影视听说 学英语,练听力,上听力课堂! 注册 登录
> 影视听说 > 看电影学英语 >  内容

《Adaptation》 改编剧本 我们荒诞而又真实的人生

所属教程:看电影学英语

浏览:

2020年04月16日

手机版
扫描二维码方便学习和分享

No.074 《Adaptation》 改编剧本 我们荒诞而又真实的人生

英文导读

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.

《Adaptation》 改编剧本 我们荒诞而又真实的人生

获奖情况

2003年第75届奥斯卡:最佳男配角奖,并荣获最佳改编剧本提名、最佳女配角提名、最佳男主角提名。

影片信息

导演:斯派克·琼斯

编剧:查理·考夫曼、苏珊·奥尔琳

主演:尼古拉斯·凯奇、蒂尔达·斯文顿、梅丽尔·斯特里普、克里斯·库珀

类型:剧情、喜剧、犯罪

制片国家(地区):美国

上映日期:2002-12-06(美国)

片长:114分钟

又名:《兰花贼》《何必偏偏玩谢我》《改写情缘》《兰花窃贼》

剧情简介

身为记者的苏珊·奥尔琳,采访了一个由于酷爱兰花、经常偷采兰花而满身官司的“采花贼”。然后,她根据故事的情节改编了一本小说,叫《兰花窃贼》。后来好莱坞某电影公司将这本书的改编权买了下来,并请来了颇负盛名的改编人查理来将它改编成电影剧本。

改编剧本的查理·考夫曼人到中年,愤世嫉俗,性爱生活充满挫折,甚至有些自我仇恨,还不时饱受突发奇想要写剧本的孪生兄弟唐纳德的威胁。开始改编《兰花窃贼》以后,这些矛盾更深了。他不得不求助于自己的弟弟唐纳德,但是唐纳德满脑子都是充满了好莱坞式的陈词滥调和老套桥段的剧本。

江郎才尽的查理,猜想苏珊可能可以帮助他,于是他飞往纽约,找她帮忙。真正见到这个雍容华贵的女人时,查理紧张地呆若木鸡,一句话也说不出来。他把唐纳德叫到纽约,却发现这个故事的结尾一如既往是“好莱坞”模式:性、暴力、毒品……

查理的性格由于改编这部剧本,变得越来越怪异。和弟弟相互嫉妒,好像一对人格分裂的仇人。而作家苏珊则似乎在她的小说主人公拉罗歇那里找到了她期望已久的激情,每个人的欲望在电影内外发生着奇异的冲撞。于是一个编剧改编一部小说的企图,变成了电影……

制作花絮

影片的故事来自于作家查理·卡福曼改编的畅销书《兰花窃贼》的经历。

在影片的演职人员表里,有一个编剧叫做唐纳德·卡福曼,他也在影片里扮演了一个小角色。而且在字幕结束时,导演还写出了“我们永远爱唐纳德”的字样。不过这个唐纳德·卡福曼却是子虚乌有的一个人。尽管是一个虚拟人物,唐纳德·卡福曼和查理·卡福曼双双获得了金球奖和奥斯卡奖的提名。在奥斯卡的颁奖之夜,唐纳德·卡福曼和查理·卡福曼“一起”出现在了现场,不过他们的位子是同一个。

尼古拉斯·凯奇的哥哥,纽约电台的马可·科波拉经常出现在片场,为的是帮弟弟扮演其中一个卡福曼。

为了表演好约翰·劳克这个角色,克里斯·库珀留长了头发,减了体重,带上了假牙,制造出满口牙都掉光的形象。他拍摄了大量的试镜镜头,就是为了让导演斯派克·琼斯从中找到这个古怪角色的感觉。

在扮演查理·卡福曼和唐纳德·卡福曼的过程中,凯奇接受的是分开的、独立的指导。导演没有把两个人物一股脑地塞给凯奇。

影片中的罗伯特·麦基在生活中确有其人,他是一个编剧老师,名字也叫罗伯特·麦基。

《Adaptation》 改编剧本 我们荒诞而又真实的人生

重点学习

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

在英语中,如果你说一个公司或个人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“迅速地大量滥制;迅速而经常地制作;机械地完成,刻板地制造出”的意思,比如:The writer must have cranked it out in his lunch-hour.(作者一定是在午餐时间快速把它拼凑出来的。)

But is too nervous to confront her face to face

我们都知道,在文中,face to face是“面对面地;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,我们也要多花点时间来面对面的沟通。)另外,face to face常引申为“面对着;处于必须解决(困难、问题)的境地”的意思。

单词时间

neurotic[njuəˈrɔtik] adj. 神经过敏的;神经病的

nonfiction[nɔnˈfikʃən] n. 非小说的散文文学

obsessive[əbˈsesiv] adj. 强迫性的;着迷的;分神的

tenuous[ˈtenjuəs] adj. 纤细的;稀薄的;贫乏的

loudmouthed[ˈlaudmaued] adj. 吼叫的;高声讲话的

superficial[ˌsju:pəˈfiʃəl] adj. 表面的;肤浅的

tutor[ˈtju:tə] n. 导师;家庭教师;助教

scruffy[ˈskrʌfi] adj. 破旧的;肮脏的;不整齐的

orchid[ˈɔ:kid] n. 兰花;兰科植物;淡紫色

seminar[ˈseminɑ:] n. 讨论会,研讨班

breathless[ˈbreθlis] adj. 喘不过气来的;停止呼吸的

curiosity[ˌkjuriˈɔsiti] n. 好奇,好奇心;珍品,古董,古玩


用户搜索

疯狂英语 英语语法 新概念英语 走遍美国 四级听力 英语音标 英语入门 发音 美语 四级 新东方 七年级 赖世雄 zero是什么意思怀化市神龙家苑(凤园西路61号)英语学习交流群

网站推荐

经典英文电影学英语的好电影

  • 频道推荐
  • |
  • 全站推荐
  • 推荐下载
  • 网站推荐