Adaptation · written by Charlie Kaufman and Donald Kaufman · 2002

Charlie reads advice to face reality and sees fireworks blooming like flowers below the plane.

Scene 146 of 202 · ≈ 1 min on screen · Act two

Kaufman

Act oneAct twoAct three

Begins 1:16 into a 1:57 film

The story so farBefore scene 146

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.
Scenes 106–126
The swamp is ordinary, Orlean’s research fails, and Charlie experiments with increasingly personal versions of the book.
Scenes 127–144
Charlie finds a way to focus the material by putting himself in it, then commits to meeting Orlean.
Just before
Scene 143
Orlean calls Laroche again and secures a dawn trip to find the ghost orchid.
Scene 144
Charlie recognizes that his screenplay is eating itself, confesses his fear to Donald, and decides to meet Orlean.
Scene 145
Orlean sleeps fitfully before the planned swamp trip.
Scene 146
This scene

146INT. PLANE - NIGHT

Kaufman reads Ann Landers's column in a paper dated July 4th.

KAUFMAN (V.O.)

Give yourself a reality check. Phoniness

is transparent, and it is tiresome. Take

pleasure in the beauty and wonders of

nature. A flower is God's miracle.

Out the window he sees colorful fireworks far down below, like small flowers blooming on the black earth. His eyes well with tears.