly what was said in that scene? I absolutely loved that scene, and would really appreciate it.

So. If anyone can provide me with an exact quote, that'd be swell. Any money you can spare would be cool too, while you're at it.

21/1/03 - Charlie took out Best Screenplay and Chris Cooper got himself another Best Supporting nod at the Critics' Choice Awards. (Thanks rObix.)

Neglected to mention that Meryl took one home for Adaptation yesterday, too. Sorry Meryl. (AKA "Merly" in the occasional email I receive. If I ever meet Meryl, I'm gonna call her Merly.)

20/1/03 - Chris Cooper took out Best Supporting Actor honours at the Golden Globes. Wahoo! Charlie and Donald were beaten by Alexander Payne and Jim Taylor (About Schmidt). More winners and losers.

And here's a review of Adaptation by a screenwriter who didn't particularly enjoy Charlie's take on screenwriting. Plus she gets the film's title wrong.

18/1/03 - Two items from our roving correspondent, Sis.

Another award for Charlie and Donald, this time at the Golden Satellites. Sis adds a "Booooo" to Michael Constantine who took out Best Supporting honours (Musical/Comedy) over Chris Cooper.

I add a hearty Boooo to 24, the most over-rated soap opera on television. At least the first season was. Haven't seen the second.

Ghost of a writer up for a Globe, which is a short piece about Charlie and Donald. Donald hasn't been returning his calls.

14/1/03 - Confessions of an Outrageous Mind from MSNBC via Newsweeek. An interview with Charlie about Adaptation. I don't think I've already linked to it. It's getting hard to remember.

Creative Licensees, an interview with Spike and Charlie. Nothing really splendidly amazingly awesomely new, but hey.

Spike Jonze and Charlie Kaufman Adapt to Adaptation from Prevue Magazine.

Laurence Station gives Adaptation a hefty 4.5 out of 5 in his review at Shaking Through. Thanks Aithalides for forwarding the link.

Over here at Plastic there's a debate going on about the relative merits of the film. It gives you a pretty good idea of the varied viewpoints folks have about the film, particularly the finale.

13/1/03 - Here's another non-interview with Spike Jonze, with brief comments from Charlie and Nic. It's from Rolling Stone.

In the same vein, Biggest adaptation goes to movie's actors, from the Kansas City Star. And here's their review of the film, which includes the curious comment "We're not asked to get involved," which is in total contrast to Mike Nichols' piece a while back where he wrote a whole thing about how Adaptation gets audiences involved like few other films.

12/1/03 - Being Charlie Kaufman can't be a bad thing, a profile of Charlie and comment on the lot of today's screenwriters. Bonus points for mentioning a certain Charlie Kaufman website around paragraph 7. Mucho thanks to Marla from Admiring Kate for the heads-up.

10/1/03 - Came across a review of Adaptation on a big blog-type site and at the end they had a link to a separate blog maintained by Charlie Kaufman. This amuses me and weirds me out. First, it's not actually a Charlie Kaufman blog. I should know, because I built the damn thing and I am certain I'm not Charlie Kaufman (and was not Charlie Kaufman back then, either). It was just a pathetically-coded, blog-style thing with minimal content that I built over a year ago and haven't touched since about Feb 2002. I built it when I was figuring out HTML and I don't think Kaufman got a single mention on the site, other than there being links to the site you're currently looking at. Occasionally I get emails from people who think I'm Charlie. I once received an email from a journalist who suspected I was Charlie operating under an alias, even after I assured him I was not. So you know what? Who the hell knows, maybe I am Charlie. How about that? Charlie's into the whole identity-warping thing, so who am I to say who I am?

8/1/03 - Script tease, another interview with Spike, Charlie and Nic. Apparently Adaptation opens in Portland Oregon on Friday.

The Online Film Critics' Society announced their picks of the year. Charlie and Donald took out Best Adapted Screenplay. More info. (Note: the board's down at the moment, so that link mightn't work right now. Check it again later.)

Further to the gossip about the Amelia character I posted on Sunday, this from John Laroche's fiancee, Kerry:

John and I received a copy of the script just before they started filming... and Susan and Charlie didn't end up together there... and not in the first draft of the script we had either. Amelia didn't exist either though... she was created after the script we read... so not sure what caused that turn around.

While we're sort of on the subject, I get a bunch of emails from people wanting me to spell out which parts of Adaptation were true and which were not, and some of you have asked about the John Laroche porno site. *sigh* You are all depraved individuals. I bring forth official word that Mr. L is not a porn king. More info. (That link goes to the board, too. If it doesn't work, try again later.)

Does Charlie Kaufman have a cameo in Adaptation? (Ditto - this is on the board, too. Baaaaah.)

6/1/03 - More awardness for Adaptation, with six nominations in the Chicago Film Critics Awards: Best Pic, Best Actor, Supporting Actress, Supporting Actor, Screenplay, and "Most Promising Performer (female)" for Maggie Gyllenhaal. Mucho thanks Sis.

How many freakin' Critics' Associations are there, anyway?!

5/1/03 - Remember the anonymous source who sent in MP3s of the entire Adaptation soundtrack? He/she returneth with a bit of trivia:

I met an old friend for lunch today who had a small part in “Adaptation.” He explained that in the original script, Charlie and Susan end up together at the end. They shot some of those scenes, and there was absolutely no chemistry between Cage & Streep, so THAT’S when they added the character of Charlie’s girlfriend (Amelia?)

Also, there was a love scene between Meryl Streep and the Indian that was also cut from the film.

(Almost) all in the mind - Craig Mathieson from The Age talks to Spike and Charlie about Adaptation. Not a lot of quotes, but oh well. We do learn that Charlie and Spike both like soup.

With no great surprise I report that the Florida Film Critics Circle have named Adaptation Best Film, Meryl Best Supporting Femme (actually Best Supporting Actress, but Femme sounds sexier), and Chris Cooper Best Supporting Actor. Charlie and his bro took out another Best Screenplay accolade. Scorcese won Best Director, so no glory for Spike in Florida. More info.

Over at the NY Times, Stephen Holden gives us his top 15 films for 2002, including Adaptation (on page 2) and Confessions of a Dangerous Mind (page 4). Registration required but it's free and they don't send junk mail.

2/1/03 - You guys can stop emailing me that quote I asked for on Jerry's behalf the other day. Dimitry and "unstandable" have come through with the goods. (Claudia also emailed me, so thanks to her as well.) For those interested, the quote was:

"We're all one thing, Lieutenant. Thats what I've come to realize. Like cells in a body. 'Cept we can't see the body. The way fish can't see the ocean. And so we envy each other. Hurt each other. Hate each other. How silly is that? A heart cell hating a lung cell."

- Cassie from THE THREE

unstandable also pointed me to a long but nifty 3-part analysis of Adaptation by David Poland, who basically gives us a scene-by-scene recounting of the film. Stay away from it if you're spoiler-allergic. Seriously. Otherwise:

Part 1, Part 2, Part 3

You may remember Poland did cartwheels over the script a while ago.

The Washington Area Film Critics Association are fence-sitters. Not content with giving one director the gong for Best... um, Director, they decided to split the thing 3 ways just to keep everyone happy. (Everyone except runners-up Peter Jackson and Rob Marshall, and all the others who weren't nominated.) The 3 winners were Sam Mendes, Denzel Washington (don't get me started on him) and Spike Jonze. Oh, you just knew I'd say Spike. Other nods given to Adaptation: Best Film (runner-up); Best Supporting Actor (Chris Cooper tied with Dennis Haysbert); and Best Adapted Screenplay (Charlie Kaufman... no mention of Donald). More info here. Thanks Sis.

31/12/02 - Who's in the mood for performing a good deed? Got an email from Jerry, who wants to know what the quote is, that appears at the end of Adaptation's credits. It's attributed to Donald's script, and Jerry has been told it's "profound," but alas, Jerry was gone by the time the quote appeared. If you remember the quote, how's about dropping me a line? Or if you're about to go see the film, how's about sticking around for that quote and dropping me a line after? Many thanks.

Mike Nichols (The Graduate, Birdcage) has written a piece for the LA Times about Adaptation's significance to the whole film scene: how it's a movie that creates discussion and debate, and gets the audience to actually use its noggin a little. Thanks M. Bateman and Steve.

My amigo Renee (Admire My Cage) did some number crunching and came up with a figure of $4,141,000 estimated earnings for Adaptation, as of Dec. 29. Which isn't too shabby for 109 theatres, and the kind of film it is. More info here. (Yeah, okay, I may exaggerate when I say Renee did the number crunching herself. But I'm sure she's more than capable of very impressive crunching when she feels the need.)

27/12/02 - Seattle film critics have voted Chris Cooper Best Supporting Actor.

The Hollywood Foreign Press Association have nominated Charlie & Donald for Best Screenwriting. Info here (scroll down a ways... it's kind of amusing). Thanks to Sis for those two nuggets.

Michael Dequina has good things to say about the film here at Movie Poop Shoot. Thanks WiLL.

24/12/02 - Fake? I'd say so. Thanks to Sis for sniffing this out.

21/12/02 - The IMDB interviews Charlie, Spike and Nic. Thanks to rObix for the link. For some reason his email sat in my Inbox for 4 days before I noticed it. I am a fool.

20/12/02 - 2nd Update: Golden Globe nominations for Adaptation: Best Picture, Best Actor, Best Supporting Actor (Cooper), Best Supporting Actress (Streep), Best Director, Best Screenplay. The first two are in the Comedy/Musical category (as opposed to Drama) and the last 4 are both genres combined. That's 6 nominations for those of you with too few fingers, making it the 3rd-most-nominated film this year. Hot diggety.

Canadians know what they're talking about. Adaptation took out Best Picture, Best Male Performance (Cage), Best Supporting Male Performance (Cooper) and Best Screenplay (Charlie and Donald) at The Toronto Film Critics Association Awards. More info here, here, here, here and here.

Thanks Renee (Admire My Cage) WiLL and a-guy-who-wanteth-no-thanks, for the news.

Everybody happy dance!

/me happy dances.

For your perusing pleasure, Postmodern Celebrity and the Knack of Adaptation, a piece over at Canadian site Exclaim! Nothing we haven't read before, but (as our motto says) hey.

Continuing the week's theme of "nothing-new-but-who-cares," some more stuff:

A Staggering Adaptation of Heartbreaking Genius.

Being Charlie Kaufman (what uninspired sap would choose that as a title? ... oh, right.) Anyhoo, it's a review of a certain flower film.

Another review at Hollywood Bitchslap. (Loved the film, didn't like the ending...)

...Ditto the Slush Factory.

New York Press takes a look at Adaptation and likes what it sees.

1st Update:

...there's one very meaningful blurb that could be applied to "Adaptation," one that wouldn't help sell it to audiences (wouldn't want that, would we, Messrs. Kaufman and Jonze?) but that would chop straight to the core of what "Adaptation" is, and what it's proud of being.

Cheat!

Them thar's fightin' words from Salon's Stephanie Zacharek. If for some reason that link doesn't work, the same article is here. It's a long piece comparing Adaptation to other recent book-to-film adaptations, and explaining why you've been suckered if you like the movie.

There's a quick chat here between Charlie, Spike and J. Rentilly. Nothing we haven't already read before, but I'm that obsessive guy with the Kaufman website, so there's the link anyway.

Likewise, here's a nothing-new-but-what-the-hell round-table chat with Spike, Charlie and Nic.

Images Journal gives Adaptation 3.5 out of 4.

Incidentally, Adaptation opens in Seattle on December 20. Which is today here in Australia, but tomorrow over there.

19/12/02 - For Aussies, Adaptation was reviewed on The Movie Show on SBS last night. Margaret Pomeranz gave it 5 stars, David Stratton gave it 4.5.

Vicki Roach reviewed it in today's Daily Telegraph, giving it 4 stars. A scan of the review is here.

18/12/02 - 2nd Update: Adaptation opens in Chicago this Friday. How do I know this? I used The Force.

Roger Ebert gets the Quote of the Week Award: "The publicity for this movie is being handled with all the candor of Putin explaining what was in the gas." The runner-up is Nicolas Cage: "Maybe his greater confidence made him seem like he had more hair." These little nuggets came from Ebert's combination review/interview with Charlie, Spike and Nic here. Thanks to Renee (Admire My Cage).

Further to the video/DVD release date information mentioned the other day, John Couture from VideoETA dropped me a note to say he's just recently talked to their Columbia rep, and they're looking to move it to June at the earliest, if not July, because of the awards buzz surrounding the film:

Basically, studios like to release the big Oscar winners in June since the solicitation period falls in April and May, when the Oscar winners will be on the minds of video retailers.

Thanks to John for the info.

1st Update: Charlie and Donald took out Best Screenplay honours at the Boston Film Critics Awards. Take that, LA. (Thanks WiLL) The New York Film Critics Circle Awards also resulted in a Best Screenplay nod for Charlie and Donald. (More info on that here, free registration probably required.) Thanks to regarding: Adaptation for the NY info.

Adaptation found a slot in The American Film Institute's Top 10 films of the year. It's an unranked list, so it didn't finish in any particular position. But if it were listed alphabetically, it would come in third, which is why I believe the movie should be retitled Aaaahhhh. Says the AFI:

ADAPTATION is a film that makes the word "original" seem ordinary. Both entertaining and intelligent, the film mercilessly destroys an audience’s expectations and demands that it keep up…keep laughing…or be cut out of the final draft.

More info here. (Thanks rObix)

Charlie Nguyen from Aussie mag Film Ink dropped me a note to let us know there's an exclusive interview with Charlie K in the current issue. The article's not online, so you'll have to get yourself a copy of the magazine if you want to read it. (If any of you buy a copy, how's about a scan, hey?) I see Spike gets a mention on the cover, too.

From Anthony, this short but worthy interview with Charlie re: Adaptation. It's from a Western Australian news site that brings word Confessions of a Dangerous Mind will be out here come February, and Human Nature will finally hit our shores next April.

16/12/02 - On Saturday Charlie and Donald Kaufman (snicker) were runners-up in the Best Screeenplay category of the LA Film Critics' Awards. (About Schmidt was the winner, I ask you.) Chris Cooper took out Best Supporting Actor. It's looking like he'll be getting a few trophies over the coming months. More info on the awards here.

rObix reports that Video ETA estimate Adaptation will be released on DVD/video around May next year. I'd say that's just an educated guess, given that the film's only been on the big-screen about five minutes.

Saw a print ad for the movie in an Aussie magazine today, and the film's trailer on SBS again. This begs the question: why in the world am I watching SBS on a Sunday night?

14/12/02 - 'Adaptation' effects: seamless, unsung, is an article in the LA Times about how the effects in Adaptation are seamless, yet unsung. It's a great little piece pointed out to me by Steve, who also mentioned Roger Ebert's appearance on Live With Regis and Kelly. When asked about his pick for best picture of this year he replied, "“I have to make a final decision this weekend, but I’ve narrowed it down, and it’ll either be Minority Report or Adaptation.” I thought it would be Swept Away, but there you go.

13/12/02 - WiLL - the original - returneth triumphant with news that Comedy Central in the States will be screening Being John Malkovich on Sunday at 7:30pm, hosted by the stars of Adaptation. He thinks he saw Chris Cooper, Meryl Streep and Nic Cage, but he could be mistaken. Feel free to punch him if he's wrong.

11/12/02 - Trivia from Ryan at the WGA... Remember the rumour about an Adaptation sequel? Seems Sony wanted to buy the rights to the Kaufman character and make a follow-up. But Charlie's lawyers gave them a fierce frowning and that was the end of that.

Also from Ryan is this cool and longish interview with Charlie and Spike, over at the WGA's site. Halfway through, for no apparent reason the author starts chopping and changing the way he spells "Orlean."

From Steve, this review over at LA Times, and they give Adaptation an enthusiastic nod.

Christian Science Monitor has two bits about Adaptation: Bit of a chat with Charlie, Spike and Nic (nothing we haven't already read, but hey) and another fairly positive review.

Here's a NY Times interview with BCK's Woman of the Year, Susan Orlean. (Free registration required, I think. I'll archive the interview in a few weeks, prolly.) Link via regarding: Adaptation.

10/12/02 - From Sydney's Daily Telegraph:

The Sydney premiere of Adaptation will take place at the Palace Academy Twin on Thursday. Hurrah! After the film, Australian screenwriters Tony McNamara (The Rage in Placid Lake), Roger Monk (Walking on Water), Christina Andreef (Soft Fruit) and Steve Worland (Bootmen) will "discuss the times they too have struggled to put pen to paper." Well, whatever floats your boat. Pity we don't get Charlie, Spike or Nic. Tickets are $14 (with $12 industry and student concession) and available from Palace Cinemas on 9331-3457.

Thanks to Julie of Morgan and Wong Online for pointing me to NOW, which currently has Spike Jonze on the cover, a cover story - actually a review - titled Jonze Adapts ("the best American movie of 2002," says the reviewer), and another titled Spike Jonze, Charlie Kaufman and Nicolas Cage Break All the Rules. (That last one's an interview with the trio.)

9/12/02 - Hey.

In limited release, the acclaimed "Adaptation" grossed $400,000 in just seven theaters for a whopping $57,143 average.

Other similar info here. Those two nuggets courtesy of Sis and rObix.

For those Aussies with access to a time machine or a souped-up DeLorean, there will be a screening of Adaptation at Palace Cinemas yesterday at 12:30. Sorry I didn't hear about this sooner, folks. (Got an email about it yesterday morning from a fella who likewise didn't hear about it until that day, and I didn't check my email until about 12.) Apparently the screening was followed by a Q&A;, with whom I know not. They should have asked me to do the Q&A;, ho ho ho.

Other Aussie news: I was channel-surfing last night and on SBS I caught the tail-end of the Adaptation trailer. It is indeed coming out Dec. 26.

For lack of interviews, a couple of reviews: PoloniusMonk points me to Salon's Andrew O'Hehir, who really enjoyed it, and Rob chips in with the review at Jo Blo's Movie Emporium, where it was given 8 out of 10.

7/12/02 - 3rd Update: Adaptation's out now so there are tons of reviews popping up hither and yon. Rather than drive myself batty linking to them all, as I did when Human Nature came out, I'm just gonna take my cue from regarding: Adaptation and suggest that you go visit the MRQE and Metacritic and look up reviews. I'll get around to archiving some reviews later on, but for now I'll concentrate on interviews, cos personally I'm more interested in those. (By now, we kind of know the general concensus about the film anyway: pretty darn good.)

Here are two more accounts of that round-table discussion Jamie Berger wrote about. Reel.com has one, as does IGN. And here's a piece from Eye Weekly where Charlie, Spike and Cage try to avoid talking about the movie. And yet another account of a round-table with Spike, Charlie and Cage, this time from Independent Weekly, written by a student.

Don't forget to go get funky on the board, particularly (but not solely) if you have comments or questions about the film.

2nd Update: Jamie Berger has been cool enough to let me reproduce an essay he wrote about his Adaptation experience, which is followed by highlights from a round-table interview he had with Charlie and Spike. The piece is called: Adapting Spike and Charlie.

Also, LA Weekly gives Adaptation the seal of approval. Thanks Bryan for the heads up. The reviewer wants to marry Charlie, which is perhaps a little disturbing.

1st Update: Oh, maaaan, so I screwed up the links to some of the clips posted yesterday. They've now been fixed. Hopefully.

Here's an interview with Charlie, Spike and Nic swiped from the Globe and Mail. Mostly they discuss self-loathing.

By my calculations, it is currently yesterday in the USA. Which would make it the 6th, ie. the day of limited release for Adaptation, if you don't count the LA premiere a few days back. If you're seeing the film today, have fun!

6/12/02 - A plethora of clips have been added here to the Multimedia page. They all come from the official site. Thanks to Renee from Admire My Cage for the links.

5/12/02 - 2nd Update: Ah ha ha - nice try, Mr. NYU, very impressive indeed, but you have been sprung. I can now confirm that the Guest Book entry supposedly made by Spike Jonze was not, in fact, made by Spike Jonze. Just as I suspected. However! I can also confirm that Spike has been to this site and apparently liked it quite a bit. So there you go, it all evens out.

Added a few LA premiere pics to the gallery.

John Laroche's report on the event, shortly after jetting home: "The opening ruled." Aw man, how come nobody flew me out for it? I'm sure it was just an oversight...

1st Update: Joshua has been poking around Adaptation's official site and discovered it's been jazzed up.

He also brings word (as does Marla from Admiring Kate) that Adaptation has clocked in at No. 5 in the National Board of Review's films of the year. More importantly, our pal Charlie was named Screenwriter of the Year, what with Human Nature, Adaptation and Confessions of a Dangerous Mind all hitting screens this year. Chris Cooper took out Best Featured Actor (ie. Best Supporting) for his gig as John Laroche.

As pointed out on the board by Satcho9, the soundtrack now has its own official website at www.astralwerks.com/adaptation, where you can read the track listing, the liner notes and a bit about the film.

Sis pops ups with word that here are pics from Tuesday's LA premiere. Looks like you hafta register and pay $$ to view the full-size pics. Bastards. Who do they think I am, Donald Trump? Monty Burns? No images of Charlie, oddly enough. Must have slipped through the back way. Here's a thumb of Spike, Spike's wife Sofia Coppola, and Nic:

BUT! A-ha! There be hope for us yet. More pics from the premiere are here (keep clicking through the pages until you find the premiere) and here. No images of Charlie amongst those, either. Thanks to Renee from Admire My Cage, and Marla. I'll add some premiere pics to the gallery when I'm less depressed.

4/12/02 - 2nd Update: Here's something cool: Orchid Fever, Susan Orlean's original 1995 New Yorker article that inspired the book that inspired the film. Link via Jason's regarding: Adaptation blog of merriment.

Also via r:A, The New Yorker's David Denby enjoyed the film immensely for the most part, and then came the finale.

Here at AICN is a pretty good report on a Q&A; session with Charlie, Spike and Nic, despite bad grammar and spelling that clash with the would-be-intellectual style of the writer.

Short gushing review of Adaptation.

Film Threat's Clint Morris gives Adaptation 4 stars.

Joshua Rothkopf from In These Times loved the film and has good things to say about Spike. That one's via Renee from Admire My Cage.

Also via Renee, here's USA Today's interview with Nicolas Cage about... well, what do you think it's about? Elvis?

IndieWIRE's Guy V. Cimbalo loved the book and is in raptures over the movie. "One of the most fearless, most accomplished films in years," says he.

3.5 stars from a possible 4 are dished out by Slant Magazine's Ed Gonzalez.

1st Update: The new Village Voice is up and it's a virtual Adaptationpalooza. Dig the funky animation on their homepage. "Brainiest Movie of the Year," they call it. "Pop Surrealist Masterpiece," they say. And they go into overdrive with the articles.

Brief Interviews With Devious Men, Mark Peranson's disappointingly short chat with Charlie and Spike. Though you get the feeling if the discussion had gone on any longer it would have been dead boring. It's beginning to appear like Charlie and Spike are reluctant to talk in detail about anything involving the movie.

Don't Say 'Pitch'!, Anya Kamenetz's Adaptation-inspired piece on... well, I don't know, just read it if you're in the mood. Nothing particularly enlightening in it but I suppose it's okay.

Learning Curves, where Dennis Lim discusses the film with Robert McKee. Pretty innarestin'.

The Current Cinema, a pretty funny piece pitching various adaptations of books Charlie might tackle next.

The Truth About Charlie, J. Hoberman's unsurprisingly positive review of the film.

No thanks to Joshua.

The Onion A.V Club has a cool interview with Charlie, Spike and Nic here. Thanks to Yaniv.

By my calculations the official opening should be going down today in the States. Give me a buzz if you were there and you have interesting news or gossip or photos or whatever. Try cornering Charlie to ask him if he's seen the site, hey?

3/12/02 - This is a long shot, but if any of you come across any images of Brigitte Bogle in Adaptation, or on the set of Adaptation, could you send them my way? Brigitte plays Susan Orlean as a teenager. Also any articles that mention her would be cool. (Excluding articles that mention her in a cast list.) This isn't for me, I'm relaying a request from someone who would legitimately like to see those pics/articles.

I haven't seen the film but I'm sure Brigitte outshines every other cast member, including Streep.

As promised, the MP3s are all down, gone, no more.

2/12/02 - The 'I' Cure for Writer's Block, from the New York Times, noteworthy because it's the first article ever to get Charlie's age right. Also noteworthy because it's a pretty darn good interview about Adaptation. And further noteworthy because we find out Charlie has kids. Kids?! I'm still recovering from when I learnt he's married. Thanks to Marla from Admiring Kate. No thanks to Joshua, who also pointed out this article at the Noo Yawk Times. It's a piece on film adaptation. Doesn't really go into too much detail about Charlie's film, but does mention the fact that at least two other folks took a shot at adapting The Orchid Thief, prior to Charlie signing on. Those folks were Stephen Schiff (who also happens to be author of the article, and who adapted Lolita - '97 version - and True Crime) and David Henry Hwang. Free registration is required to read that last article.

1/12/02 - On Thursday Dec. 12 at the DGA Theatre on Sunset Blvd. CA, there will be a special screening of Adaptation followed by a Q&A; with Chris Cooper. The event's free but you have to make reservations. Clicky for info. I have no idea if they're still taking reservations. (Link via regarding: Adaptation.)

There be a new clip over here at Yahoo! Movies. It's part of the scene where Charlie explains his insanity to Donald - the "ourobouros" conversation. Joshua doesn't want me to thank him for pointing this out. So no thanks to him.

The Cranky Critic calls Adaptation "Best of the Year" in his review.

Walter Chaw from Film Freak Central gives the film 4 stars out of 4.

The MP3s will all be taken down tomorrow.

30/11/02 - EW's Lisa Schwarzbaum gives Adaptation an A-.

New MP3s are up. Track 13 (1MB), Track 14 (1.3MB), Track 15 (2.9MB), Track 16 (675KB), Track 17 (381KB) and Track 18 (1.1MB). Tracks 5-8 have been taken down. Track 18 - the last track on the disc - may sound a little familiar. I'll be taking all of the tracks down in a couple of days. Don't say I didn't warn you.

28/11/02 - 3rd Update: New Adaptation images from the imdb have been added to the gallery, as have larger versions of old images. Thanks to Renee from Admire My Cage.

2nd Update: Jason at regarding: Adaptation has spied the soundtrack on sale and says it includes the Fatboy Slim remix of the film's theme tune. (Mentioned in the October 24 update.) Of the MP3s that were sent to me, not one of them sounds particularly Slimmy. [10 mins later: I could be wrong. Maybe Track 1 was Fatboy. I dunno.] So to re-iterate what AS2 said the other day, the tracks I've been posting aren't necessarily on the in-store soundtrack. Just wanna make that clear.

1st Update: For those of you in the States, Bravo TV ran a 15 minute promo film on Adaptation a couple of days ago (right after one on Far From Heaven), and they're supposed to be running it again on Thursday - today - at 11:15am. Check local guides and all that. Thanks to Doug for the tip.

New MP3s from the soundtrack are now up.

Track 9 (414KB), Track 10 (1.4MB), Track 11 (500KB), Track 12 (1.4MB).

Tracks 1-4 are gone, kaput, finish, done. 5-8 are still there. (Check Monday's update for links.)

If you click here and scroll down a ways, you'll see that a new clip from Adaptation has hit the web. It's the scene where Charlie tells Sony's Valerie what he doesn't want to turn The Orchid Thief into. Apparently it's up at the official site, too, but I can't find it there. Mind you, I didn't look too hard. Though I did notice they've jazzed up the site a little bit. Anyway, thanks to Rob and WiLL for the news.

regarding: Adaptation brings news that the official premiere of Adaptation is actually going down on Dec. 3 at Mann's Village Theatre in Westwood, CA. If you're in the area, you might wanna go and do some star spotting. Charlie, Spike, Nic, Meryl, Chris, Orlean, Laroche and the gang will probably all be there.

Interviews ahoy! Hurrah. All swiped from About.com.

Meryl Streep Talks About "Adaptation"

Director Spike Jonze and Screenwriter Charlie Kaufman Talk About "Adaptation"

Writer Susan Orlean and Producer Edward Saxon Talk About "Adaptation" and "The Orchid Thief"

Also swiped from About.com: piccies!

		(Identical to an earlier pic, but shows more and is a tad smaller)

And topping it off, Screen Daily's Mike Goodridge gives Adaptation the big thumbs-up.

26/11/02 - The first four MP3s from the soundtrack will be taken down tomorrow and replaced with Tracks 9-12. 5-8 will still be there.

John Laroche mentioned to me in an email that last week he saw Adaptation for the first time in New York. Verdict? "It was awesome!" Ain't it just great that none of the real-world participants in the story have complained about the film? Well, I think that's great.

25/11/02 - More MP3s from the Adaptation soundtrack which is apparently to be released tomorrow.

Track 5 (875KB), Track 6 (705KB), Track 7 (770KB), Track 8 (530KB).

Tracks 1-4 are still up. (Check the previous update for info.)

AS2 has a couple of things to add about the screening he attended.

Some additional trivia about the movie that Carter Burwell and his Music Editor, Adam Smalley shared with us:

Carter Burwell’s wife was expecting her first child this spring. Because of that, he finished his scoring in March. After that, there were many, MANY new versions of the film, including re-shoots, eliminating some characters and adding others. Because of this, Adam Smalley ended up re-cutting much of the music to match the new scenes. Carter said he wrote the score with looped sections so it could be expanded and contracted as necessary. The CD they gave us includes the long versions of all the music, including some material that didn’t make the final cut of the film. (I’m not sure if this is the CD that will be sold commercially or not.)

Cool, hey?

24/11/02 - Adaptation's official soundtrack is due out on the 26th of this month, but thanks to BCK and an anonymous source, you can get a sneak peek right here. Our source, who we will refer to as AS2 (because it sounds cool), recently attended a screening of the movie. "It was an extraordinary film. Carter Burwell was there and discussed his score afterwards. We were all given 'promotional' soundtrack CDs."

AS2 has MP3ed some of the tracks for our listening pleasure. Woohoo for AS2!

I'm pushing it for Tripod space, and my modem woes are common knowledge, so I'll start uploading them and see how we go. Here's the deal - listen closely. I'm gonna upload the tracks in groups of three or four. I'll tell you as they go up. After a few tracks have been sitting there a couple of days, I'll take them down and put up others. So if you're gonna listen to them, get in quick. First up:

Track 1 (2MB - I'm not usually a huge fan of film scores without the film, but I quite dig this track), Track 2 (500KB), Track 3 (1.35MB), Track 4 (1.3MB).

23/11/02 - Two reviews today, both from AICN. Moriarty is going wild about it... and is maybe overstating his case perhaps a bit too much, but oh well. Mr. Beaks is likewise semi-delirious. But a positive review is a positive review, so who are we to complain? Adaptation 2: Electric Boogaloo? Scoff not, regarding: Adaptation says it's a slight possibility. Believe it when I see it. Very cool scoop coming up later in the week, if I can get my FTP and modem to co-operate. Stay tuned.

22/11/02 -Rolling Stone's Peter Travers gives Adaptation an almighty four stars, and over here's a brief report on a screening of the film held recently in Seattle. Ryan of the Writer's Guild attended that screening and says:

...at the end, one professional woman, late 20's, turned around to the another professional woman, and gushed, "Ohmigod, that was the most amaaaazing movie. (beat) Who wrote it?"

Ahem. No comment needed. [Note: Colour me stupid. Just realised that didn't occur in Seattle. I was confusing two emails. Still funny, though.] Thanks to Renee from Admire My Cage for pointing me toward both articles.

21/11/02 - Amazon say the soundtrack is due out on November 26. They don't have an image of the CD cover as yet, or a track listing, so maybe the date's premature. Chud have a small feature on Adaptation, basically summarising the plot and giving the film a good rap. Everyone seems happy with Cage. Thanks to WiLL for the tip. New glowing review of the film here at AICN. Thanks to WiLL for that, too.

19/11/02 - Adaptation gets a great rap over at Reel.com in Tor Thorsen's round-up of the holiday flicks. It's a brief mention, but a good one nonetheless.

WiLL has gone above and beyond the call of duty in scanning not one but two articles for us. I'll transcribe them one day. For now you can read the scans.

Susan Orlean in Premiere talks about her reaction to reading the script and realising the film ain't like her book. (Print's a little fuzzy, but that's not the fault of WiLL's scanner. It's because of the purple background. It was scanned at a higher res than I've uploaded, but it would have been huge if I'd used that.)

Adaptationin EW (4 pages)

There are a few newish images in that last article. To wit:

(Jonze - in cap - and Cage on-set)

(Similar to a pic you've seen, but different)

(Chris Cooper as John Laroche)

Thanks WiLL!!

Two new piccies from Renee at Admire My Cage, who got them from a friend who's new to this scanning business.

(Clicky to enbiggy)

(If you click it, it will grow)

Thanks Renee and Renee's scan-crazy friend!!

18/11/02 - Crisis over, at least it seems to be, re: the thing mentioned in the last update. Only lasted 3 BCK days, thank God, but they were a long 3 days. So disregard the 1st and last paragraphs in the 16/11 update.

16/11/02 - I know this is the worst timing possible, but I just want to let folks know that I'm not sure how often I'll be updating in the foreseeable future. There's a thing going on right now that I don't understand, and it has me very worried and sad, and somehow it's my fault, so I'm kind of distracted. It's come out of the blue. I'm kind of a mess. It's just awful.

Joshua pointed me toward this article in People, which might be the one Jason mentioned yesterday.

Here's a short interview with Meryl Streep at Dark Horizons.

I'm in a bad mental space right now. So if any of you send me bits of info, my apologies if I don't reply quickly, or if I reply abruptly. It's not your fault. Don't forget you can send stuff to Andy, too.

15/11/02 - 2nd Update: Jason from regarding: Adaptation let me know that he's just posted a few pics over here. They come from a scene Susan Orlean herself appeared in, which was cut from the final edit. He also told me there are new articles in Entertainment Weekly and People.

Adaptation now has enough reviews at Rotten Tomatoes to show up on their Tomatometer rating as 100% Fresh. Thanks to Joshua, who also tells me that Films In Review - who put up the positive review Andy linked to earlier - is the magazine of the National Board of Review, who will be dishing out awards next month. So expect Adaptation to get a look in there.

1st Update: It's review time again for Adaptation, this time courtesy of FilmsinReview.com.

13/11/02 - 2nd Update: Still no confirmation as to whether the actual Spike Jonze did actually sign the Guest Book. [Dec. 5 update: it's been confirmed, the entry was made by an imposter, though Spike has visited the site and apparently liekd it quite a bit.] I guess we'll live in constant wonder. One thing I don't get: if my calculations are correct (and they may not be), whoever signed it as Spike did so with a computer at NYU. Does this make sense? Self-serving memo to any accredited member of the press who happens to interview Spike or Charlie in the coming months: ask them if they've seen this site, hey? And either email me their reply or give it a passing mention in your article, hey? Because I know some of you journalist-types come here looking for info (some of you even email me), which is swell and cool and flattering and all, but how's about doing me that one little favour in return, hey? Hey?

1st Update: Wondering how well Adaptation might do at the box office? click here.

12/11/02 - 2nd Update: I hate mysteries. Like the day John Laroche signed the Guest Book, today I'm not sure if someone's pulling my leg. [Dec. 5 update: they were pulling my leg. The entry was made by an imposter claiming to be Spike Jonze, though Spike has seen the site and apparently liked it quite a bit.] I'm currently trying to confirm the identity of the latest Guest Book inductee, but I just have this feeling I won't get that confirmation and I'll have to keep wondering. Go lookee. (No, it's not Charlie.) His email address seems legit, but a quick Google search revealed that there are half a dozen email addresses out there which include some variation of his name. If it is the real deal, this site has now been blessed! (I'm sorry for sounding suspicious about it, but you know what the internet's like.)

1st Update: Ok, there's another extremely brief review of Adaptation at BZine and a slightly longer one at Variety.com. You'll have to become a member to view it, or you could just click here, which is a hell of a lot easier (spoilers).

10/11/02 - Hollywood Reporter's Kirk Honeycutt takes a look at Adaptation and enjoys himself in the process. Thanks to Joshua for the tip.

9/11/02 - 2nd Update: Ok, the big news in Hollywood is that Steve Martin is due to host the 75th Oscars in March 2003. And there's quite a lot of internet opinion already that Adaptation may be up for an award, although there seems to be some confusion whether it is an adapted or original screenplay. Anyway, the reviews start to flow in, this time it's a positive verdict from Will at Dark Horizons.

1st Update: Just uploaded a copy of the Adaptation script (2nd draft) in PDF format. If all goes well, you should be able to do a Save Target As on this link and have yourself a copy of the screenplay within minutes, compliments of the chef. It's about 1.3MB and you'll need Adobe Acrobat Reader to view it.

8/11/02 - 3rd Update: Moviehole's Clint thinks Adaptation could very well be one of the best films of the year, though he can't make up his mind whether "Kaufman" has one "n" or two.

2nd Update: I've been told the 2nd draft of the Adaptation script has vanished from the web. I'll upload a copy shortly. Quick note about the soundtrack Andy linked to: for some reason Amazon has rigged its site so that links to specific pages on Amazon get redirected to their front page. So you may need to go hunting for the CD's listing yourself.

1st Update: Get your book tokens ready because the Adaptation shooting script (ie, not the version you may have already read) should be available in all good UK book stores from today, and according to Amazon.com the soundtrack should follow soon. Although there is no track listing as yet, according to one Weezer forum (you may remember Spike directed some Weezer videos) a cover of the Turtles classic "Happy Together" will be used in the film. Click here for a sneak preview.

7/11/02 - The Adaptation publicity machine continues to roll on in the form of internet banner advertising.

Taken from the NYTimes December movie preview. You will need to register in order to read the item, but it gives a good run-down on the movies Adaptation will be up against.

6/11/02 - Ten new pics in the Adaptation gallery of doom. Count 'em. Ten. 10. X. All of them unceremoniously swiped from Renee's Admire My Cage site, because I am a moral-less thief.

5/11/02 - 2nd Update: Adaptation had an advance screening in Sydney last night and I was not invited, the horror the horror. An Aussie writer/producer named Jimmy dropped me a line this morning and told me all about it.

...as much as I like the self-loathing, the fictional twin, the McKee send-up and all plot trickery, I was ultimately disappointed with the ending which seemed to set out to prove that the "Story" approach was wrong (although it could have been making the valid point that the McKee approach doesn't guarantee anything). Anyway, I can't help thinking it was a good movie about self-indulgence spoiled by a bad ending. And I think the cleverest thing Kaufman did was to make us like his imaginary twin more than we liked him. Nicholas Cage was superb, as was Meryl Streep. The twin brother/writers' block motif made me think it might also have been taking a pop at the Coen brothers. If so, it missed the mark: Barton Fink is, I fear, a superior movie even if it does suffer some of the same constraints and fundamental flaws.

Finally got around to putting up the Adaptation gallery.

1st Update: Another new Adaptation pic!

(Click to enlarge)

Thanks to the real McKee's "Story" website.

And if you were wondering what the real screenwriting guru Robert McKee thought about the Adaptation script then the Los Angeles Times has a short interview. Even though McKee is the main antagonist of the story, he has several nice words to say about the script even though Kaufman has been less than polite about his seminars.

4/11/02 - If you happen to be in the general area of Hollywood this month, then you may want to check out the world famous Egyptian Theatre at 6712 Hollywood Boulevard. Besides having a Nicolas Cage month in November, they are also having an advance preview of Adaptation at 8pm on November 23, however you do need to be a "Cinematheque Member" (details here).

2/11/02 - New pic!

(Click to enlarge)

Thanks to Renee The Great from Admire My Cage.

kJ stops by with two Adaptation wallpapers, both pretty darn cool. They feature the Nicolas-Cage-as-a-pothead shot (joke stolen - thanks "Sis") from the film's poster. In fact the two wallpapers are identical, except the pot's a little smaller in the second one, and it's down in the lower-right corner instead of across the centre. 1st one...2nd one. Thanks again kJ!

1/11/02 - There's a rather bigass version of the Adaptation poster here at TNMC.

29/10/02 - When the shooting script comes out around December (published by Newmarket), it'll have a foreword written by our friend Susan Orlean. Should be interesting. Newmarket's page on the book says it'll have an intro by Charlie. I don't know if this is correct.

While Susan was in San Fran for the Adaptation screening, she was interviewed on the West Coast Live radio show. I haven't listened to the interview myself because my modem screams if you wave a feather at it (and besides, I've been spending waaay too much time online as it is), but you can check it out here if you have RealAudio.

27/10/02 - Snowdesign, a semi-regular at da board, is one lucky fella. He attended the Berkeley screening of Adaptation a couple of nights ago, met Charlie, and got a photo of the man. The bastard. (Snow, not Charlie.) Read Snowdesign's account of the night here.

If anyone else has attended a screening and/or has an interesting anecdote to relate, photos from the event, or whatever, I'd like to hear all about it.

24/10/02 - Big news! The legendary 2nd draft of the script is now freely downloadable as a PDF file from here. Thanks to Satcho9 for the heads up. Dave Poland has seen the film and is fairly foaming at the mouth with joy. I think he should be committed. Or at least take a Valium, a glass of warm milk and a nice lie down. Read his somewhat delirious review here. Via the regarding: Adaptation weblog comes word in this Rolling Stone article that Norman Cook, aka Fatboy Slim, is working on a remix of the theme from Adaptation. The musically-hip amongst you will know that Mr. Jonze and Mr. Slim have worked together before.

20/10/02 - The screening Susan Orlean attended the other day was hosted by gossip columnist Liz Smith and Mike Nichols. Smith's report on the film can be found here. She quite dug it, except for the ending, which she doesn't seem to get. But oh well. Link via Jason's Adaptation blog at Susan Orlean's site.

19/10/02 - Thanks to Dark Horizons, the teaser poster for Adaptation has been unveiled. Scroll back up to the top of the page you're on right now, and you'll see it beside the bold script excerpt. Mmmm, pretty.

13/10/02 - Magnetic Monkey found a short little mention of Adaptation here at Slashdot (search the page for 'Adaptation'). A poster on their board claims to have worked on the film's special effects:

I worked on an effect on the new Spike Jonze movie, Adaptation, and even though it's a $100M+ budget, they still needed (or wanted) to cut out as much as possible from the cost of the effect. They need the money to pay the actors' exorbitant wages and the myriad little expenses that crop up in a production.

The budget for Adaptation was actually more like $19 million, and as Jason points out in his Adaptation blog, Nicolas Cage actually took a whopping pay cut to star in the film, so I don't know how reliable that quote is.

11/10/02 - 2nd update: More news from Jason's Adaptation weblog: Susan Orlean has just seen the final cut of the film and says it's "amazing." And she means it in the good way. You can read more detailed comments from her here. Susan seems really cool. And really pleased with the film, which is good - I mean, look at what Charlie and Spike have done to her book. You could hardly have blamed her if she'd freaked out somewhat. But hey, no freaking out, so I re-iterate that she's now in my cool book.
1st update: Here's something cool, but I got onto it kind of late. So if you want in, you probably ought to hurry. According to Jason's Adaptation weblog over at Susan Orlean's official web hangout: "The New Yorker is holding a 'series of signature programs' in San Francisco on Oct 23-26 called New Yorker Nights." On October 25 at 7pm, there will be "a screening of Adaptation at the SFMOMA with Susan and Messrs. Jonze & Kaufman in attendance for a little pre-film schmoozing and Q&A; afterward. Tickets are available online at TicketWeb." I dunno if tickets are still available. Needless to say I won't be getting one, what with an ocean and several thousand miles in the way.

10/10/02 - Susan Orlean is technologically hip and has her own website, www.susanorlean.com. She also has a neato Adaptation weblog here, which is being maintained by a guy named Jason.

1/10/02 - According to Aussie film site Urban Cinefile, Adaptation is pencilled in for a Dec. 26 release in Australia... which, you'll realise, if you've been paying attention, is where I be at. Thanks to Elsie for the tip!

22/9/02 - Nothing major, just juiced up the Cast & Crew details above. Visit the film's listing at the Internet Movie Database for more cast & crew details than anyone in their right mind would want to know.

13/9/02 - Guess what, people? The Adaptation trailer is now online. Oh, stop kissing my cheeks - I know you're grateful, so let's leave it at that. Go here to view it. Big thanks to Myla at Meryl Streep Online for the heads up. Two interesting things: 1. the site confirms a Dec. 6 release date, and 2. the site isn't at www.adaptationmovie.com, a domain name owned by the company that partially financed the film. I guess the Sony site might be a temporary thing.

25/8/02 - Amazon and Barnes & Noble both say the Adaptation shooting script will be released in book form by Newmarket, around October/November (October according to Barnes, November according to Amazon). More than this I do not know, but it's yet more evidence that the film actually will hit cinemas this year.

16/8/02 - Corona Coming Attractions have been told that Adaptation has been pencilled in for a limited release on December 6, going wider at a later (undetermined) date. Given that Nic Cage said in an Internet chat room it'd be opening in December, I'd say this looks more promising than any of the previous alleged opening dates we've heard about (all 97 of them).

16/6/02 - Myla at Meryl Streep Online says "Phooey" to the news of a possible November/December release date: "I just spoke with Meryl’s rep who said the film was due out in September, and he’s been pretty accurate about everything he’s told me so far."

15/6/02 - From Renee at Admire My Cage comes this: "Nicolas Cage told us in 'Celebrity Chat' last night hosted by AOL, that Adaptation is due out in late November-early December of THIS year." We shall see, we shall see.

31/5/02 - Nothing new here. But if you're bored, you can pretend to buy shares in Adaptation. What the? Read more on the news page.

23/5/02 - Added two links today because I'm so swell. Scroll back up and you'll see a "Fan Sites" section. Renee from Admire My Cage helped me out with a photo a while back, and Myla from Meryl Streep Online dropped me a line today so I thought Well, why the hell not? I couldn't answer my own question, so I added the links.

18/5/02 - Test screenings of Adaptation continue, this time in Scottsdale Arizona. AICN has posted a review here. "Good, but it ain't no Malkovich" is the verdict, which irritates me because it's not supposed to be like Malkovich. (NOTE: the reviewer says Adaptation's ending is too contrived, but he seems to miss the fact that it's meant to be that way.)

17/5/02 - Got an email from John Laroche, who spoke with Ed Saxon's personal assistant. He tells me the September 20 release date listed on Movie Web is "almost assuredly bullshit." So there you go.

16/5/02 - Coming Attractions has posted a big-thumbs-up review of the film here. Scroll down to the italics (about halfway down the page).

15/5/02 - Not to shamelessly name drop, but go see who signed my guest book. (No, not Charlie.) I've confirmed, as best as humanly possible, that it ain't a hoax. Nifty.

9/5/02 - Movie Web is listing Adaptation's release date as September 20. I don't know where their info comes from, and nobody else is listing a specific date, but it does fit in with what we know for sure: Sony are aiming for autumn. I dunno.

21/4/02 - New image from the film! It's the one up above - Nic hanging out with Nic. Funny how much he resembles himself. Click here for a larger version. Many thanks to Renee from Admire My Cage.com.

20/4/02 - Chris Faile from The Trades asked me to write a review of the screenplay's second draft. You can read it here. Many thanks to Chris and Raul Burriel.

18/4/02 - I've done some detective work and discovered: a) an indie production company called 'Intermedia' are footing the bill for most of this movie, and b) Intermedia currently own the www.adaptationmovie.com domain name which, if you click on it, is presently just an empty page with their logo. Excellent chance the film's official site will pop up there, so watch that space. Meanwhile, Spike Jonze has started test-screening Adaptation and AICN has posted some reviews of the film. Click here and here.

9/4/02 - Charlie was recently interviewed by Creative Screenwriting, where he spoke about Adaptation and Confessions of a Dangerous Mind. Unfortunately I don't have that article, but here's what IGN had to say about it. Apparently Sony had no idea how Charlie was adapting The Orchid Thief until he turned in the script. He thought he'd get fired. I also added an old review of the script's 2nd draft, from Stax at IGN.

31/3/02 - Sony say they're now hoping for a fall 2002 release. Believe it when I see it.

26/3/02 - Today I scored the 2nd draft of the screenplay. Won't get a chance to read it for a little while, though. Too much other stuff to do.

25/3/02 - Here's the latest pic from the film. You'll notice Nic looks rather wistful, perhaps because his character (our Charlie) becomes obsessed with Orlean (played by Meryl). (Credit: Dark Horizons, who found it in a mag called Total Film.)

- The rumour is that John Cusack, Catherine Keener, Cameron Diaz and/or Spike Jonze will appear in the movie as themselves. Their roles were apparently written into later drafts of the script. I've heard there's one scene where Jonze, on the set of Being John Malkovich, is asking Charlie to write Jonze's next movie, which happens to be Adaptation.