Adaptation (2002)

Spike Jonze directed and Charlie Kaufman wrote the surreal comedy-drama film Adaptation (stylized Adaptation.) in 2002. Nicolas Cage, Meryl Streep, and Chris Cooper appear in the picture, which also features Cara Seymour, Brian Cox, Tilda Swinton, Ron Livingston, and Maggie Gyllenhaal.

Kaufman based Adaptation on his troubles with writer's block when adapting Susan Orlean's nonfiction novel The Orchid Thief in 1998. It includes aspects from the novel as well as fictional features such as Kaufman's twin brother (who is also acknowledged as a screenwriter for the film) and a romance between Orlean and Laroche. Three years after the events of The Orchid Thief, it culminates in wholly imagined components, including versions of Orlean and Laroc.

Nicolas Cage, 57, plays real-life screenwriter Charlie Kaufman, 62 (and his fictional twin brother Donald), who is having writer's block while attempting to adapt a (real) book by (real) New Yorker writer Susan Orlean about orchid poacher John Laroche (Chris Cooper, 69, who won an Oscar for the role) (Streep). Is that clear? With no wigs, dialects, or character tics to fall back on, the resulting picture is full of ludicrous, action-packed fictional turns, yet at its heart, Streep provides one of her most natural and unvarnished performances to date. The real Susan Orlean, 65, was first hesitant about the film, but later praised it as one of Streep's best performances.

Detailed information:

Directed by: Spike Jonze

Release date: December 6, 2002

Link to watch: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0268126