The Soloist is based on the true story of L.A.

Times reporter Steve Lopezs

friendship with Nathaniel Ayers, a homeless, Julliard trained cellist. Ayers was a brilliant and promising student, but his battle with mental illness consigned him to wander the streets of Los Angeles playing a broken violin. Lopez writes a series of popular articles about Ayers situation, and the two men form a close bond. As donations pour in from readers, and his career improves, Lopez questions his own motives and ability to help his friend. Ayres refuses to live in public housing and shelters. The film exposes the glaring flaws in municipal responses to homelessness and mental illness. It also examines romanticized notions of outsider art.

Budgeted at $60 million. Based on a book and articles written by Steve Lopez. The Soloist: A lost dream, an unlikely friendship and the redemptive power of music Directed by Joe Wright, and the screenplay is written by Susannah Grant. Produced by Gary Foster & Russ Krasnof This was Joe Wrights first American made film, he was spotted by DreamWorks after they saw his film Pride and Prejudice and Atonment. The executive producer made note of the fact that Wright wanted to do something unique that has never been attempted before by filming his film in the real environment and community which the film is based on.

This film also caused great controversy over the casting of the background extras. In order to link it to the real world, Wright decided to cast real members of down town Los Angeles. He even encouraged them to tell him about their own experiences which they could add into the film, he described it as almost being a documentary approach in the film. The approach they took to the film was very genuine, they said that they didnt want to in any way enhance the artificiality that you sometimes sense in Hollywood movies In order to show how much music meant to the character of Nathaniel in the film, they created a shot that would lead us into a symphonic lyrical sequence. To do this they required a 100 foot Strada crane to rise up above the street and how the city above.

Camera Panavision Panaflex Millennium XL2, Panavision C-, E-Series, ATZ and AWZ2 Lenses Panavision Panaflex Platinum, Panavision C-, E-Series, ATZ and AWZ2 Lenses

Laboratory DeLuxe, Hollywood (CA), USA (prints) EFILM Digital Laboratories, Hollywood (CA), USA (digital intermediate) Film negative format (mm/video inches) 35 mm (Kodak Vision2 200T 5217, Vision3 500T 5219) Cinematographic process Digital Intermediate (4K) (master format) Panavision (anamorphic) (source format) Printed film format 35 mm (Kodak Vision 2383) D-Cinema Aspect ratio 2.35 : 1

 The release date of the film was pushed back to 2009 from November 21st 2008 in

order to give it Oscar consideration, before eventually expanding wider on January 16th. Due to this the film was said to be doomed to fail and that Jamie Foxxs dreams of getting a 2nd Oscar were dashed. The film went on to only recover about half of its total budget bringing in $31,720,158. This was blamed on the film's initial release date being postponed. The film was nominated for the 2010 Vits Awards for "Best Directing" and "Best Music". The film was criticised for its marketing appeal. There was no reason for teens to see it. It had no special effects or young actors which would make it stand out. The only good thing about it was the stars: Robert Downey Jr and Jamie Foxx. Paramount Pictures took advantage of the lifted of restrictions preventing movie ads during the broadcast of the Oscars ceremony and aired a trailer for The Soloist. This was ironic as the film was originally intended to be nominated for the Oscars but due to the release day moving it wasnt. It was reported that the pricing for a 30-second commercial in the Oscars show commercial break was. $1.4 million. Paramount was up against film companies such as Warner Bros, Universal Pictures, and Walt Disney.

 Distributed by DreamWorks Pictures & Universal Pictures. In the USA the film got an opening weekend total of 9,716,458 when it aired on

26th April 2009 on 2,024 Screens. In the UK the film got an opening weekend total 373,151 when it aired on 27th September 2009. It was broadcasted on 351 Screens in total.
Box office worldwide - $38,332,994 The film was also nominated for 2 Prism awards in Best Performance in a

Feature for Jamie Foxx and Robert Downey Jr and won Best Feature film on Mental Health. It was also nominated at the Black Reel Awards with Jamie Foxx nominated for Best Actor.