Adaptation · written by Charlie Kaufman and Donald Kaufman · 2002

Orlean wakes from the dream as the imagined flood and alligator vanish from her hotel room.

Scene 149 of 202 · ≈ 1 min on screen · Act two

Act oneAct twoAct three

Begins 1:17 into a 1:57 film

The story so farBefore scene 149

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 146
Charlie reads advice to face reality and sees fireworks blooming like flowers below the plane.
Scene 147
Charlie sleeps uneasily before his meeting with Orlean.
Scene 148
Orlean dreams that the swamp traps and drags her under.
Scene 149
This scene

149INT. HOTEL ROOM - CONTINUOUS

Orlean snaps awake, bedcovers tangled around her legs. She heaves, looks at the clock. It's 3:30. She stares at the ceiling. She looks at the clock again. It's 3:30. She looks at the clock again. It's 4:10. She closes her eyes. She opens them, looks at the clock, the room is filled with murky water, the bed an island of dryness. An alligator pokes its nose out of the water, begins to climb onto the bed. Orlean jumps back, hits her head on the headboard. The room is back to normal. The clock reads 4:23. She closes her eyes. The alarm goes off.