BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. -- Donald Kaufman is a rarity among Academy Awards nominees this year or any year: He doesn't exist.
Charlie Kaufman, a previous nominee for "Being John Malkovich," created make-believe twin brother Donald to share the writing credit for "Adaptation," and both were nominated Tuesday for adapted screenplay.
It was the first nomination ever for a fictional entity. Filmmakers have received nominations under assumed names - Joel and Ethan Coen used the film-editing pseudonym "Roderick Jaynes," and Robert Towne shared a screenwriting nomination for 1984's "Greystoke: The Legend of Tarzan, Lord of the Apes" under the name of his sheepdog, P.H. Vazak.
Hired to adapt Susan Orlean's book "The Orchid Thief," Charlie Kaufman struggled with the script, then whimsically wrote himself and the nonexistent twin into the story.
"The whole process of writing 'Adaptation' was an anxious and uncertain time for me," the press-shy Charlie said in a prepared statement. "So to be nominated for an Academy Award is a nice and very surprising ending to the story of this assignment."
Academy officials say the two credited writers would share a single statue if "Adaptation" wins.
Nicolas Cage, who plays both brothers, earned a best-actor nomination. Meryl Streep and Chris Cooper were nominated for supporting roles.
Cage played coy about the Kaufmans on Tuesday.
"I've sort of been instructed that it's better for people who go see the movie to really sort of think Charlie and Donald wrote the script," the actor said in a phone interview. "I wouldn't really be in a position to say Donald Kaufman doesn't exist."
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