Adaptation · written by Charlie Kaufman and Donald Kaufman · 2002

Orlean explains her new drug-fueled passion as Laroche drives them toward the swamp.

Scene 197 of 202 · ≈ 1 min on screen · Act three

Orlean
Kaufman

Act oneAct twoAct three

Begins 1:44 into a 1:57 film

The story so farBefore scene 197

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.
Scene 184
Donald’s notes push Charlie toward the brothers, the swamp, and a dramatic ending.
Just before
Scene 194
Orlean recalls seeing a ghost orchid with Laroche, but cannot feel what he feels as he cuts it down.
Scene 195
Orlean narrates Laroche’s secret plan to extract a psychoactive drug from the ghost orchid.
Scene 196
Orlean takes the orchid drug and experiences the passion for flowers she could not feel before.
Scene 197
This scene

197INT. RENTAL CAR - BEFORE DAWN

ORLEAN

Isn't it curious? An orchid made me

passionate about orchids.

KAUFMAN

You're throwing the truth away for a

chemical confusion of your synapses --

ORLEAN

With this powder I am passionate about

everything.

I'm alive in a profound world now. It

sizzles with beauty and horror and sex.

Now writing is -- words are -- a way to

remove yourself from passion. So I'm

done with writing. John and I are making

a fortune with this extract. It's big in

the Miami club scene. We call it

"Passion."

(giggles)

Isn't that cute?

Up ahead, Laroche turns off the road at the Fakahatchee sign.

ORLEAN (cont'd)

Follow him, please.