Adaptation · written by Charlie Kaufman and Donald Kaufman · 2002

Laroche explains his plan to clone ghost orchids, enrich the Seminoles, and stop future poaching.

Scene 44 of 202 · ≈ 1 min on screen · Act one

Laroche
Orlean

Act oneAct twoAct three

Begins 26 min into a 1:57 film

The story so farBefore scene 44

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.
Scene 31
Donald’s rivalry and affection give Charlie a living counterpoint to his isolated view of himself.
Just before
Scene 41
Charlie finishes masturbating and lies alone in the dark.
Scene 42
A girl swings while her distant parents sit apart in a suburban yard.
Scene 43
Orlean asks Laroche to take her to the orchid show, and he complains about his van.
Scene 44
This scene

44INT. VAN - DAY

Laroche drives manically. Orlean watches the road and holds one hand against the dashboard.

LAROCHE

The thing you gotta know is my whole life

is looking for a goddamn profitable

plant. And that's the ghost.

ORLEAN

Why the ghost orchid?

LAROCHE

The sucker's rare. Collectors covet what

is not available. I'm the only one in

the world who knows how to cultivate it.

He looks at her and smiles. Orlean smiles back and indicates, with a small jerk of the head, that he might want to watch the road. He doesn't take the hint.

LAROCHE (cont'd)

The plan was, get the Indians to pull it

from the swamp. I researched it. As

long as I don't touch the plants, Florida

can't touch us. Then I'd clone hundreds

of them babies in my lab, sell 'em, and

make the Seminoles a shitload of change.

In handwriting made jerky by the bouncing van, Orlean writes "shitload of change" on her notepad.

LAROCHE (cont'd)

And I stop future poaching by making the

flowers readily available in stores.

Then I give a big speech at the trial

about how the legislature should get rid

of loopholes smart people like me can

find. I'm a hero. The flowers are

saved. Laroche and nature win.