James Vanderbilt recently reflected on making Zodiac with David Fincher almost twenty years later.
For those who don’t know, Fincher helmed the project as director in the 2007 crime thriller film Zodiacwhich tells the story of the manhunt for the Zodiac Killer, who sowed fear in the San Francisco Bay Area in the 1960s and early 1970s.
The film, based on two non-fiction books about real life Zodiac serial killer by Robert Graysmith, cast of top Hollywood stars such as Mark Ruffalo, Robert Downey Jr., Jake Gyllenhaal, Chloë Sevigny, Anthony Edwards and others.
Vanderbilt, who wrote the screenplay Zodiacrecently talked to PEOPLE magazine to promote his new film Nuremberga psychological thriller-historical drama film, which he wrote, co-produced and also directed.
Speaking to the outlet, the 50-year-old American film director, screenwriter and producer reminisced about working with Fincher almost two decades ago.
He said: “It was really a dream for a young screenwriter to have someone of that level direct your film. It was also the first film that I stayed on the whole time.”
“I remember one day Fincher said, ‘Look, you and me. We are the creative core of this, and you will see all the way through it.’ To be able to sit next to a guy like that and see him do his thing so well, it was just a dream come true,” Vanderbilt noted.
Moreover, the creator of Scream further admitted that he always remembers the time when he had the opportunity to work with Fincher.
Referring to the 63-year-old American film director, Vanderbilt revealed: “He said something that has always stuck with me, which is: ‘Good films make you ask questions, bad films give you all the answers.’ So I hope we made a good film and I hope it makes people ask questions.”
Before concluding, it is pertinent to mention this Nuremberg was released on November 7, 2025 under the Sony Pictures Classics banner.
