Cast overview, first billed only: | |||
Nicolas Cage | ... | Charlie Kaufman / Donald Kaufman | |
Tilda Swinton | ... | Valerie Thomas | |
Meryl Streep | ... | Susan Orlean | |
Chris Cooper | ... | John Laroche | |
Jay Tavare | ... | Matthew Osceola | |
Litefoot | ... | Russell (as G. Paul Davis) | |
Roger Willie | ... | Randy | |
Jim Beaver | ... | Ranger Tony | |
Cara Seymour | ... | Amelia Kavan | |
Doug Jones | ... | Augustus Margary | |
Stephen Tobolowsky | ... | Ranger Steve Neely (scenes deleted) | |
Gary Farmer | ... | Buster Baxley | |
Peter Jason | ... | Defense Attorney | |
Gregory Itzin | ... | Prosecutor | |
Curtis Hanson | ... | Orlean's Husband |
While his latest movie Being John Malkovich (1999) is in production, screenwriter Charlie Kaufman is hired by Valerie Thomas to adapt Susan Orlean's non-fiction book "The Orchid Thief" for the screen. Thomas bought the movie rights before Orlean wrote the book, when it was only an article in The New Yorker. The book details the story of rare orchid hunter John Laroche, whose passion for orchids and horticulture made Orlean discover passion and beauty for the first time in her life. Charlie wants to be faithful to the book in his adaptation, but despite Laroche himself being an interesting character in his own right, Charlie is having difficulty finding enough material in Laroche to fill a movie, while equally not having enough to say cinematically about the beauty of orchids. At the same time, Charlie is going through other issues in his life. His insecurity as a person doesn't allow him to act upon his feelings for Amelia Kavan, who is interested in him as a man. And Charlie's twin ... Written by Huggo
A brilliant, original film, hilariously funny almost all the way through, which is why the end seems disjointed and a bit out of sync with the rest of the film...until you consider McKee's advice to Kaufman, the success of Donald's cliched script, and the pressure on Charlie Kaufman (in the film) to finish the script. So it suddenly becomes a thriller, there's drama added to a genuinely moving story and characters, and it seems to rush towards its ending unprepared. But that's the whole postmodern element of the film - is it deliberately bad and pat (like the Player - a much lesser film that doesn't stand up after repeated viewing)?
Anyway, Cage is fantastic in this - really if the Oscars were about acting, he should have got it for articulating two characters brilliantly. After the mess of Captain Corelli's Mandolin, it's some achievement.
A must see - but you need to engage your brain for this!