One of David Fincher’s terrifying recreations of murder committed by the man who signed himself ZODIAC.
eavesdropping on newsroom dis- cussions to find out what he can about the case, while at the same time trying to shield his young son from the growing terror. Each of the Zodiac’s crimes takes place in a different county, per- haps by design, which serves to complicate the competing police investigations. When the Zodiac announces in a letter that he will change his method of collecting slaves by hiding his crimes rather than promoting them, it seems less and less likely that the killer can be brought to justice. Toschi passes the baton to Graysmith, and the final hour or so of screen time is given over to the would- be author’s amateur investigation and all-consuming obsession. The excellent ensemble cast includes Brian Cox (as famed at- torney Melvin Belli), Elias Koteas, Philip Baker Hall (who also ap- peared in 2005’s THE ZODIAC), Dermot Mulroney, Chloë Sevigny, Donal Logue, John Getz, John Terry, Adam Goldberg, Charles Fleischer, James Le Gros, Clea DuVall and Candy Clark, who plays the matronly CHRONICLE secretary who opens the initial Zodiac letter. Those expecting Inspector Toschi to be depicted
in Bullitt or Dirty Harry mode will be surprised by the soft-spoken and intelligently understated ap- proach taken by Ruffalo, but it is Downey who steals the show as the self-destructive Paul Avery. Three different actors portray the shadowy Zodiac on screen, but the role of the prime suspect, Arthur Leigh Allen, is filled effec- tively by John Carroll Lynch. (It’s an odd coincidence that the name of the first police officer to question real life suspect Allen was... John Lynch.) Ione Skye appears, uncredited, as contro- versial Zodiac victim Kathleen Johns. Skye is the daughter of Sixties pop star Donovan, and it is his song, “Hurdy Gurdy Man,” which plays memorably during the opening, and closes the film as well. Popular music of the times drives the film, much moreso than Shire’s subtle but effective score.
The Paramount and Warner Bros logos at the head of the movie are the ones that were in use when the Zodiac Killer first came to public attention. Fincher strove to make his movie (shot on HD, although several slow- motion sequences had to be shot on film) look like one made in the
Seventies but, at different points, he is unable to resist the lure of adding anachronistic CGI effects and montages that undercut this approach. This is indicative of the schizophrenic nature of the movie. Much has been made about the painstaking accuracy that the filmmakers strived for, with Fincher and screenwriter James Vanderbilt on record as saying that they wanted to present only “verifiable” infor- mation. The film opens with a promise that “What follows is based on actual case files” and this may be true, but it is also a Hollywood movie based on the error-riddled best-selling books of Robert Graysmith, and as such is open to criticism from those who have studied the facts of the case.
Zodiac researcher and writer Michael Butterfield, who served as a consultant on the movie, has broken down the inaccuracies of ZODIAC in some detail. Signifi- cant aspects of the first depicted shooting are inconsistent with witness statements made at the time. The friendship between Paul Avery and Robert Graysmith is a fabrication. The film suggests that the Zodiac Killer’s symbol
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