Adaptation · written by Charlie Kaufman and Donald Kaufman · 2002

Charlie hears two passing girls laugh and imagines they called him “Fatso.”

Scene 26 of 202 · ≈ 1 min on screen · Act one

Act oneAct twoAct three

Begins 14 min into a 1:57 film

The story so farBefore scene 26

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.
Scene 10
Valerie and Margaret give Charlie the assignment to adapt The Orchid Thief.
Just before
Scene 23
Laroche argues with Tony that Seminole rights and conservation law complicate the arrest.
Scene 24
Orlean drives through Florida’s unstable edge between expanding development and disappearing wilderness.
Scene 25
A young girl swings while her loving parents kiss between pushes.
Scene 26
This scene

26EXT. BIG SPANISH-STYLE HOUSE - DAY

Kaufman gets out of his car with his books. Two teenage girls walk by. Kaufman watches as one whispers to the other. He thinks he hears the word "Fatso." The girls giggle.