Adaptation · written by Charlie Kaufman and Donald Kaufman · 2002

Charlie watches Orlean at lunch and turns her ordinary choices into screenplay notes.

Scene 160 of 202 · ≈ 1 min on screen · Act two

Kaufman
Orlean

Act oneAct twoAct three

Begins 1:21 into a 1:57 film

The story so farBefore scene 160

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 157
Charlie encounters Orlean in the elevator and follows her into the street.
Scene 158
Charlie trails Orlean down the street without approaching her.
Scene 159
Orlean follows Laroche deeper into the swamp, increasingly hot, scraped, and exhausted.
Scene 160
This scene

160INT. RESTAURANT - DAY

Orlean sits by herself, reading Vanity Fair. Kaufman sits a few tables away. He scribbles in his notebook.

KAUFMAN (V.O.)

Reads Vanity Fair. Funny detail: New

Yorker writer reads Vanity Fair. Use!

A waitress brings a tuna sandwich and an ice tea to Orlean.

KAUFMAN (V.O.) (cont'd)

Likes tuna, drinks ice tea. Good

character details. Good stuff!

Orlean looks up from her magazine and smiles at the waitress.

ORLEAN

Thanks. Could I get some lemon please?

The waitress nods and leaves. Kaufman scribbles.

KAUFMAN (V.O.)

Likes lemon in tea and her voice is not

at all what I imagined. Interesting!