Adaptation.

Year:

2003

Duration:

114 min | Turkey:81 min (TV version)

Genres:

Comedy | Drama

IMDB rate:

7.7

Director:

Spike Jonze

Awards:

Won Oscar. Another 61 wins & 67 nominations

Details

Country: USA

Release Date: 2003-02-14

Filming Locations: Los Angeles Center Studios - 450 S. Bixel Street, Downtown, Los Angeles, California, USA

Earnings

Budget: $19,000,000

Opening Weekend: $384,478 (USA) (8 December 2002)

Gross: $22,245,861 (USA) (20 April 2003)

Cast

Actor

Character

Nicolas Cage

Charlie Kaufman

Tilda Swinton

Valerie Thomas

Meryl Streep

Susan Orlean

Chris Cooper

John Laroche

Jay Tavare

Matthew Osceola

Litefoot

Russell

Roger Willie

Randy

Jim Beaver

Ranger Tony

Cara Seymour

Amelia Kavan

Doug Jones

Augustus Margary

Stephen Tobolowsky

Ranger Steve Neely

Gary Farmer

Buster Baxley

Peter Jason

Defense Attorney

Gregory Itzin

Prosecutor

Curtis Hanson

Orlean's Husband

Agnes NaDene Baddoo

Orlean Dinner Guest (as Agnes Badoo)

Paul Fortune

Orlean Dinner Guest

Paul Jasmin

Orlean Dinner Guest

Lisa Love

Orlean Dinner Guest

Wendy Mogel

Orlean Dinner Guest

David O. Russell

Orlean Dinner Guest

Judy Greer

Alice the Waitress

Maggie Gyllenhaal

Caroline Cunningham

Bob Stephenson

David

Bob Yerkes

Charles Darwin

Lynn Court

Laroche's Dad

Roger E. Fanter

Laroche's Uncle Jim

Sandra Lee Gimpel

Laroche's Mom (as Sandra Gimpel)

Caron Colvett

Laroche's Wife

Larry Krask

EMT

Ron Livingston

Marty Bowen

Brian Cox

Robert McKee

John Etter

McKee Lecture Attendee

Ray Berrios

Police Officer

Nancy Lenehan

Kaufman's Mother (voice)

Susan Orlean

Woman in Supermarket (scenes deleted)

Lance Acord

Himself (uncredited)

Brigitte Bogle

Teenage Orlean (uncredited)

Ryan Bosch

Partygoer (uncredited)

Jan Citron

Flower Shop Patron (uncredited)

Curt Clendenin

Restaurant Customer (uncredited)

Tony Collucci

Restaurant Customer (uncredited)

Lathan Crowe

Orchid Vendor (uncredited)

John Cusack

Himself (uncredited)

Donald Dowd

Cafe Customer (uncredited)

Spike Jonze

Himself (uncredited)

Catherine Keener

Herself (uncredited)

Jake Magnuson

Cafe Customer (uncredited)

John Malkovich

Himself (uncredited)

Thomas Patrick Smith

Himself (uncredited)

Rheagan Wallace

Kim Canetti

Did you know?

Trivia

A paragraph from Donald Kaufman's script "The Three" is shown at the very end of the credits. It reads: "We're all one thing, Lieutenant. That's what I've come to realize. Like cells in a body. 'Cept we can't see the body. The way fish can't see the ocean. And so we envy each other. Hurt each other. Hate each other. How silly is that? A heart cell hating a lung cell." - Cassie from THE THREE

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The flower shown during the time-lapse sequence at the end of the movie is called Amelia (an Osteospermum).

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Donald Kaufman was nominated for a Golden Globe with Charlie Kaufman, despite being a fictional character. They were also both nominated for an Academy Award and the Academy made it known that, in the event of a victory, the two brothers would have to share one statue.

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Goofs

When the accident involving John La Roche, his wife, mother, and uncle occurs, the spring holding on the uncle dummy's head, can be seen as the car is pushed to the left.

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Donald Kaufman suggests Flowers for Algernon as an example of a movie about flowers, to which Charlie Kaufman replies, "It's not about flowers; besides it's not a movie." In fact, the book had been filmed twice - once as Charly and for television as Flowers for Algernon.

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When Susan Orlean and her husband are having the dinner party at her home, she excuses herself from the table to go to the bathroom. When she closes the door and slides to the floor to sit, she puts her left hand to her face and her wedding band is on, then it's not on as she slides to the floor to sit, and then in the next scene when she is sleeping in bed, it's on again.

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Quotes

Susan Orlean: It's over. Everything's over. I did everything wrong. I want my life back. I want it back before everything got fucked up. I want to be a baby again. I want to be new. I WANT TO BE NEW.

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Charlie Kaufman: There are no rules, Donald. And anyone who says there are is just, you know...

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Donald Kaufman: Okay, well here's the twist. We find out that, that the killer really suffers from multiple personality disorder, right? See, he's actually really the cop and the girl. All of them are him. Isn't that fucked up?

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Faq

Q

Is Donald Charlie's multiple personality?

A

Literally, no: in the film, Donald is Charlie's identical twin brother. Philosophically, they are different understandings of the creative process: they represent Kaufman's internal struggle with writing, and they can learn from each other--it's not multiple personality disorder in the traditional sense, but it's a reappropriation of the trope's twist toward a unified thesis on high and low art, and what might be gained in their marriage.

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