The Soloist: Foxx And Downey, Jr. Tackle Schizophrenia And Media Responsibility

By Alicia Sparks
December 18, 2008

From A Beautiful Mind to Canvas, schizophrenia has been getting quite a bit of screen time over the last decade.

It’s going to get some more in April 2009, when Jamie Foxx and Robert Downey, Jr. start blowin’ minds and takin’ names (not to mention rack up a heap of awards nominations, I expect) with the release of The Soloist.

The Soloist is not only the movie adaptation of the book of the same name, but it’s also the movie adaptation of a true life story about one Los Angeles Times journalist’s (Steve Lopez, played by Robert Downing, Jr., who is also on the advisory board for No Kidding, Me Too!) journey to help an extremely talented, homeless man with schizophrenia (Nathaniel Ayers, played by Jamie Foxx) realize his dreams.

I haven’t read the book yet (which is kind of surprising, given the stack of books I’ve reviewed over the last year), but I did catch a review of it this morning at The Star Press:

Nathaniel Ayers is a homeless man Lopez sees playing the violin near his office at the Los Angeles Times. A regular columnist for the newspaper, he decides to talk to Ayers, in hopes of coming up with his latest column.

He then enters into the complex world of mental illness, homelessness and media responsibility, opening his eyes to his own narcissistic behaviors and the beauty of freedom and music.

I might get my hands on the book before April, but even if I don’t I’ll definitely be in line to see this movie. Foxx and Downey, Jr. are superb in just about every project they take on, and I don’t imagine this human interest story will be any different. I’m also very interested to see how Steve Ayers tackles the subject of “media responsibility.”

You can learn more about the movie, as well as the real life characters, at the film’s official Web site. And, if you want to read the Los Angeles Times article that helped start it all, check out Steve Lopez on Nathaniel Anthony Ayers.