On this day in movie history - Adaptation (2002 movie & book):

Adaptation

directed by Spike Jonze,

written by Charlie Kaufman and Donald Kaufman,

based on the book The Orchid Thief by Susan Orlean,

was released in the United States on December 6, 2002.
Music by Carter Burwell.

Cast:

Nicolas Cage, Meryl Streep, Chris Cooper, Cara Seymour, Brian Cox, Tilda Swinton, Ron Livingston, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Judy Greer, Bob Yerkes, Jim Beaver, Litefoot, Jay Tavare, Doug Jones, Peter Jason, John Cusack, Catherine Keener, John Malkovich, Lance Acord, Spike Jonze, Doug Jones, Curtis Hanson, David O. Russell.

Recommended reading:

The Orchid Thief:

A True Story of Beauty and Obsession

By Susan Orlean.

Filmed as Adaptation (2002), directed by Spike Jonze.

First published 1998.

Paperback.

ISBN-10: 044900371X

ISBN-13: 978-0449003718

Description:

A modern classic of personal journalism, The Orchid Thief is Susan Orlean’s wickedly funny, elegant, and captivating tale of an amazing obsession. Determined to clone an endangered flower – the rare ghost orchid Polyrrhiza lindenii – a deeply eccentric and oddly attractive man named John Laroche leads Orlean on an unforgettable tour of America’s strange flower-selling subculture, through Florida’s swamps and beyond, along with the Seminoles who help him and the forces of justice who fight him. In the end, Orlean – and the reader – will have more respect for underdog determination and a powerful new definition of passion.

In this new edition, coming fifteen years after its initial publication and twenty years after she first met the “orchid thief,” Orlean revisits this unforgettable world, and the route by which it was brought to the screen in the film Adaptation, in a new retrospective essay.

Praise for The Orchid Thief:

“Stylishly written, whimsical yet sophisticated, quirkily detailed and full of empathy . . . The Orchid Thief shows [Orlean’s] gifts in full bloom.” – The New York Times Book Review.

“Fascinating . . . an engrossing journey [full] of theft, hatred, greed, jealousy, madness, and backstabbing.” – Los Angeles Times.

“Orlean’s snapshot-vivid, pitch-perfect prose . . . is fast becoming one of our national treasures.” – The Washington Post Book World.

“Orlean’s gifts [are] her ear for the self-skewing dialogue, her eye for the incongruous, convincing detail, and her Didion-like deftness in description.” – Boston Sunday Globe.

“A swashbuckling piece of reporting that celebrates some virtues that made America great.” – The Wall Street Journal.

On this day in movie history - Being John Malkovich (1999):

Being John Malkovich

directed by Spike Jonze,

written by Charlie Kaufman,

was shown in the United States on October 29, 1999.
Music by Carter Burwell.

Cast:

John Cusack, Cameron Diaz, Ned Bellamy, Eric Weinstein, Madison Lanc, Octavia Spencer, Mary Kay Place, Orson Bean, Catherine Keener, K.K. Dodds, Reginald C. Hayes, Byrne Piven, Judith Wetzell, John Malkovich, Kevin Carroll, Willie Garson, W. Earl Brown, Charlie Sheen, Gerald Emerick, Bill M. Ryusaki, Carlos Jacott, James Murray, Richard Fancy, Patti Tippo, Daniel Hansen, Mariah O'Brien, Gregory Sporleder, Kelly Teacher, Jacqueline Benoît, William Buck, Christine D. Coleman, Jeanne Diehl, Audrey Gelfund, Yetta Ginsburg, Sylvester Jenkins, Roy C. Johnson, Eddie J. Low, Ralph W. Spaulding, David Wyler, Flori Wyler, Kevin Lee, Marlowe Bassett, Jennifer Canzoneri, Kristie Cordle, Denise Dabrowski, Kristin Condon, Charlene Grimsley, Christine Krejer, Erica Long, Yvonne Montelius, Jessica Neuberger, Sara Rifkin, Elizabeth Rivera, Chelsa Sjostrom, Pamela Hayden, Jayne Hess, Michelle Madden, Greg O'Neill, Neil Ross, Bill Wittman, Lance Bangs, Kacee DeMasi, Andy Dick, Eddie L. Fauria, David Fincher, Jester Hairston, Isaac Hanson, Taylor Hanson, Zac Hanson, Dustin Hoffman, Victor Isaac, Spike Jonze, Sean Penn, Brad Pitt, Patrick Ryan, Winona Ryder, Gary Sinise, Trevor Lawrence Young.

On this day in movie history - Her (2013):

Her

directed and written by Spike Jonze,

was released at the New York Film Festival in the United States on October 12, 2013.
Music by Arcade Fire.

Cast:

Joaquin Phoenix, Lynn Adrianna Freedman, Lisa Renee Pitts, Gabe Gomez, Chris Pratt, Artt Butler, May Lindstrom, Rooney Mara, Bill Hader, Kristen Wiig, Brian Johnson, Scarlett Johansson, Amy Adams, Matt Letscher, Spike Jonze, Olivia Wilde, David Azar, Guy Lewis, Melanie Seacat, Pramode Kumar, Evelyn Edwards, Steve Zissis, Dane White, Nicole Grother, James Ozasky, Samantha Sarakanti, Luka Jones, Gracie Prewitt, Claudia Choi, Laura Kai Chen, Portia Doubleday, Soko, Wendy Leon, Lil Buck, Robert Benard, Lisa Cohen, Grant Samson, Brian Cox, Marc Abbink, Leo Baligaya, Joan Blair, Freedom Bridgewater, Kathleen Carr, Seth Carr, Hallie Marie Chaney, Glenda Chism, Lee Christian, Andy Dale, Sandra Daubert, Nico David, Rick L. Dean, Aristotle Dreher, Mathew Dunlop, Shannon Edwards, William Evans, Kim Farris, Belinda Gosbee, Brandon Von Harrison, Alvin Hsing, Cecily Jamelia, Alia Janine, Richard Allan Jones, Jen Kuhn, Patrick Lander, Paul LeClair, Genevieve Levin, Fiona Lincke, Akeem Mair, Carol McFadden, Laura Meadows, Alan Mueting, Rachel Ann Mullins, Se Oh, Brent Picha, Susan Pinckney, Eric Pumphrey, Jeremy Rabb, Laura Rossi, Pamela Roylance, Jane Runnalls, Marian Saastad Ottesen, Kelly Sarah Samuels, Yvette Saunders, Natasha Sims, Cassandra Starr, Austin Steady, Alyson Stover, Marco Tazioli, Wendy Tsang, Hoyte Van Hoytema.