The making of 'The Soloist'

Robert Downey Jr., Jamie Foxx, Catherine Keener, Steve Lopez and Joe Wright discuss making of 'The Soloist'

Any film based on a true story faces the daunting challenge of getting its facts straight. What makes “The Soloist” a particularly sensitive case of art imitating life is the vulnerable subject at its center—Nathaniel Ayers (played by Jamie Foxx), a homeless, schizophrenic musician whose friendship with Los Angeles Times columnist Steve Lopez (Robert Downey Jr.) inspired Lopez to write a book that in turn inspired the film.

Metromix recently spoke with Foxx, Downey, Lopez, Catherine Keener (who plays Lopez’s ex-wife and editor), director Joe Wright (an Oscar nominee for “Atonement”) and producer Gary Foster (“Sleepless in Seattle”) at a Los Angeles press conference to get a closer look at the delicate process of bringing Ayers’ story to cinematic life. —Brett Buckalew, Special to Metromix