Obsessed with Obsession

If the relatively dismal box office showing of last year's dark, troubling Zodiac wasn't entirely surprising, its complete absence from any sort of Oscar recognition was a bit baffling. David Fincher's lengthy, labyrinthine thriller/police procedural/newspaper drama could at time feels like three movies rolled into one, and viewers expecting a retread of the sensationalism of Fincher's groundbreaking Se7en may have been let down when the murders ceased about a half-hour into Zodiac's 160 minutes.

But it seemed like a sure thing that the heavily researched script based on San Francisco Chronicle cartoonist Robert Graysmith's book of the same name, detailing his compulsive exploration of the Bay Area serial murders during the late 1960s, would garner a Best Adapted Screenplay nod. If not, surely the superb set design and costuming, someone from the prodigious and impressive ensemble cast or Fincher's usual hyper-controlled directing would pick up an Academy award nomination. But no dice.

However, critics, film nerds and serial killer fanatics loved the movie, and if that trio of social misfits shares a character trait, it's also a trait found in Graysmith, Fincher and probably the Zodiac killer himself: obsessiveness. It didn't really occur to me when I watched the film last fall upon its initial DVD release, but with the recent Zodiac — The Director's Cut two-disc special edition, it became disarmingly clear that most of the people primarily responsible for this film were more deeply involved with the subject matter than usual, and Fincher in particular seemed to have found a story that matched his compulsion for order and control.

“The director's cut” title is something of a red herring; what's added are a scant few minutes of material that add practically nothing to the plot or overall effect of the film. Where the DVDs pay off is in the abundance of bonus material, including two feature-length commentaries, a 100-minute documentary on the Zodiac case, a shorter doc on the prime Zodiac suspect, and various featurettes detailing the making of the film. While the package doesn't exactly approach Lord of the Rings-size proportions, that's still a lot of material to chew on, especially considering most of it has to do with the sordid details of America's first serial killer — who was never caught or even conclusively identified.

Of the commentaries, one is by Fincher, while the other has actors Robert Downey, Jr. and Jake Gyllenhaal trading off with screenwriter James Vanderbilt, producer Brad Fischer and crime novelist James Ellroy. Ellroy had nothing to do with the film but is such a fan, and is so respected by the filmmakers, he was invited to sit in. Both commentaries are informative, but only Ellroy passes for what might be considered entertaining. He's lively, arrogant and crude, lusting after Chloe Sevigny one moment, profiling the Zodiac killer and advocating his painful execution the next.

The Gyllenhaal/Downey bits are the least necessary — typical actor ego-stroking and self-love; they're most useful in confirming suspicions that Gyllenhaal is kind of a dork. Fincher is dry and thorough with his abundant information, and it's here you begin to get a peek at how methodical his mind is. This is echoed in Vanderbilt's comments, and at one point he informs us that after spending more than a year researching and writing the script, Fincher insisted on another year-plus of research before he would begin to shoot. The point is made more than once that everyone involved wanted to honor the memory of Zodiac's victims, their surviving families and those who survived attacks and are still living.

That's a good reason to get it right, and everyone involved seems sincere, but when you watch the making of docs, you begin to realize the degree of Fincher's OCD-style of filmmaking, and the thought occurs that he may have finally found a subject that justifies and feeds his methods. The cast and crew comment on the director's meticulousness and multiple takes, and anecdotes are included to demonstrate the depths of Fincher's fussiness: Gyllenhaal shows frustration when Fincher requires more than 30 takes of a brief shot of the actor simply tossing a book aside; a costume designer describes the director's unhappiness with the eyeholes in Zodiac's mask, removing one tiny thread to meet his satisfaction; and a tree is uprooted and helicoptered in to make a murder site as authentic as possible.

This last one was especially over the top, and when the crew starts congratulating themselves on the versimilitude of their sets, hairstyles and wardrobes, you begin to wonder who they're really trying to please/impress with this sort of attention to detail. Ninety-nine percent of the audience isn't going to notice the costume Zodiac's first victim is wearing is an exact replica of the actual victim's outfit.

The question arises: Does all of that effort make it a better film for the casual viewer? As a part of that 99 percentile ignorant to the minutia the Zodiac case — pre-bonus footage viewing, of course — I'd have to say: definitely maybe.

It's a remarkable film, likely the best film ever made on the subject of serial killers and the cops, reporters and fanatics who chase them. It looks wonderful, the ensemble cast is terrific, and yeah, the wardrobe and hair styling is impressive.

But the deeper we're allowed to look into the process of the filmmaking, the more the obsessive nature of Graysmith and, to a lesser extent, Fincher, seems almost disturbing. Everyone interviewed who was involved in the actual case speaks of the effect their involvement with the Zodiac killings still has on them decades later. Graysmith in particular has in many ways made it the central focus of his life. And many who worked on the film seem to have allowed it to take hold of them in a similar fashion.

Costume designer Casey Storm admits he suspects Fincher may have actually thought he could solve the case by making the film. Mark Ruffalo reveals he had information the investigator he was portraying never knew. It's possible that Zodiac is the first non-documentary feature film to attempt to solve an open case.

And now Paramount has released this expanded DVD to allow you to become obsessed with the film. I watched most of these extras in a relatively short amount of time, and I have to say the whole thing left me feeling uneasy. I don't have the slightest interest in serial killer lore, but the film and extras were effectively seductive in drawing me into that world for a time. And the images and details continue to resonate.

Like Fincher following Vanderbilt following Graysmith following Zodiac, viewers of the special edition Zodiac have the potential to become enmeshed in other people's obsessions before they even realize its happening.