Zodiac (2007): trivia & fun facts

Fun facts

• Originally, he was going to direct an adaptation of James Ellroy's novel The Black Dahlia (later filmed by Brian De Palma), and envisioned a five-hour, $80 million mini-series with film stars.
• Initially, Mark Ruffalo was not interested in the project but Fincher wanted him to play David Toschi.
• Originally, Fincher envisaged the film's soundtrack to be composed of 40 cues of vintage music spanning the nearly three decades of the Zodiac story.
• David Fincher was their first choice to direct based on his work on Seven.
• The filmmakers shot for five weeks in the San Francisco Bay Area and the rest of the time in Los Angeles, bringing the film in under budget, wrapping in February 2006.
• Fincher, Vanderbilt, and producer Bradley J. Fischer spent 18 months conducting their own investigation and research into the Zodiac murders.
• Klyce inserted music from one of his favorite soundtracks, David Shire's score for The Conversation.
• Opening in 2,362 theaters on March 2, 2007, the film grossed US$13.3 million in its opening weekend, placing second and posting a per-theater average of $5,671.
• In a 2016 critics' poll conducted by the BBC, Zodiac was ranked at 12th place in a list of the 21st century's greatest films.
• In 2021, members of Writers Guild of America West (WGAW) and Writers Guild of America, East (WGAE) voted its screenplay 46th in WGA’s 101 Greatest Screenplays of the 21st Century (So Far).
• In June 2025, the film ranked number 19 on The New York Times' list of "The 100 Best Movies of the 21st Century" and number 41 on the "Readers' Choice" edition of the list.
• Another cut scene that test screening audiences did not like involved "three guys talking into a speakerphone" to get a search warrant as Toschi and Armstrong talk to SFPD Capt. Marty Lee (Dermot Mulroney) about their case against suspect Arthur Leigh Allen.
• The film was screened in competition at the 2007 Cannes Film Festival on May 17, 2007, with Fincher and Gyllenhaal participating in a press conference afterwards.
• In the years since its release, the film has garnered a large cult following, with many claiming it to be David Fincher's magnum opus.

Source: Wikipedia

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