In 2007, David Fincher released Zodiac - to this day, the best-regarded film on the Zodiac killings that plagued the greater San Francisco Bay area. Unfortunately, the movie did not perform well, making just shy of $85 million on a budget roughly the same size. The reasons for its commercial disappointment are many, with its massive length being an undeniable factor. Running at 157 minutes, Zodiac is a dense beast of a movie.
However, it fared far better with professional movie critics, many of whom praised the film for its visuals, atmosphere, and reliance on dialogue and story over the killings themselves.
The Book It's Based On Has Been Widely Discredited
Throughout the movie, Jake Gyllenhaal plays Robert Graysmith. In 1986, Graysmith released his non-fiction book Zodiac, which detailed the case, the clues/evidence, and Graysmith's theories regarding the Zodiac's identity. And while Graysmith gets the facts right, many critics have taken issue with his reporting and theorizing.
Most of their issues stem from Graysmith's depiction of Arthur Leigh Allen, as Graysmith conducted some majorly flawed reporting in positing Allen as the primary suspect. The movie seems to acknowledge this, as it's more about Graysmith's rabid obsession with the case than it is about the case itself.
Vanderbilt Has Personally Met Graysmith
Screenwriter James Vanderbilt is a long time Zodiac enthusiast, as he had read Graysmith's book in high school. As Vanderbilt was born in 1975, this would be around 1990. Zodiac was released in 1986 - roughly twenty years after the real-life events.
After becoming a professional screenwriter, Venderbilt personally met Graysmith at the premiere of Auto Focus. This is a 2002 film that was adapted from Graysmith's other non-fiction work, The Murder of Bob Crane. They got to talking about the Zodiac case, and Vanderbilt decided to adapt it for the screen.
David Fincher Grew Up With The Zodiac Killings
David Fincher was approached to direct the Zodiac adaptation due to his dark and dreary work on Seven. Fincher personally loved the idea, as he had grown up during the Zodiac craze.
Fincher had spent most of his youth in an unincorporated town in Marin County called San Anselmo. San Anselmo is located roughly 20 miles north of San Francisco. Fincher was born in 1962, and the famous Zodiac killings occurred throughout 1968 and 1969. Fincher would have only been a child, but he was there, in the heart of the action.
The Filmmakers Did Their Own Research
Fincher saw a problem with directing Zodiac - the real case is filled with hearsay, conspiracy theories, speculation, and possibly unwarranted suspects, and Fincher didn't want to make a movie that only legitimatized unfounded theories. So they did the research themselves.
They approached survivors of the Zodiac killings, witnesses, investigators, and family members of suspects while also pouring over the real police reports. They also hired a forensic linguistics expert from California State University, Fresno to study the Zodiac letters and the language used within.
The Running Time Was An Issue
As stated in the introduction, Zodiac runs at a hefty 157 minutes - just under 2 hours and 40 minutes. Yes, many successful movies have gone on longer, but few are as dense, slow, and dialogue-driven as Zodiac. This unsurprisingly drew some ire from the original studio, MGM.
MGM was fixated on a running time of 2 hours and 15 minutes and absolutely refused to go beyond it. Fincher and his team wanted a longer movie and took the concept to Paramount and Warner Bros. They agreed to co-finance the picture at Fincher's preferred running time.
Jennifer Aniston Helped Cast The Movie
Well, not officially, but Fincher took her suggestions to heart. Fincher was close to Aniston and began to speaking to her about his new movie. The discussion veered towards casting, as the movie had yet to be cast. Aniston told Fincher that she had really enjoyed working with Jake Gyllenhaal on The Good Girl and Mark Ruffalo on Rumor Has It.
Fincher enjoyed Gyllenhaal's work in Donnie Darko and eventually agreed to cast him as Robert Graysmith. Ruffalo agreed to play David Toschi after speaking with the real Toschi and growing impressed with his recollection of the case.
The Movie Was Edited On Final Cut Pro
It's weird to hear professional directors of David Fincher's caliber using Final Cut Pro, but hey, if the tech works. Final Cut Pro is an inexpensive piece of video editing software found on most basic Mac computers. It is primarily used by amateur filmmakers who can't afford more "professional" equipment.
By 2008 (one year after the release of Zodiac), it was estimated by the American Cinema Editors Guild that 1 in 5 professional editors were using Final Cut Pro. Zodiac was able to be edited on the software, as it was filmed on a digital camera called the Thomson Viper FilmStream.
The Film Was Shot In San Francisco & Los Angeles
While Zodiac takes place in the greater San Francisco area, filming was actually split between the city and Los Angeles. The filmmakers spent a combined five weeks in the San Francisco area shooting many exterior locations so as to give the movie an authentic appearance.
But most indoor locations were filmed in Los Angeles. For example, the Hall of Justice and the San Francisco Police Department were filmed in L.A., as were the interiors of the San Francisco Chronicle, which were filmed in the old Terminal Annex building.
People Hated Working With David Fincher
David Fincher proved an unmovable perfectionist while filming Zodiac, and it got on the nerves of his actors. It's said that Fincher would require upwards of 50, 60, or even 70 takes for various scenes.
Gyllenhaal has expressed frustration with Fincher's methods, saying, "There came a point where I would say, 'Well, what do I do?'" Downey has also expressed resentment, saying that he wanted to "garrote" Fincher and that he's "[the] perfect person to work for him, because [he] understands gulags."
The Murders Were Done With CG Blood
If Zodiac looks a little "off" to some people, that's because the blood was entirely computer-generated. Perhaps the most violent sequence in the film is Cecelia Shepard's murder at Lake Berryessa. As Fincher was a perfectionist, he required many different takes of the stabbing sequence.
And because the sequence involves blood, that would require the production team to create dozens of identical dresses or clean the same dress again and again. As such, Fincher simply decided to CG the blood.