How would I go about asking about filming locations for a movie? Understanding that directors, producers, and such don't want to encourage visitors, that is.

I'm wondering about the new movie being made of the investigation into the Zodiac murders. Every press release erroneously claims the killer stalked San Fransisco, so the assumption is that the bulk of the movie will be shot there and in L.A. However, the murders actually took place in neighboring Vallejo and outlying areas (with one exception:the murder of a cab driver in San Fransisco).

The movie is to focus on the press coverage and police investigation, primarily on one San Fransisco columnist, so it makes sense that SF will be the primary setting...but since the investigation itself was in/centered around Vallejo, I'm hoping there will at least be some substantial amount of filming there. Who do I ask to find out? That is, how do I get an address? C/O the studio? Or what?

My family and I lived in Vallejo at the time Zodiac was terrorizing that community. I was too young to be aware of it, but it's a matter of very personal curiosity to me and some of my family...we'd like to see whether the movie will handle the subject (and our hometown) with any kind of fidelity. So would a few people on a movie BB who live there now.

The director is David Fincher. He grew up in that same area and time, and I assume it's personal to him too. Any address to write him? (again, assuming he has people who handle his mail for him).

That's a toughie. I just checked my contact info for Fincher (I interviewed him once about 6 years ago) and it is no longer any good. The only reason I even got his contact info is because a PR person repping a couple of fx houses got it to me, I couldn't get it from Fox (or anything else from them for that matter.) Fincher is a terrific interviewee, BTW.

My experience, and that is more from the journalist POV than the fan one, is that studios don't seem to give a shit about you unless you represent something with huge circulation, like TV GUIDE. In terms of a general interest inquiry like the one you have, I'd figure you could at least get some info from the film's website, or from the studio's website. I'm from the bay area as well (San Jose for the first 37 years or so), so the story is well known to me as well. I'd guess that Fincher living practically down the street from ILM means he is well-versed on it, too.

You can also get address info for studios, and in some cases, production companies, from online sources. You could probably google a search, finding out which websites have fees and which might have limited free test search useage. G' luck.

Kevin

Dreamer and trevanian, the vallejo Zodiac suspect was arthur allen leigh and also Larry Kane who by the way lived everywhere that ALL zodiac killings and attacks took place, leigh died and some real zodiac letters still came, Kane was positivly ID'ed from survivors and also a woman and her child who he gave a ride to then dropped them off and burned her car, the zodiac wrote a letter to SFPD describing how he gave an intersting ride to this woman and child then told how he burned her car. Lawrence kane lives 12 miles from me in lake tahoe nevada i have stood outside his condo and he was inside always staying behind closed blinds , i have lots of info on this and will e mail you the info, let me know, he moved to so. lake tahoe and murdered a woman named donna lass who also moved from S.F and he also moved to tahoe and was i.d.'ed by witnesses as the person following her. he managed to get a job in the same building she worked in here.
Bert

The subject of "Zodiac" came up fairly recently on this board; can't recall which thread. Someone (Carson Dyle?) had read the script and, unless I'm mistaken, was in some way involved in the production.

In terms of contacting the "Zodiac" production company, Variety and The Hollywood Reporter both publish weekly lists of films in production. In many cases the production company phone number and/or address will be listed along with cast and crew info.

And of course you can always call the studio direct. "Zodiac" is a Paramount project I believe; call the main switchboard, ask for the "Zodiac" production offices, and see what happens. Most likely they'll give you the brush-off, or fob you off to someone in publicity, but it's worth a shot.

are city filming permits matters of public record? if so, then the city's film commission might be a good bet.
unless they need them there as background, the producion compnies dont want the public hanging around while they are shooting, so i doubt you'd get the info from them.

Yeah, just what I was thinking re: not wanting to be bothered on site. I'm hoping someone involved won't feel it's revealing too much if dates and specific addresses aren't mentioned, just general locales. It's just out of curiosity, anyway, so I wouldn't want to represent it as a serious inquiry. Fincher have an address that handles fan mail?

Anyway, thanks for the advice, everyone. I'll keep watching to see when a website goes up for it. I found that conversation about Carson reading the script - maybe he's free to comment. Sounds like alot of time is spent on the home lives of Graysmith and others who lived in S.F., so I wouldn't expect to see alot of the Bay Area beyond that.

mm, I do know about Arthur Allen - he was a pretty good suspect but has been conclusively cleared by handwriting, palm print, and DNA analysis. I don't know anything about Larry Kane, though, interesting! I'd like to read more.

Yeah, just what I was thinking re: not wanting to be bothered on site. I'm hoping someone involved won't feel it's revealing too much if dates and specific addresses aren't mentioned, just general locales. It's just out of curiosity, anyway, so I wouldn't want to represent it as a serious inquiry. Fincher have an address that handles fan mail?

Anyway, thanks for the advice, everyone. I'll keep watching to see when a website goes up for it. I found that conversation about Carson reading the script - maybe he's free to comment. Sounds like alot of time is spent on the home lives of Graysmith and others who lived in S.F., so I wouldn't expect to see alot of the Bay Area beyond that.

mm, I do know about Arthur Allen - he was a pretty good suspect but has been conclusively cleared by handwriting, palm print, and DNA analysis. I don't know anything about Larry Kane, though, interesting! I'd like to read more.
private message me and give me your e mail address and i will give you his entire history, he IS the zodiac i can tell you that ! he is in his 80's now

Dreamer, besides contacting the film commission, another option would be to contact the Solano County Economic Development Director/Department. These people are usually contacted by film companies for locations where they can shoot. If you can't find the EcoDevo phone number on the website, the Solano County Administrative Office would be able to give it to you:

http://www.co.solano.ca.us/

José

I found that conversation about Carson reading the script - maybe he's free to comment. Sounds like alot of time is spent on the home lives of Graysmith and others who lived in S.F., so I wouldn't expect to see alot of the Bay Area beyond that.

Principal photography begins early next month. The production sched. is still being tweaked, but "Zodiac" will be shot on location in L.A., the Bay area, and Riverside County. For obvious reasons I'm not at liberty to post specific dates and locations, but a number of good suggestions for how to glean this info. have already been noted.

Good luck.

some real zodiac letters still came

I was half-watching/listening to some A&E show about the Zodiac awhile back, I thought it turned out the letters were probably written by one of the cops involved.

I was half-watching/listening to some A&E show about the Zodiac awhile back, I thought it turned out the letters were probably written by one of the cops involved.
only the later years letters years after zodiacs last ciphers i have copies of all the letters and some S.F.P.D. files from 1968-76, the guy lives 12 miles from me "larry kane" go to "zodiac killer .com and look at suspects and look up everything on larry kane. he lives in lake tahoe nevada

The Fincher film is based on two books by cartoonist-turned-journalist Robert Graysmith: "Zodiac" (`76) and "Zodiac Unmasked" (`02). Graysmith has devoted a good part of his life to the Zodiac case, and it is his (quite compelling) conclusion that the killer was a man named Arthur Leigh Allen, who died in 1992.

carson, you have hobbytalk email !

Interesting link, but I still think A.L. Allen was the Zodiac.

It was made into a movie already. Dirty Harrys' "Scorpio" was based on Zodiac, Hollywoodized of course.