Zodiac: Director’s Cut

Se7en helmer David Fincher investigates his Zodiac: Director’s Cut.

Scene 1: The knife attack at Lake Berryessa
“That’s the scene people are most upset by. I think it’s the executioner’s costume. Shooting in the actual place was odd, and when you have to choreograph the stabbing…What a horrible thing to go through. When I was growing up in Marin County, that murder was mythologized. Its location changed depending on where your summer camp was.”

Scene 2: The cops grill Arthur Leigh Allen
“John Carroll Lynch was consciously playing somebody who was wrongfully accused, and it was amazing because he looked even more guilty. He brought in these sociopathic hints, like the androgyny of the way he crosses his legs. I told him, ‘Try it as a guy who just does not like to be bossed around.’ Whether or not he was Zodiac, he had things to hide.”

Scene 3: Panic in suspect Bob Vaughn’s house
“It’s amazing that Robert Graysmith, a newspaper cartoonist, would put himself in that situation. I think it speaks to his naiveté. The scene is anathema to the police procedural, but we were always fighting this knowledge that it’s a good bet people don’t want a movie that doesn’t have any exploding planes or lovers getting together.”