Adaptation · written by Charlie Kaufman and Donald Kaufman · 2002

Orlean’s account of old orchid hunters becomes a staged display of mannequins and cardboard swamp.

Scene 45 of 202 · ≈ 1 min on screen · Act one

Orlean

Act oneAct twoAct three

Begins 27 min into a 1:57 film

The story so farBefore scene 45

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 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
Laroche explains his plan to clone ghost orchids, enrich the Seminoles, and stop future poaching.
Scene 45
This scene

45EXT. SWAMP - DAY

Old black and white footage, taken from up high, of two 19th century men leading a horse drawn cart full of poached orchids.

ORLEAN (V.O.)

Men from Florida dominated the orchid

hunting scene. Hunters in the

Fakahatchee hauled out thousands of

orchids in horse-drawn flatbed carts.

The camera swoops down, close to the men. As it does, the image transforms. It turns to color, the men become mannequins, the horse becomes papier-mache: it's a display. A live man in modern work clothes is arranging actual orchids in the cardboard cart.