Just as Shia Labouf took us on an introspective journey in his recent film, Honey Boy (2019), Charlie Kaufman’s screenplay for Adaptation (2002) is an attempt to explore the battle between writing art and writing for Hollywood. In an industry that has a formula for every major blockbuster, creating an original story can send some writers to the brink of insanity. After a failed attempt to adapt Susan Orlean’s novel, “The Orchid Thief”, Charlie Kaufman handed director, Spike Jonze, the screenplay for a meta film about the experience.

         Instead of seeking therapy, Kaufman wrote himself into a visual confrontation with his relationship with work, with women, and with his ego. Played by Nicholas Cage, the caricature of Charlie Kaufman struggles with outgrowing insecurities that manifest themselves as a living ego, his fictional twin brother Donald.  Where Charlie’s insecurities about his appearance sabotage his romantic endeavors, Donald is unapologetically flirtatious. Where Charlie sulks in the disillusionment of an indie screenwriter, Donald pursues the formulaic approaches of Hollywood. Charlie struggles to write his adaptation, and yet, despite a lack of experience, Donald successfully produces a thrilling screenplay, The 3.

         After watching the extent of his brother’s success, Charlie is forced to confront the walls that he’s built around himself. He begrudgingly attends a writer’s workshop that he criticizes Donald for going to. At the event, Charlie pitches his screenplay woes. But instead of words of encouragement, the speaker, Robert McKee, tears into Charlies deepest anxieties. The script is boring, flat, and void of any essence of humanity, the very foundation of storytelling. Faced with an identity crisis, Charlie swallows his pride and confronts his ego; he asks Donald to help him complete his screenplay. Now partners on a quest complete the adaptation, the twins fly to New York to complete their research and interview the writer, Susan Orlean (played by Meryl Streep). The journey thereafter becomes an adventure worth writing about.

         Adaptation makes room for experimental introspection with the aid of Hollywood artifacts. While we’re watching Nicholas Cage get himself together, we are also watching Merly Streep as she pursues the story for “The Orchid Thief”. She interviews John Laroche (played by Chris Cooper), a rare orchid hunter. With his toothy grin and quick wit, he proves to be a compelling subject that leads to not only a book deal, but an entire feature film. So, yes, technically the adaptation did get made. Here, audiences are gifted Hollywood’s version of an introspective film. Susan Orlean is also struggling with internal woes. I get that the film is trying to create a parallel between internal conflicts between Susan and Charlie. But, I find that Orlean’s story exploits the feminine stereotype of romantic longing where Charlie’s character focuses on longing for purpose.

Despite that, Adaptation is a think piece that blends avant-garde sequences and self-reflexive Hollywood filmmaking to reflect Charlie’s internal struggle. As film students, we begin with ambitions of creating original and innovative content. After studying the formulas ad nauseam, we’re told what sells well and what doesn’t. We get a firsthand look at the industrial machine that Hollywood has become, and it’s disheartening. However, Charlie Kaufman exemplifies a blend of Hollywood and Independent filmmaking. You can still make a good movie without being a “sell out”.