ZODIAC was released 18 years ago this week. Telling the story of one of the United States’ most notorious serial killers, and among the most acclaimed films of David Fincher, the making of story is as mysterious as the case… 1/37 - ThreadSky

alltherightmovies.com • 3 days ago

ZODIAC was released 18 years ago this week. Telling the story of one of the United States’ most notorious serial killers, and among the most acclaimed films of David Fincher, the making of story is as mysterious as the case…

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alltherightmovies.com•3 days ago

In 1986, the best-selling non-fiction book Zodiac was published. Written by Robert Graysmith – cartoonist for the San Francisco Chronicle – it told the story of the unsolved crimes of the Zodiac Killer, a serial murderer at large in 1960s and 70s San Francisco.

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alltherightmovies.com•3 days ago

Aspiring screenwriter Shane Salerno grew obsessed with Graysmith’s work and optioned the rights when he was just 19 years old. He developed a script with Graysmith and sold it to Disney. After a decade of development hell, the rights passed back to Graysmith.

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alltherightmovies.com•3 days ago

Another writer, James Vanderbilt, was interested and convinced Phoenix Pictures producer Bradley Fischer to bid for the Zodiac rights. Graysmith was accepting pitches via fax and Vanderbilt’s, asking "What if Garry Trudeau tried to solve the Son of Sam?” was successful.

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alltherightmovies.com•3 days ago

At this time, David Fincher was working on a miniseries adaptation of James Ellroy’s The Black Dahlia – the story of the 1947 murder of actress Elizabeth Short. When the series fell through, Fischer approached Fincher about directing Zodiac, having loved his work on Se7en.

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alltherightmovies.com•3 days ago

Fincher loved the 158-page screenplay, but studios… not so much. Talks with Sony stalled when they demanded the runtime was reduced. Eventually, Warner Bros and Paramount agreed to share the production costs, and Zodiac was greenlit.

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alltherightmovies.com•3 days ago

Having grown up in the area the killer was at large, Fincher was familiar with the Zodiac story. He, Vanderbilt and Fischer spent the next 18 months researching. They interviewed witnesses, suspects, investigators, survivors, and the mayors of San Francisco and Vallejo.

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kosach.bsky.social•3 days ago

actually there is some evidence that they know who he was now.

kareneubanks.bsky.social•3 days ago

Fascinating info, thank you!

In the early 90s I bought the Zodiac book. Not my usual type of read but it caught my eye. I thought it’d be good during my upcoming cross-country road trip.

I was moving to San Francisco.

I didn’t know where the book was set until I started reading on the way there.

blanchesbedroom.bsky.social•3 days ago

Love this movie 🤘🏻🤘🏻🤘🏻🤘🏻

happyears.bsky.social•2 days ago

This was the first movie that I bought after my first kid was born, and I really wanted to see it and the DVD is still in the shrink wrap nearly 18 years later 🤦

misssadie.bsky.social•3 days ago

That scene at the lake will haunt me forever

22samurai.bsky.social•3 days ago

It was the silence of it for me

figmo.bsky.social•3 days ago

Netflix recently released a three-part documentary titled "This Is the Zodiac Speaking" that goes into fascinating detail, including interviews with several of the principle figures involved. By the end of the program the killer's identity is revealed, with compelling evidence to bolster the claim.

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