The creative team behind "Being John Malkovich," screenwriter Charlie Kaufman and director Spike Jonze, tops the strangeness of that film with their newest collaboration, the very bizarre and unconventional movie, "Adaptation."
"Adaptation" is the story of a writer (Charlie Kaufman) who struggles with writer's block while trying to get a handle on adapting "The Orchid Thief," a successful book about flowers, into a workable screenplay. Out of desperation, Kaufman inserts himself into the story and the adaptation of the novel becomes a screenplay about adapting the book (sounds confusing, doesn't it?) The finished product, "Adaptation," is one of the most interesting and innovative films of 2002.
The real author of "The Orchid Thief" - Susan Orlean - was initially shocked to read she was a character in the movie version of her book. "I thought the script was completely strange and yet, wonderful," said Orlean, adding, "But the important thing is that, in the end, this was the perfect thing to have happened to this book. It has become more of a character in the movie than the actual basis for the movie."
When Orlean was informed Meryl Streep would be portraying her in "Adaptation," she was elated. 25 years ago the two women had worked on "The Deer Hunter" but had never been formally introduced. It was the only film Orlean ever appeared in as an extra and Meryl Streep was one of the movie's stars. "It somehow seemed like karma that she was going to play me. To have such a great actress wanting to play a character based on you is thrilling," explains Orlean.
MERYL STREEP ('Susan Orlean')
What did you think when you read the script?
I thought it was one of the best scripts I'd ever read in my life. They leap out at you, the ones that are really ambitious. That's what I loved about it - its ambition and its inventiveness. It's very densely written. It's dense visually, but also in terms of its ideas and its emotions. It looked like a really interesting ride. It wasn't like anything I'd been asked to do before. And it's not like a straightforward story.
Maybe the closest thing that I've done is like "The French Lieutenant's Woman" where Harold Pinter adapted John Fowles' novel and employed this conceit of an actress having a dilemma similar to the one in the book, so that there was kind of a distance on what I was doing. That was one thing that concerned me in the very beginning. I wondered how far they were going to hold this - at arms length, this story, or how ironically they were going to play this screenplay, or whether they were going to commit to it. Because if they were going to commit to it fully and emotionally, then I understood why they wanted me to be in it. So, that was the task of it, not to get too much into my head about what it was about, but to be in the story and make it make sense, even though it wasn't the story of anybody who really existed.
Did you meet Susan Orlean?
No. I met her at the first screening.
Why didn't you want to meet her before?
I didn't want to be diverted by the truth. I felt like I looked at [Nicolas Cage], I met Charlie [Kaufman], and I thought, "Okay, this is not a documentary."
What was Orlean's reaction?
I had already seen the film once and I walked into this screening that Mike Nichols held in New York for a lot of people who were friends, and there she was. I mean, I recognized her right away. I said, "Oh my God, hello. Maybe I should've met you before." And I said, "I apologize in advance." She says, "Oh, I've seen it. I wish I were Susan Orlean." So, she was very forgiving about it.
Can you talk about working with Chris Cooper?
Working with him, he's one of my favorite actors in the world. I've seen him in most everything he's done and I was thrilled that it was going to be him. He made it easy. First of all, obsession is an attractive thing. People who are really, really interested and good at one thing and smart are attractive, if they're men. I mean, you couldn't have Susan Orlean toothless and have her still be an attractive person. But I think that there's some more leeway there and he's a very compelling character. And the way he played him was compelling. He's so willing; he'll just do anything.
And working with Nicolas Cage?
Oh, he's wonderful. I really had two days with him. I mean, I didn't have a lot of stuff with him but I loved working with him. My first day on the set of the film after coming back from London and shooting "The Hours" was [when] I was introduced to him and then climbed on top of him, because that's what they had very thoughtfully scheduled. I thought, "Oh, boy. What have I gotten myself into here?" But he was very gracious and serious and respectful and I thought, "Well, he's very gracious and serious and respectful." Then I met Donald [Kaufman]. Then I did the Donald scene and he couldn't stop laughing. He's laughing at me and I'm laughing at him while the cameras are rolling. Spike's going, "No, you have to come on, guys." But he's very alive in the moment so what happens is so are you. I have a little trouble concentrating. I laugh. When somebody makes me laugh, I laugh, even while the cameras are rolling. It's a very terrible thing to do, but I do it on stage too. Anyway, he has that problem too, so we were a bad combination. But it was really, really, really fun - really fun to work with him. He's really inventive and just never stops, kind of relentless.
How close did you keep to the script? Was there any room for changes or improv?
Or adaptations? Yes, there was a very long scene that I improvised. The dial tone [scene] came out of that. It wasn't in the script. That was fun. They gave us freedom to do things that weren't actually scripted. That sequence would fill four DVDs. That went on for a long time.
What's your impression of the real Charlie Kaufman?
Oh, I found him very guarded as only somebody who's laid his entire interior self out in a movie can be. I'm shocked that he's done that, put his anxieties out for everyone to see. I was struck by how thoughtful he was and willing to discuss it and clear. I met him with Spike [Jonze] and [they were] clear about the tone of the piece and how they really did want it. They didn't want some smart aleck sort of cool look at this.
He really writes out of pain and he was willing to express that, but I was very impressed with him. I think his work was in the script and it's gorgeous. It's very ambitious and very brave. It's brave work.
How was working with Spike Jonze?
Oh, Spike is an eagle eye. He's really so meticulous in what he wanted in certain line readings and over and over and over again, trying different things. For somebody who seems a little diffident, he's got his skateboarding thing and whimsical. You know, they'd all dress in suits all the time. The cinematographer and he would come in three piece suits like I guess they did in the olden days on sets [with] sort of a whimsical approach. But it just hides, it masks this steel trap kind of demand he puts on himself and on the actors and the script. But he does it with a very light touch. It's a lovely quality.
You really trust him because you know he's watching so closely and not settling. He doesn't move on if it's not exactly what he wants. And then when he knows what he wants, he'll move on after the second take. That's a sign of great confidence as a director and it's just the greatest thing for an actor to pick up on because you know you can trust him.
Do you base your characters on people close to you?
I usually have someone secretly in mind that has certain characteristics that I steal flat out because I have to, to be that close to it. But then this was a funny job because she takes a left turn at a certain point. Elements of this more hyperbolic character that we see at the end had to be buried in the beginning. And so how much to let that manifest itself is something, how much to hold back. It was very tightly held. I mean, when I say it now, I think that in the beginning I see someone tightly held. And that reminds me of the person that I was thinking of in the very beginning, so that's good. But while I'm doing it, I'm not aware of that.
You also have "The Hours" coming out soon. What was the atmosphere like on that set?
How was it to work on it? Extremely different. This was more a buoyant atmosphere and that was not. That was very intense. I mean, it was by nature. It was like three separate movies. I shot my part of it and then Nicole [Kidman] shot her section or Julianne [Moore]. Maybe Julianne first and then Nicole.
So you were never together?
No, but it was really intense and again, that one was three different stories woven together and when you see it, it's very intricately woven. I mean, the editing is brilliant. I said to the director, or to [producer] Scott Rudin, "You could cut this up in a million different ways, throw it up in the air and you'd have a valid picture almost no matter where they fell," because each component part, it just changed musically. They went through a lot of different arrangements and there is a narrative line, but there were so many decisions in terms of weaving three stories because it was shot discreetly.
Is it a more traditional adaptation of a novel?
No, not at all. It is not traditional. It's not a traditional novel. The novel is an adaptation of a book and it's a really rich, interesting film.
Were you involved in reshoots?
Yeah, that was a lot of my stuff. It was because it took a long time to get the sequence that they wanted, and then they found once they got their sequence together that they needed... David Hare wrote two or three new scenes, which were inserted at different points that they needed to pull the story more truthfully towards its end, and they changed the end.
What do Oscars mean to you?
Well, they mean a lot. They mean a lot. You win an Oscar, your film is probably seen by another...it can double the audience that you had before.
When you're as acclaimed as you are, how do you stay modest?
I think that the more you are in this business, the more humbled by it you become. I don't see that it builds you up as time goes on. Actually [it's] the opposite. I'm thrilled when I get nominated. You won't believe this, but I don't count how many and I don't remember how many I've had. I just know it's a lot. I know I'd like to have one more because I have one child who hasn't been. She's very interested. "When do the nominations come out?" They like to go and see the stars, real stars.
You're held in such high regard, does it intimidate you in terms of what you decide to do?
No, it doesn't intimidate me in terms of the scripts I accept. I get a trickling few that I'm lucky enough that some of them are great. I don't get loads of scripts. There aren't loads of scripts for people my age, so I've been lucky to get the ones I have gotten.
I had this sort of idolatry for certain actors who preceded me, people who inspired me, so I'm honored to be that way for young actors. But what it does is the big rep kind of interrupts the process on the first day of rehearsal. You walk in and meet all the actors, you're sitting around a table, everybody has their scripts out. I come in, but I also have this huge kind of gorilla on my back that wasn't invited but sits there with me until it goes away. And it goes away pretty fast, because actors are just - their job is to be in the room with each other and to listen and exchange things. Sometimes it's hard to dismiss this thing, but it's like an extra thing you bring in but it goes away pretty fast.
Who would you want to play you in an adaptation?
Oh, well, you know, Cate Blanchett. A combination between her and Molly Shannon from "Saturday Night Live."
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