《Adaptation》　改編劇本　我們荒誕而又真實的人生

No.074　《Adaptation》　改編劇本　我們荒誕而又真實的人生

英文導讀

Adaptation is a 2002 American semi-autobiographical drama metafilm directed by Spike Jonze and written by Charlie Kaufman. The film is based on Susan Orlean's non-fiction book The Orchid Thief, with numerous self-referential events added. The film stars Nicolas Cage as Charlie and Donald Kaufman, Meryl Streep as Susan Orlean, with Chris Cooper as John Laroche, Cara Seymour, Brian Cox, Tilda Swinton, Ron Livingston and Maggie Gyllenhaal.

Charlie Kaufman (Nicolas Cage) is a gifted but profoundly neurotic screenwriter who, after the success of Being John Malkovich, has been hired to write a script adapted from the nonfiction book The Orchid Thief by Susan Orlean. But while Charlie is obsessive about his work, he's also intensely paranoid, given to deep depression, socially inept, and terrified of talking to women, qualities which are making it difficult to get on with his work or hold on to his tenuous relationship with girlfriend Amelia (Cara Seymour). Meanwhile, Charlie's identical twin brother, Donald Kaufman (also played by Cage), has shown up to move in with his brother. Emotionally, Donald is Charlie's polar opposite—a loudmouthed, over-confident, superficial party animal who has an easy way with the ladies. Donald has decided to follow his brother's footsteps and take up screenwriting as well, but embracing the dictates of screenwriting tutor Robert McKee (Brian Cox), he's cranking out a cliché-ridden serial-killer thriller when not busy making time with new girlfriend Caroline (Maggie Gyllenhaal). As Donald blazes through his screenplay, Charlie slowly picks away at his story, in which author Susan Orlean (Meryl Streep) chronicles John Laroche (Chris Cooper), a scruffy but devoted plant enthusiast who tries to save rare species of orchids by stealing them from their natural home in the swamps of Florida. As John and Susan become well acquainted, they find themselves attracted to one another; similarly, Charlie finds himself increasingly fascinated with Susan, and finds himself falling in love with her, even though he's only seen her photo on the dust jacket of her book. Charlie arranges to meet Susan, but is too nervous to confront her face to face, so he sends Donald (who has just scored a seven-figure deal for his script) in his place, while he attends a screenwriting seminar held by McKee.

The film had been in development as far back as 1994. Jonathan Demme brought the project to Columbia Pictures with Kaufman writing the script. Kaufman went through writer's block and did not know what to think of The Orchid Thief. Finally he wrote a script based on his experience of adapting The Orchid Thief as a screenplay. Jonze signed to direct, and filming was finished in June 2001.

Adaptation opened on December 6, 2002 in the United States for a limited release. The film was released nationwide on February 14, 2003, earning $1,130,480 in its opening weekend in 672 theaters. Adaptation. went on to gross $22.5 million in North America and $10.3 million in foreign countries, coming at a total of $32.8 million. Based on 197 reviews collected by Rotten Tomatoes, Adaptation. received an 91% overall approval rating; among 36 of Rotten Tomatoes' "Top Critics," the film received an 86% approval rating. Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times believed the film was" something that leaves you breathless with curiosity, as it teases itself with the directions it might take. To watch the film is to be actively involved in the challenge of its creation. " He later added the film to his "Great Movies" collection.

Adaptation achieved critical acclaim, and gained numerous awards at the 75th Academy Awards, 60th Golden Globe Awards and 56th British Academy Film Awards, especially for its writing and acting. Chris Cooper won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, while Nicolas Cage (Actor in a Leading Role) and Streep (Supporting Actress) were nominated. Charlie and Donald Kaufman were nominated for Best Adapted Screenplay.

獲獎情況

2003年第75屆奧斯卡：最佳男配角獎，并榮獲最佳改編劇本提名、最佳女配角提名、最佳男主角提名。

影片信息

導演：斯派克·瓊斯

編劇：查理·考夫曼、蘇珊·奧爾琳

主演：尼古拉斯·凱奇、蒂爾達·斯文頓、梅麗爾·斯特里普、克里斯·庫珀

類型：劇情、喜劇、犯罪

制片國家（地區(qū)）：美國

上映日期：2002-12-06（美國）

片長：114分鐘

又名：《蘭花賊》《何必偏偏玩謝我》《改寫情緣》《蘭花竊賊》

劇情簡介

身為記者的蘇珊·奧爾琳，采訪了一個由于酷愛蘭花、經(jīng)常偷采蘭花而滿身官司的“采花賊”。然后，她根據(jù)故事的情節(jié)改編了一本小說，叫《蘭花竊賊》。后來好萊塢某電影公司將這本書的改編權買了下來，并請來了頗負盛名的改編人查理來將它改編成電影劇本。

改編劇本的查理·考夫曼人到中年，憤世嫉俗，性愛生活充滿挫折，甚至有些自我仇恨，還不時飽受突發(fā)奇想要寫劇本的孿生兄弟唐納德的威脅。開始改編《蘭花竊賊》以后，這些矛盾更深了。他不得不求助于自己的弟弟唐納德，但是唐納德滿腦子都是充滿了好萊塢式的陳詞濫調和老套橋段的劇本。

江郎才盡的查理，猜想蘇珊可能可以幫助他，于是他飛往紐約，找她幫忙。真正見到這個雍容華貴的女人時，查理緊張地呆若木雞，一句話也說不出來。他把唐納德叫到紐約，卻發(fā)現(xiàn)這個故事的結尾一如既往是“好萊塢”模式：性、暴力、毒品……

查理的性格由于改編這部劇本，變得越來越怪異。和弟弟相互嫉妒，好像一對人格分裂的仇人。而作家蘇珊則似乎在她的小說主人公拉羅歇那里找到了她期望已久的激情，每個人的欲望在電影內(nèi)外發(fā)生著奇異的沖撞。于是一個編劇改編一部小說的企圖，變成了電影……

制作花絮

影片的故事來自于作家查理·卡福曼改編的暢銷書《蘭花竊賊》的經(jīng)歷。

在影片的演職人員表里，有一個編劇叫做唐納德·卡福曼，他也在影片里扮演了一個小角色。而且在字幕結束時，導演還寫出了“我們永遠愛唐納德”的字樣。不過這個唐納德·卡福曼卻是子虛烏有的一個人。盡管是一個虛擬人物，唐納德·卡福曼和查理·卡福曼雙雙獲得了金球獎和奧斯卡獎的提名。在奧斯卡的頒獎之夜，唐納德·卡福曼和查理·卡福曼“一起”出現(xiàn)在了現(xiàn)場，不過他們的位子是同一個。

尼古拉斯·凱奇的哥哥，紐約電臺的馬可·科波拉經(jīng)常出現(xiàn)在片場，為的是幫弟弟扮演其中一個卡福曼。

為了表演好約翰·勞克這個角色，克里斯·庫珀留長了頭發(fā)，減了體重，帶上了假牙，制造出滿口牙都掉光的形象。他拍攝了大量的試鏡鏡頭，就是為了讓導演斯派克·瓊斯從中找到這個古怪角色的感覺。

在扮演查理·卡福曼和唐納德·卡福曼的過程中，凱奇接受的是分開的、獨立的指導。導演沒有把兩個人物一股腦地塞給凱奇。

影片中的羅伯特·麥基在生活中確有其人，他是一個編劇老師，名字也叫羅伯特·麥基。

重點學習

He's cranking out a cliché-ridden serial-killer thriller

在英語中，如果你說一個公司或個人crank out a quantity of similar things, you mean they produce them quickly, in the same way, and are usually implying that the things are not original or are of poor quality. 也就是“迅速地大量濫制；迅速而經(jīng)常地制作；機械地完成，刻板地制造出”的意思，比如：The writer must have cranked it out in his lunch-hour.（作者一定是在午餐時間快速把它拼湊出來的。）

But is too nervous to confront her face to face

我們都知道，在文中，face to face是“面對面地；面碰面地”的意思，比如：For another, we need to spend much time commnicating with each other face to face.（另一方面，我們也要多花點時間來面對面的溝通。）另外，face to face常引申為“面對著；處于必須解決（困難、問題）的境地”的意思。

單詞時間

neurotic[nju??r?tik] adj. 神經(jīng)過敏的；神經(jīng)病的

nonfiction[n?n?fik??n] n. 非小說的散文文學

obsessive[?b?sesiv] adj. 強迫性的；著迷的；分神的

tenuous[?tenju?s] adj. 纖細的；稀薄的；貧乏的

loudmouthed[?laudmaued] adj. 吼叫的；高聲講話的

superficial[?sju:p??fi??l] adj. 表面的；膚淺的

tutor[?tju:t?] n. 導師；家庭教師；助教

scruffy[?skr?fi] adj. 破舊的；骯臟的；不整齊的

orchid[??:kid] n. 蘭花；蘭科植物；淡紫色

seminar[?seminɑ:] n. 討論會，研討班

breathless[?breθlis] adj. 喘不過氣來的；停止呼吸的

curiosity[?kjuri??siti] n. 好奇，好奇心；珍品，古董，古玩