Anyone find the premise of this film intriguing?
Here’s the gist of it, (unless I got something wrong, please confirm. If you know the story, I wouldn’t bother reading):
**In REAL life Susan Orlean wrote a non-fiction book called “The Orchid Thief”
From her web site:
“In 1994, I headed down to Florida to investigate the story of John Laroche, an eccentric plant dealer who had been arrested along with a crew of Seminoles for poaching rare orchids out of the a South Florida swamp. I never imagined that I would end up spending the next two years shadowing Laroche and exploring the odd, passionate world of orchid fanatics. I certainly never imagined that I would willingly hike through the swamps of South Florida - but that’s what writing a book does to you. I found myself as passionate about the project as the orchid fanatics were about their flowers, and that is ultimately what the book is about. I’m proud to report that the book was a New York Times bestseller, a Barnes and Noble Discover book, a Borders New Voices selection, an honoree in the American Library Association and New York Public Library books-of-the-year selections…”
And, (this is where some speculation comes in), she was confronted about someone making a movie about the book and/or her experience’s writing it. I guess Charlie Kaufman, (who did “Being John Malkovich” and is in the works with “Confessions of a Dangerous Mind” with George Clooney and “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind” with Jim Carrey), was set to write the screen play for “The Orchid Thief”. I don’t think it was easy for him.
Soon, Kaufman’s trying to write the story, BECAME the storry. That’s what the movie is about. It seemingly has the main real-life character of the book (John Laroche) as a main character in the movie, played by Chris Cooper. It also has Susan Orlean as a main character, played by Meryl Streep. So it’s not as if these people, who were supposed to be the main focus of the movie, aren’t still very big parts of the story. I beleive the main focus of the movie Is about Charlie Kaufman played by Nicolas Cage. trying to ‘adapt’ this book into a movie.
:::Perhaps Minor Spoilers:::
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Kaufman also writes in a fictional character, how twin brother, Donald Kaufman (also Cage). I suppose that Donald is the ‘other-side’ of the real life Charlie… I don’t know, but Donald is also included in the writing credits.
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:::End Of Spoilers:::
**
Ok, so that’s it.
The movie Trailer doesn’t really explain any of this, but it shows that the movie doesn’t seem as boreing as it could be.
It’s been getting pretty good reviews, but I haven’t seen anything about it on these board. I loved how Kaufman incorporated real life people in the 'Malkovich movie, I also love the fact that he doesn’t seem work with tired movie formulas. There can be “hits” and “misses” when experimenting, but I like that he at least tries to create something fresh and new.
What do you guys think? Has anyone seen this movie?