The Soloist

The Soloist (2009)

Timing: 1:49 (109 min)

6.689/10
752

7.172/10
34785

6.7/10
57000

All about film

Video 1

Photo 12

Actors and characters

Release date

2009-04-24

Country

France, United States, United Kingdom

Production

Universal Pictures, DreamWorks Pictures, StudioCanal, Working Title Films, Participant, Krasnoff / Foster Entertainment

Genre

Drama, Music

Budget

$60 000 000

Revenue

$38 000 501

Website

http://www.soloistmovie.com

Director

Joe Wright

Actors

Robert Downey Jr., Jamie Foxx, Catherine Keener, Tom Hollander, Nelsan Ellis, Michael Bunin, LisaGay Hamilton, Rachael Harris, Stephen Root, Lorraine Toussaint
All actors and roles (10)

Scenario

Producer

Gary Foster, Russ Krasnoff, Patricia Whitcher

Operator

Seamus McGarvey

Composer

Dario Marianelli

Artist

Audition

Francine Maisler

Editing

Paul Tothill
All team (60)

• The plot is based on the true story of musician Nathaniel Ayers. The career of the young cello virtuoso Ayers is interrupted when he develops schizophrenia. Many years later, a journalist from the Los Angeles Times learns about the homeless musician, and their communication results in a series of articles.
• In the film, Steve Lopez is depicted as divorced, although in reality, the reporter has been in a happy and successful marriage throughout his life. According to the journalist himself, he found this rather strange, but he considered it much more important how accurately his articles and professional activities were portrayed.
• Most of the homeless people shown in the film did not actually have any permanent shelter.
• Part of the scenes were filmed in one of the areas of Los Angeles, Skid Row, known as the largest haven for homeless people in the country.
• In the scene where Nathaniel Ayers and Steve Lopez attend a concert rehearsal, all the seats are covered with tarps. This approach is a common practice in many concert halls during rehearsals, as it is believed to produce a cleaner sound.
• Nathaniel Ayers himself appears in a cameo as one of the audience members, sitting in the front row, at the concert at the very end of the film.
• The filmmakers invited Nathaniel Ayers to visit the set at Walt Disney Central Hall in Los Angeles, but the musician preferred to stay outside and play there that day.
• Despite his consistent dislike of being filmed, Nathaniel Ayers attended the film's premiere in Los Angeles with his family, who had flown in for the occasion. He himself rarely watches television or movies.
• Several members of the Los Angeles-based charity Lamp Community, which assists the homeless and people with mental illness, appeared in episodic roles in the film, attended its premiere, and the party held after it. Nathaniel Ayers himself is under the care of this organization and receives regular assistance from them.
• The film's premiere was originally scheduled for November 2008, but concerned about an overly crowded release schedule, Paramount Pictures postponed the release to April 2009.
• This isn't the first time Robert Downey Jr. has played a real-life newspaper reporter in a film. Previously, he portrayed Paul Avery, a reporter for the San Francisco Chronicle, in "Zodiac" (2007).