Adaptation · written by Charlie Kaufman and Donald Kaufman · 2002

Orlean calls Laroche from her hotel and says she found only bare roots, not the ghost orchid.

Scene 110 of 202 · ≈ 1 min on screen · Act two

Orlean

Act oneAct twoAct three

Begins 55 min into a 1:57 film

The story so farBefore scene 110

Unable to find a conventional story in The Orchid Thief, screenwriter Charlie Kaufman turns his own crisis into an increasingly self-referential adaptation.

Scenes 1–9
Charlie inhabits an isolated, self-condemning world while Orlean’s book supplies a distant model of obsession.
Scenes 10–88
Charlie wants to write honestly and make flowers matter, while also longing to be desired and understood.
Scenes 89–105
He leaves his familiar writing room and goes to Florida to search for the story firsthand.
Just before
Scene 107
Charlie complains that the swamp is not frightening or dramatic, while Owen points out a common lizard.
Scene 108
Charlie rides in Owen’s truck as Orlean’s narration describes ghosts and the Swamp Ape.
Scene 109
Charlie asks Owen about the Swamp Ape and is rebuked for needing a legend to make nature interesting.
Scene 110
This scene

110INT. HOTEL ROOM - NIGHT

Orlean, still dirty from the swamp, holds a phone to her ear and talks to us. She has cute little dirt smudges on her face.

ORLEAN

That night I called Laroche.

ORLEAN

(into phone)

I didn't see anything but bare roots.

And I had this thought. Maybe the ghost

orchid only blooms in the minds of people

who've walked too long in the swamp.