Two things about David Fincher’s

Two things about David Fincher‘s Zodiac (Paramount, 9/22) — one sounding a tad questionable and the other most likely accurate. The film, first things first, is a crime period piece based on the Robert Graysmith “books” about cops and reporters on the trail of the Zodiac killer who plagued the San Francisco area in the ’60s and ’70s. Except last night a person close to the film told me it’s no longer being called Zodiac but Chronicles, allegedly due to some title-rights issue. (The IMDB lists a recent Thinkfilm release with Rory Culkin and Robin Tunney called The Zodiac, but a Paramount spokesperson says “we have the rights” allowing them to use the word “Zodiac” as a title so don’t take this one to the bank just yet. If this info turns out to be true, they’ve got to think up a better alternate title than Crhonicles, which stinks.) The other story is that the running time is now about three hours, give or take. This, I’m hearing, fals under the headings of “not unlikely” and/or “probable.” A three-hour crime film? This, to me, spells integrity…especially from the director of the classic Se7en. The script is by James Vanderbilt ( Against All Enemies). The co-stars are Jake Gyllenhaal and Robert Downey, Jr. as the San Francisco Chronicle reporters who wrote about the investi- gation, and Mark Ruffalo and (aparently) Anthony Edwards.

• Tweet