ZODIAC AUTHOR IMPRESSED WITH FILM

The Robert Graysmith novels Zodiac and Zodiac Unmasked were inspired by his stint as a cartoonist at The San Francisco Chronicle during the height of the Zodiac killings. Zodiac director David Fincher based his film on Graysmith’s writings.

When Robert saw the film he was very impressed with Fincher’s attention to detail and thought he was back at his office in 1969.

“What struck me the most was the fact that there was such attention to detail. I mean Jake’s using my real drawing board, my real pens. The recreation of The San Francisco Chronicle. It now looks like an insurance company, lots of carpeting. You go to the set that David Fincher put together and you open a drawer, there’s a Chronicle note pad, the phone directory, there are Eagle pencils. He’s got neumadic tubes work, the phones work.”

Graysmith is currently working on a book based on new evidence discovered by scriptwriter James Vanderbilt and producer Brad Fischer.

“They became detectives. I actually wrote a book about this which I’m gonna hold back but they went out and found more stuff. They found a map of the murder site drawn by the main suspect, signed by him, that’s Jamie Vanderbilt. Brad Fischer finds a parking ticket that places our main suspect in San Francisco the day that one of the letters is mailed.”

Robert Graysmith first got into the movie business when his book Auto Focus about the murder of Bob Krane was made into a film starring Greg Kinnear.