The Soloist

Academy Award-nominated Atonement director Joe Wright teams with screenwriter Susannah Grant to tell the true-life story of Nathaniel Ayers, a former violin prodigy whose bouts with schizophrenia landed him on the streets after two years of schooling at Juilliard. Steve Lopez (Robert Downey Jr.) is ...more

Taking a page from Ron Howard’s A Beautiful Mind, The Soloist, directed by Joe Wright, the man who brought you such luscious novel adaptations as Pride and Prejudice and Atonement, presents a well-crazed genius stepping off the cliff into insanity, and sometimes he can play the cello well. We are invited into the world of Nathanial Anthony Ayers (Jamie Foxx) through the eyes of LA Times journalist Steve Lopez (Robert Downey Jr.). After a knock over the head in a bicycling accident and ...more

When The Soloist was originally intended to be a 2008 Oscar hopeful, the initial advertising campaign made it look like a cross between Shine and A Beautiful Mind. And the setup certainly smacks of Oscar bait: Los Angeles Times columnist Steve Lopez (Robert Downey Jr.), recovering from an especially nasty bike accident, meets the homeless Nathaniel Anthony Ayers (Jamie Foxx) during a walk through the park. Because Nathaniel plays a violin with just two strings -- and plays it rather well -- he ...more