Adaptation.

:For other uses, please see adaptation (disambiguation)

Analysis

The screenplay is based on a true story. Based on the success of his screenplay for Being John Malkovich, Kaufman was hired to write a screenplay based on Orlean's book. However, he soon realized that the book simply couldn't be filmed. As he came under increasing pressure to turn in a screenplay, the "adaptation" became a story of a screenwriter's attempt to write a screenplay about a book that can't be adapted into a screenplay. Kaufman handed the script to his employers in the firm belief he would never work again. Instead, the backers enjoyed the script so much they decided to abandon the original project and film Kaufman's screenplay instead.

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The film is self-referential, in that we see the creative process for the very movie that we are currently watching. At one point, Charlie is unable to think of a satisfactory ending for the script, and asks Donald how he would end it. At that moment, the style of the movie changes to Donald's style of scriptwriting, with intrigue, sex, car chases, and guns instead of abstraction and angst.

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As the movie does contain large elements of self-reference, there is also speculation that Donald, the character who writes about split personalities and imaginary characters, might himself be nothing more than another aspect of Charlie's personality (as he is in real life).

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The movie talks about the "Holy Grail", but all of the characters' quests in the story either fail or turn out to be futile:

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• Charlie Kaufman wanted to write a movie just about flowers, and to impress Susan Orlean. He failed on both counts.
• John Laroche wanted to be a leader in many different and obscure fields. Whenever he accomplished this, however, he would abandon his hobby for a completely new one.
• Susan Orlean wanted desperately to see the Ghost Orchid and care passionately about something. When she saw the Ghost Orchid, she remarked that "It's. . .a flower." When she found passion, she devolved into a hopeless addict.
• Donald Kaufman didn't really want anything out of life. However, he lucked into all the things his brother Charlie was desperate for and wrote a hit script The 3