Adaptation · written by Charlie Kaufman and Donald Kaufman · 2002

Laroche buys cigarettes and explains that his ghost-orchid plan was meant to give the Seminoles something extraordinary.

Scene 85 of 202 · ≈ 1 min on screen · Act one

Laroche

Act oneAct twoAct three

Begins 46 min into a 1:57 film

The story so farBefore scene 85

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.
Scene 75
Laroche says adaptation is learning how to survive in the world.
Just before
Scene 82
Laroche stands at a double funeral, now missing his front teeth.
Scene 83
Laroche sits beside his comatose wife in the hospital.
Scene 84
Laroche tells Orlean his wife left after recovering and the hurricane destroyed his nursery, leading him to the Seminoles.
Scene 85
This scene

85INT. DISCOUNT CIGARETTE STORE - CONTINUOUS

Laroche pulls about ten Marlboro cartons off the shelf.

LAROCHE

But I wasn't gonna give them a

conventional little potted-plant place.

So I came up with the "ghost" plan. I

was gonna give them something amazing.