The Soloist Production Notes

The film itself was based on a true story, and starred Jamie Foxx, Robert Downey Jr., Catherine Keener, Tom Hollander and Lisa Gay Hamilton.

The executive producers of the film were Tim Bevan, Eric Fellner, Jeff Skoll, and Patricia Whiteher.

The director of photography was Seamus McGarvey BSC.

The film is “about the secret yet transcendant dreams that exist even at the American margins”, not just the story of a homeless man who fell from greatness. It’s also about the “often perilous task of trying to change a friend’s life”.

A lot of producers approached Steve Lopez to produce the film, but only Gary Foster and Russ Krasnoff gained his trust (and then took him to see Nathaniel Ayers at LAMP). They were moved greatly by his articles, and were motivated to create a true, respectable adaptation of it.

Suzannah Grant, the screenwriter, was also inspired by the articles after being sent them, and aimed to hone in “on the different kinds of transformation each of the two men undergoes”, whilst taking some liberties to further emphasize certain characteristics, such as giving Steve Lopez an ex-wife in order to further portray a sense of isolation in his character.

After Grant saw Jamie Foxx act as Nathaniel, she said that he “embodied the experience of being Nathaniel without ever being an imitation” – yet despite the greatness of his and Robert Downey Jr.’s acting, she still wished to keep from any “fairy tale sentimentality”, in order to pay homage to the humanity of the characters.

Joe Wright, after being approached and beginning work on the film, saw it as a way of bringing Hollywood and British realism together, and despite not knowing much about America himself he thought it may benefit from an outsider’s point of view. He flew to LA to talk with the scriptwriters, and then visited Skid Row, which inspired him to bring its inhabitants humanity to the screen.

Cellist Ben Hong had to develop a system in order to teach Jamie Foxx how to appropriately mime over the music he was playing, which involved calling out the numbers to him to let him know what strings he would have to press down at certain points.