Graysmith learns that Allen lived close to Ferrin and probably knew her and that his birthday matches the one Zodiac gave when he spoke to one of Bellis maids.

The film stars Mark Ruffalo, Jake Gyllenhaal, and Robert Downey Jr.

The case remains one of the United States most infamous unsolved crimes.

Fincher employed the digital Thomson Viper FilmStream Camera to photograph most of the film, with traditional high-speed film cameras used for slow-motion murder sequences.

Pictures in other territories on March 3, 2007 and received mostly positive reviews, with praise for its writing, directing, acting, and historical accuracy.

It grossed over 84.7 million worldwide on a production budget of 65 million.

In a 2016 critics poll conducted by the BBC, Zodiac was voted the 12th greatest film of the 21st century.

Political cartoonist Robert Graysmith, who correctly guesses that his identity is not in the message, is not taken seriously by crime reporter Paul Avery or the editors and is excluded from the initial details about the killings.

When the newspaper publishes the letters, a married couple deciphers one.

Graysmith interprets the letter, which Avery finds helpful, and he begins sharing information.

One of Graysmiths insights about the letters is that the Zodiacs reference to man as the most dangerous animal of them all is a reference to the film The Most Dangerous Game, which features the villainous Count Zaroff, a man who hunts live human prey.

The Zodiac killer mails pieces of Stines bloodstained shirt to the Chronicle along with a taunting letter.

San Francisco police inspectors Dave Toschi and his partner Bill Armstrong are assigned to the case by Captain Marty Lee, and work closely with Vallejos Jack Mulanax and Captain Ken Narlow in Napa.

Someone claiming to be Zodiac continues to send taunting letters and speaks on the phone with lawyer Melvin Belli on a television talk show hosted by Jim Dunbar.

They notice that he wears a Zodiac wristwatch, with the same logo used by the killer and Toschi heavily suspects him.

However, a handwriting expert insists that Allen did not write the Zodiac letters, even though Allen is said to be ambidextrous.

Avery receives a letter threatening his life; becoming paranoid, he turns to drugs and alcohol.

He shares information with the Riverside Police Department that the killer might have been active before the initial killings, angering Toschi and Armstrong.

The cases notoriety weighs on Toschi, who is unable to sit through a Hollywood film, Dirty Harry, loosely based on the Zodiac case.

Graysmith persistently contacts Toschi about the Zodiac murders, and eventually impresses him with his knowledge of the case.

While Toschi cannot directly give Graysmith access to the evidence, he provides names in other police departments where Zodiac murders occurred.

Armstrong transfers from the San Francisco Police homicide division, and Toschi is demoted for supposedly forging a Zodiac letter.

As his obsession deepens, Graysmith loses his job, and his wife Melanie leaves him, taking their children.

The Movie Zodiac