20 Opening Movie Scenes That Are Totally Flawless

I've said it before, but it's worth saying again: Charlie Kaufman is the only filmmaker in Hollywood who can get writer's block, write a script about it, put himself into the story, and convince Nicolas Cage to play him and his fictional twin brother.

That's Adaptation, in a nutshell. Cage plays Kaufman, a sad sack screenwriter who's struggling to write a film about orchids whilst putting up with the out-of-nowhere success of his lazy brother. He's depressed, self-loathing, and destructive, and Kaufman (the real Kaufman, that is) makes sure this is clear from the get-go.

The entire opening scene of the movie is just blackness, with the credits running along the bottom of the screen to accommodate Cage's self-pitying, insecure, almost nonsensical inner monologue, where he mocks his thinning hair, his weight, his lack of happiness and his inability to write.

It's a strange and sad sequence, but thanks to Cage's performance and the reveal that he's playing the film's screenwriter it's also nothing short of ingenious.