The Soloist
Life has a mind of its own
Country
Production
Budget
$60 000 000
Revenue
$38 000 501
Website
Director
Actors
Scenario
Producer
Gary Foster, Russ Krasnoff, Patricia Whitcher, Jeff Skoll, Tim Bevan, Eric Fellner
Operator
Seamus McGarvey
Composer
Artist
Audition
Editing
Paul Tothill
All team (65)
All team (65)
Short description
A Los Angeles journalist befriends a homeless Juilliard-trained musician, while looking for a new article for the paper.
What's left behind the scenes
- 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).
- Most of the homeless people shown in the film actually had no permanent roof over their heads.
- In the scene where Nathaniel Ayers and Steve Lopez attend a concert rehearsal, all the seats are covered with tarpaulins. This approach is common practice in many concert halls during rehearsals, as it is believed that the sound is cleaner this way.
- Nathaniel Ayers himself makes a cameo appearance 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 filming at the Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles, but the musician preferred to stay on the street and play there that day.
- Despite his persistent dislike of being on screen, Nathaniel Ayers attended the film's premiere in Los Angeles along with his family, who had flown in for the occasion. He himself very rarely watches television or movies.
- Several members of Lamp Community, a Los Angeles-based charitable organization that assists homeless and mentally ill individuals, appeared in the film in supporting roles and attended its premiere and the after-party. Nathaniel Ayers himself is under the care of this organization and receives regular assistance from it.
- The film's premiere was originally scheduled for November 2008, but Paramount Pictures, concerned about an overly crowded release schedule, moved the theatrical release to April 2009.
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Auditions in India
Casting calls in USA
Castingi w Polsce
Кастинги в Україні
