ON THIS PAGE:  THE PAPER CHASE; ADAPTING THE BESTSELLERS;  JAKE GYLLENHAAL PLAYS GRAYSMITH; CASTING THE FILM; FINDING THE RIGHT DIRECTOR; DIRECTOR DAVID FINCHER AND SCREENWRITER JAMES VANDERBILT.

READ MORE ABOUT: WHAT REALLY HAPPENED?; THE CODES, THE DISGUISES AND UNSUNG HEROES

READ MORE ABOUT: SHOOTING THE FILM, THE VISUAL STYLE AND THE PRODUCTION DESIGN; THE MUSIC

READ A QUESTION AND ANSWER WITH CARTOONIST, AUTHOR ROBERT GRAYSMITH

READ A QUESTION AND ANSWER WITH DIRECTOR DAVID FINCHER

THE PAPER CHASE
He was the ultimate bogey man.
"If you grew up there, at that time, you had this childhood fear that you kind of insinuated yourself into it. What if it was our bus? What if he showed up in our neighborhood? You create even more drama about it when you're a kid because that is what kids do. I grew up in Marin and now I know the geography of where the crimes took place, but when you're in grade school, children don't think about that. They think, `He's going to show up at our school.'"
Welcome to David Fincher's second-grade nightmare.
Like many children who grew up in the Bay area in the early `70s, director David Fincher, then 7, was spellbound by the invisible monster known only as the Zodiac.
"I remember as kids talking about the killer calling in on the Dunbar Show. In 1974, we moved away and I remember realizing that other places, other people knew about the Zodiac killer," Fincher recalls. Never in his wildest dreams did he imagine that three decades later he would be asked to envision a film that would prompt him to: Retrace the killer's steps with several of the officers who tracked the most notorious killer of his youth; Comb through 10,000 pages of documents and evidence; Interview the victims who survived, the loved ones of those who didn't and the relatives of a prime suspect. At that time, that prime suspect was a former teacher turned pedophile, fired and imprisoned for fondling grade school children.
Fincher too would succumb to the need to know; a need that fueled a young San Francisco Chronicle political cartoonist's obsession to unravel the mystery of a murderer.

ADAPTING A BEST SELLER
Robert Graysmith would channel that obsession into two books, the bestseller Zodiac and follow-up Zodiac Unmasked, recounting in minute detail every fact and tormented nuance of the unproven for those closest to the investigations in four jurisdictions, his derisive yet engaging colleague Paul Avery and himself.
"Robert Graysmith knew he was a guy on the sidelines of this story. He wanted to be a part of it and he made himself a part of it," says Fincher. "He was doing it on his own time because he wasn't a reporter. It was Robert who went after it and after everybody else had pretty much walked away. Everything we included in the movie, we used from what Robert gave us. But, we had police reports and we backed everything up with documentation, our own interviews and evidence. Even when we did our own interviews, we would talk to two people. One would confirm some aspects of it and another would deny it. Plus, so much time had passed, memories are affected and the different telling of the stories change perception. So when there was any doubt we always went with the police reports. The one thing about the Zodiac story too is there are so many people out there who are convinced Robert is wrong about some things and that their version or interpretation is right and there are so many myths that sprang up so you have to keep all of that in mind when you are dealing with the story of Zodiac. That is why we chose to tell the story the way we did, through Robert's eyes. My goal was to capture the truth of those books."
In short, capturing "Zodiac" proved a massive undertaking.
"When you begin an adaptation, the only thing you can be sure of is you're going to end up throwing out 5/6ths of your source material for the simple fact that you can't fit it all in," explains screenwriter-producer James (Jamie) Vanderbilt. "Add to that the facts that the movie is based on two books, as well as a ton of interviews. The one thing we had going for us is that the movie is about these guys who get sucked down the rabbit hole of the Zodiac case, Graysmith in particular, but also the detectives and a reporter. The dearth of information worked for us, because there was always another conversation to be had, theory to be discussed, suspect to examine. I think the movie itself is one of the most `informationally packed' I've ever seen, and it doesn't even scratch the surface in terms of the sheer volume of material out there."
The biggest difference between the books and the film is Graysmith himself, Vanderbilt says.
"Robert doesn't put himself at the center of the Zodiac books, but it was his involvement that first fascinated me the cartoonist as crime stopper," says Vanderbilt. "`What if Garry Trudeau woke up one morning and tried to solve the Son of Sam' was how I used to pitch it" the idea for a screen adaptation of Zodiac, his favorite book in high school. "Getting to know Robert during this process was actually invaluable because the script changed as we became friends; and very rarely in order to make him look better. Robert truly invited us into his life warts and all, and that's how I think we ended up portraying him onscreen. The great thing about Robert the artist is that he recognizes the value in that, he understands the creative process and what makes a good story. "
Jake Gyllenhaal was drawn to the story by the immediacy of the drama in the page-turner of a script he received from David Fincher, he says. And then he was totally hooked by its verisimilitude. "The first time I read the script, the murders, in particular, were terrifying," he says. "I remember flipping through the pages and thinking, 'This is real, this actually happened. I immediately wanted to do it.
"At the start of the story, Robert Graysmith exists on the periphery of the case. He's a cartoonist, an intern, at the San Francisco Chronicle. He happens to be in the room when the paper is sent a cipher and a letter from the Zodiac Killer asking them to print the cipher. He's turning in copies of different cartoons. But little do they know he's sort of obsessed with puzzles and deciphering things. He becomes really interested in the case and then, years later, when the case is not solved, he takes it upon himself, under the guise of writing a book about it, to try and solve the case on his own.
"I think what is most interesting about this story is that when something like this happens there's mass hysteria. And then it's given to the experts. And sometimes the experts don't have the same heart that just a kind of a regular guy like Robert Graysmith would have. They also have so much red tape to go through, all the jurisdictions. Robert, a sort of regular person off the street, doesn't have to get a warrant for this, or permission for that. They can just go out of pure heart and pure, in Robert's case, obsession. I think that's fascinating because we rely less and less on ourselves, you know. We rely on expert's opinions, and so often they're tinged with so many other political things and things related to their own work and where they want to go. A regular person like Robert, you're doing the work on your own, the true hard facts come much more clearly. To me, it's an empowering thing, to know that there's this sort of regular guy, who could just, could break open a case that people found impossible, to solve."

GYLLENHAAL PLAYS GRAYSMITH
How did the actor prepare for the role of the bold cartoonist? Gyllenhaal's method was deliberate and scientific. "Robert Graysmith is an interesting bird, I would say. When I first met him I had told him that I was going to put him on tape because I wanted to study his mannerisms and just physically, I wanted to see how he behaved. I was actually really nervous. I thought to myself, 'Oh, well, what kind of personality does this guy have to have in order to go into this world?' And I thought, 'I'm going to meet this guy and it's going to be like this weird, dark exchange. What world am I going to have to go to with him in order to get some truth out of him?' And he walks into the room and he's this like sweet, unassuming, constantly complimentary, kind of innocent man.
"And, everything they tell you in acting school, like, 'you should always play the opposite.' That's exactly what he is. He's the opposite of everything you would assume to be a person who would be obsessed with a case like this. But then, as you spend more time with him, there is a sense of, if he wants to get a piece of information out of you and you haven't answered the first time because it's a little too close or a little too personal, he'll then insert it in this odd, syncopated way, so that you answer it and you don't even know you're answering it. He is very smart, and also at the same time, kind of cunning, when he wants to get information. But, as a human being, he's a gentle guy. It's really interesting."
"I watched Jake interpret my character on several occasions," notes Graysmith. He was not doing an impersonation of me but an interpretation of me. I thought he caught my enthusiasm and excitability, my Southern upbringing, polite deference and eccentricities perfectly. We already had the same color of hair."
As for capturing the sweep of an era, something more than just a recreation of a storytelling experience, he says he and Vanderbilt were "on the same page. At the risk of becoming too `meta'," Vanderbilt adds, "There was something very cool to me about the movie regarding the power of words - the writer writing about the writer who was writing about the killer who became famous because he was a great letter writer. Because that's really the reason Zodiac remains with us today, he wrote scary fucking letters and not to the cops, but to other writers. Newspaper guys who went, "Oh, shit, this is pretty good. We should run it." So they did, and people read those letters, and we're still talking about him decades later. The power of the written word."
Graysmith wrote his "first person diaries" (Zodiac and Zodiac Unmasked) because he wanted to enlist the public in tracking down the killer. When he began, there were 2,500 suspects to sift through "and a wall of silence to breech," he recalls. "In those days, police weren't sharing. Zodiac was a big, big case and the man who solved it was going to be an ace, so they clamped down on all information. It was common for them to hold records so I could not see them and if I got close enough to the truth as we talked, they would verify a fact or two. I was also not allowed writing implements or paper so I had to commit serial numbers and dates to memory. It made for rather long and spirited sessions afterward writing down all I could recall." After 10 years , 13 drafts and reducing a mountain of research into his 351-page tome, "I guess, my biggest contribution, as I uncovered new leads, conducted interviews and tracked down missing witnesses and suspects, was to visit each police department, consolidate all the facts and share them so that Zodiac could be captured." That was always his greatest hope, he says today. When he reflects on the tumultuous journey, "it is a wonder any of us survived the Zodiac. The long pursuit, the irresistible lure of the case, its mystery, tragedy and loss, ruined marriages, derailed careers, demolished health of a brilliant reporter; it was a study in frustration as police were beaten back time and again."
Gyllenhaal credits Robert Downey Jr. with providing some special energy on the set that inspired the players to make the story come alive. "Robert Downey Jr., is extraordinary. What he's done, and what he always does, is bring a presence, kind of 'wipe-through.' His Paul Avery is kind of a court jester in that he dances around things and he has this sense of humor, almost a detachment from the situation, but a real sense of humor about it. Kind of like Tinkerbelle in Peter Pan. He just sheds light all over everybody whenever he flies around," Gyllenhaal says.

CASTING THE FILM
Fincher felt "very fortunate" to have this cast. "I found the people I wanted to work with. And I was very fortunate to have many of the real people from that time around. I think we tried to give people their due respect. But it was never about duplicating them exactly, their hair, etc." Example: "Robert Downey Jr., who plays Paul Avery, is the only one who plays someone that is no longer alive. But I think he has such enthusiasm and because he is someone who could really grasp Paul's inner demons, he was perfect for the role."
Of the four characters, it was Toschi who knew Avery the longest. "I met Paul Avery in 1960 when I was 28. I was with the Bureau of Inspectors (for the San Francisco Police Department) and I wanted to be a detective," says Toschi. "We shared a lot of history. At the end Paul was doing cocaine and he was on a machine. He was in really bad shape. He called me before he passed away. He wanted to write a book, a quick paperback before he died to leave to his grandchildren. He said, `Dave we can make $25,000 each, just like that!' I felt bad for him, really bad. But I told him, Paul, I'm committed to Robert Graysmith. I remember when Robert first came to me and said, `You're the only guy who has all of the info, the only guy I can talk to. I met Robert Graysmith in 1977 when he told me he wanted to write. He really believed this case could be solved. He really wanted to try. We have remained good friends since."
Toschi says Fincher was curious why he talked to Graysmith at all. The case was no longer actively being investigated and Graysmith wasn't a reporter. "It was because of his sincerity and honesty," he says. "In a couple of minutes I knew he was about that. He was this political cartoonist. I believed him."
For his part, Mark Ruffalo was totally impressed with Toschi and how Fincher portrayed him in the script. "I don't love the genre; it's usually pretty violent," he says. "But David had written this script that, when I read it, I saw that this character I was going to be playing had come to life in a nuanced, beautiful way. Then I took a trip to meet the guy, and at that point I just felt so fortunate to be doing the movie. After all, he is the model for actors who attempt to play detectives, and I am playing the one that some actors have modeled their career-making roles on.
"And Robert Downey Jr. is amazing. I've always loved him and think he's as close to genius as you can come without falling over the edge. I found it really exciting to work with him, and scary and fun. There's the danger factor. Not physical or violent danger - it's his spontaneity."
It was Vanderbilt and Phoenix Pictures' Producer Bradley (Brad) J. Fischer who optioned the rights to Graysmith's book when it finally became available after lingering in limbo at another studio for nearly a decade. They had one director in mind.

THE RIGHT DIRECTOR
"I felt David Fincher would be able to tell the story in a way that would be true to what happened and get to the psychology of what motivated the people who inhabited that world. He had obviously done a serial killer movie before, but this went beyond genre," says Fischer, "There was something in these characters that exists in all of us: the capacity for becoming consumed by something so fully, that day after day, night after night, year after year, you can't ever truly put it away. Fincher is able to articulate things about human behavior and emotion cinematically that makes the characters and the world they inhabit so incredibly authentic. He can give the viewer that feeling, that they could be watching themselves up there, sinking down into the rabbit hole without realizing it. The DNA of this story had so much to do with that, with degrees of malevolent deviant behavior whether you're talking about a serial killer or the men whose lives are drained in the pursuit of something that will probably remain just out of reach for the rest of their lives. There's something equally admirable and sad about that, but more than that, it is a most human thing to want to know what can't be known. It is a compulsion that exists in all of us, and it has the potential to be an incredibly destructive force. I knew that was something Fincher would be able to help us explore like no other filmmaker.
"What Fincher knew is that the story had to be made simpler, clearer," the producer continues, elaborating. "What Fincher knew was that the material we were dealing with, almost everything that was out there about the story of the Zodiac investigation, it was all a bit distorted by this massive game of telephone, filtered through the worst lens you could think of: newspapers.
"The case had taken on its own mythic proportions over the years, and it was our job to undo all that; to draw a clean line between fact and fiction and demystify what had somehow grown so far beyond its roots in reality. You have to remember, it was the media that turned Zodiac into this all-powerful enigma - I mean, he writes a letter and says, 'This is the Zodiac speaking,' and then the newspapers start calling him 'The Cipher Slayer!' It's like seeing this gigantic and terrifying shadow mutate against the wall, and then you understand the source is just one man who clumsily shot five people and stabbed two others; and he snuck up on all of them. He's not "Wile E. Coyote Super Genius," as we grew fond of calling him; he's a sad, pathetic and incredibly sick person who came within inches of being caught. The rest was all in the public's head, ready and waiting for each eager imagination to mold into a most powerful demon "
And so, says Fischer, "the process was long and difficult, but it was important if we were going to tell the real story. So it was anathema to rely on any secondary or tertiary source. Police reports became the rule. That, and, of course, the people that were there. It was really quite simple: Let's find everyone we can who was materially involved in the investigation, and let's sit down across from them, look them in the eye, ask them direct and sometimes difficult questions, and then hear what they have to say. So we talked to Bryan Hartnell; to Mike Mageau, who is now homeless and hasn't really recovered since he was shot in 1969; to Dave Toschi; to Bill Armstrong; to Ken Narlow; to George Bawart. We put Don Cheney and Sandy Panzarella in a room together for the first time since they were interviewed by police in the 1970s and asked them to tell us every detail of their story. We did our best to get it right."
Producer Mike Medavoy, Phoenix Pictures' co-founder and Chairman, says what was interesting about the material "is not so much that it is about a serial killer, which is a movie unto itself, but it's about the people that went after the serial killer. It is what happens when you get so obsessed with something and you lose sight of what the objective is. You're bound to get lost and you're bound to destroy everything along the way … and it happened to every single one of them. Graysmith came back, but he's no longer married. Look at all the things that happened to the principal characters. To me, that's what's fascinating about the film.
"They, in fact, lost themselves in the process of chasing the story," Medavoy adds. "David and Brad and Jamie" - the trio doing its own gumshoe work - "were maniacal about making it accurate. We thought Brad was going to become a policeman and quit show business (not quite)!"
Producer Arnold W. Messer, Medavoy's partner and Phoenix President, says to his knowledge "this is probably the most extensively researched script, the most meticulously accurate representation of actual events consistent with dramatic movies. I've been producing 30 years and I have never been involved with a movie that has been this close to the truth and the amount of research and energy put into it. Every one of those people represented in the movie who are alive, have been interviewed. Every one of those people who contributed to it in some way or another…the guys went into the books, the raw files, the 10,000 pages of transcripts. It was really impressive the work these guys did to make sure they were in line with the facts."


DAVID FINCHER (Director) made his feature film debut in 1992 with "Alien 3." In 1995, he directed "Se7en," the relentlessly grim and cynical story of two detectives (played by Brad Pitt and Morgan Freeman) tracking down a serial killer who bases his killings on the seven deadly sins. Screenwriter Andrew Kevin Walker's original grisly detective story was a box office success, grossing more than $300 million worldwide. The film's innovative approach, title and credit sequences would influence other films to follow in the thriller, crime and suspense genres.
Two years later Fincher directed "The Game," starring Michael Douglas and Sean Penn, a dark adventure story focusing on a closed-off San Francisco businessman who receives an unusual gift from his younger brother - a gift in which he becomes an unwitting player in a game that takes over his life. In 1999, he re-teamed with Brad Pitt in "Fight Club," based on the screen adaptation of Chuck Palahniuk's novel about two men who open up a club devoted exclusively to bare-knuckles fighting for males. The film, which co-starred Edward Norton and Helena Bonham Carter, received strong reaction from critics and developed an underground following marking it as one of the seminal films of its time.
In 2002, he directed "The Panic Room," starring Jodie Foster, Forest Whitaker, Dwight Yoakum and "Fight Club" collaborator Jared Leto. The box-office hit, which introduced some innovative uses of computer graphics, centered on the plight of a single mother and her daughter hiding in a safe room of their new house as criminals broke in bent on finding a missing fortune.
Fincher is currently directing Paramount's "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button," adapted from F. Scott Fitzgerald's short story, starring Brad Pitt and Cate Blanchett.
Before Fincher began directing feature films, he co-founded Propaganda Films in 1986.

JAMES VANDERBILT (Screenwriter/Producer) optioned the rights to Robert Graysmith's Zodiac and wrote the screenplay adaptation on spec - a gamble that paid off with only three produced scripts to his credit. The young screenwriter, whom Esquire Magazine would call "fearless," produced the script with "Zodiac" producer Bradley J. Fischer after the two collaborated on the thriller "Basic," Vanderbilt's second produced script, directed by John McTiernan and starring John Travolta and Samuel L. Jackson.
He wrote and co-produced "Basic" in 2003, the same year he wrote the horror film "Darkness Falls," his first produced screenplay, and "The Rundown," an actioner directed by Peter Berg, starring Christopher Walken and The Rock.
Vanderbilt is currently adapting former terrorism czar Richard Clarke's memoir "Against All Enemies." He is collaborating once again with Berg on "The Losers," an action-adventure film about a team of CIA black operatives who root out those who betrayed and targeted the team for assassination.
He sold his first screenplay, "48 Hours" before graduating from the University of Southern California's Film Writing Program.
He is a descendent of Cornelius Vanderbilt, a shipping and railroad baron who built a business empire in the 19th Century.

READ MORE ABOUT: WHAT REALLY HAPPENED?; THE CODES, THE DISGUISES AND UNSUNG HEROES

READ MORE ABOUT: SHOOTING THE FILM, THE VISUAL STYLE AND THE PRODUCTION DESIGN; THE MUSIC

READ A QUESTION AND ANSWER WITH CARTOONIST, AUTHOR ROBERT GRAYSMITH

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