A number of crime thriller movies have been made based on the infamous Zodiac killer, who terrorized North California in the late 1960s. One of the closest to truth depictions was presented in the David Fincher film, Zodiac released in 2007. The movie drew its inspiration from Robert Graysmith’s firsthand accounts of the case, documented in his two books. The movie had a star-studded cast including Robert Downey Jr., Jake Gyllenhaal, and Mark Ruffalo.
David Fincher spent his childhood in Marin County, California; therefore, he was very familiar with the case. However, he expressed his dissatisfaction with another 1971 movie that portrayed a highly fictionalized version of the Zodiac Killer.
David Fincher Hated The Portrayal Of The Zodiac Killer In Clint Eastwood’s Movie
One of the first mainstream films to feature the Zodiac Killer was the Clint Eastwood starrer Dirty Harry. The movie was released at a time when the investigations were still active. The serial killer in the movie, Scorpio, terrorized the city, committing multiple sniper gun murders and even taking a bus full of children hostage. In the climax, the killer is shot dead by Eastwood’s Harry Callahan in a cinematic style.
David Fincher was not happy with the way Dirty Harry ended. To the Fight Club director, the killer was a source of personal horror for many people and he could not process the way the killer in the movie was easily killed off. Fincher shared:
“…I didn’t see “Dirty Harry” till I was probably 12, I didn’t see it until its rerelease, but I remember because Zodiac was such a kind of a personal thing, like this person had kind of crept into our personal unconscious, and f**ked with us for so many years, that when I saw Zodiac as plot device in the movie I was a little bit appalled…”
As the Seven director rightly points out, the lack of resolution was the most haunting thing about the Zodiac case. Dirty Harry simply masks this unsettling truth with a satisfying scene that gets applause from the audience.
David Fincher Portrayed Dave Toschi’s Frustration In The Film
Inspector Dave Toschi was the chief investigator on the Zodiac case. Toschi served as the inspiration for Mark Ruffalo’s character in David Fincher’s film. Toschi was troubled by the way Dirty Harry simplified the justice served to the killer’s character. At the time of its release, Toschi was after Arthur Leigh Allen, the prime suspect in the case. Toschi recalled the challenges he faced in gathering evidence and getting warrants to search Allen’s trailer, which almost took nine months.
However, in the movie, Harry Callahan just shoots the serial killer, without caring about evidence or warrants. Fincher shared about Toschi’s frustration:
“[Toschi] was a little sickened by how easily it was concluded in the movies and kind of resented the fact that people were saying to him, ‘hey, Clint Eastwood sure did a great job with your case.'”
The Game director added Toschi’s disappointment in a scene in Zodiac when Mark Ruffalo walks out of a theater showing Dirty Harry. The scene implied both David Fincher and Dave Toschi’s feelings towards the film. Zodiac is now available for streaming in Paramount Plus.
Source: YouTube
