From the Abbey Road opening shot …
to the final shot, when the camera is suddenly on the move for the first time in the whole scene, pulling away from the three detectives staring through the grate at their suspect walking away – this scene in Zodiac is a mini-masterpiece in an overall masterpiece and one of my favorite scenes in cinema.
Every cut – every POV shift – every single detail is perfection, including the use of yellow (the chairs same shade as Elias Koteas’ shirt: it’s a strange color. The use of it is deliberate – and it’s not only in this scene). The details are perfect not just in the choice of them but in the end result this accumulation creates.
There’s a sudden close-up of Koteas – if you’ve seen the scene you know exactly the one I mean. The camera has been further back throughout, and there’s usually been a couple of people in the frame. As the scene progresses, the camera view gets tighter and tighter and tighter, zeroing in, pushing in like a vice on every character. There’s no world outside this room. So in that particular shot structure, a close-up like the one I’m talking about “reads” like an intimate close-up of an eyeball, especially since he’s staring right at the camera (i.e. the suspect). The moment makes the hair on my neck rise up every time I see it (and Zodiac, for me, is like comfort food. It works every time).
Koteas doesn’t even play a lead character. He plays a police chief in another town where a murder has taken place, a guy the lead detectives (Mark Ruffalo and Anthony Edwards) collaborate with, when they are in his neck of the woods. Koteas isn’t in it all that much but he plays a key role, particularly here. It is the moment the scene shifts. Character actor dream of being given such a moment to play. He’s looking at the camera. You can see that every spidey-sense he has is on high alert. Koteas can’t even believe what he just heard.
Then follows identical looking-at-camera shots of Edwards and Ruffalo, giving a sense of the group-brain that has evolved among these three men. They don’t even need to look at each other. They all feel the same thing. Each remains totally still, almost like they’re afraid that one quick movement will break the spell. But their spirits and minds are zig-zagging around, ricocheting towards each other, ESP-signals screaming at each other, “DID YOU JUST HEAR THAT?” And that’s what starts with the shot of Koteas. The two identical shots of Edward and Ruffalo drive it home.
I must point out that the first moment of high-alert is given to Koteas (such a superb actor), and this is a generous and unexpected choice on the part of director David Fincher. The expected would be to start the sequence with a closeup of either Edwards or Ruffalo, the co-leads. The fact that it’s Koteas speaks volumes (and is an example of how well the film is cast, from the leads on down) as does the fact that his shirt matches not only the chairs but the doohickeys on the wall behind him.
All of that creates a feeling of “DEFCON 1 DEFCON 1!!!” in the moment.
None of it is what you would expect. There’s a reason he’s in yellow.
Everyone – actors, screenwriter, director, cinematographer, production designer, costume designer (“please find a shirt the same color as these chairs and please do so by tomorrow”) – is working at a dazzling level of skill.
Great write-up of an amazing scene. I agree it’s the best scene in the movie, and that’s saying a lot. All the yellow! Something I never noticed.
I love everything about Zodiac. What a cast! I know you’ve mentioned Clea Duvall’s great turn in her one scene. And Zach Grenier, Donal Logue, John Getz, Dermot Mulroney. Everywhere you look someone is crushing it.
The three cops are great in this scene, but for me it’s John Carroll Lynch who makes it, because you have to believe that he IS, or at least MIGHT BE, Zodiac. So he needs to be evil, but not make it obvious. There is something so sneakily sinister about him in this scene, and this one line reading always gives me chills:
” I’m not the Zodiac. And if I was, I certainly wouldn’t tell you. ”
Great, great stuff. It’s been a year or three since I’ve watched it, I think it’s time.
// There is something so sneakily sinister about him in this scene, and this one line reading always gives me chills: //
Yes, and how blatant he is, too – almost toying with them, mentioning the knives in his car, the blood, etc. He’s enjoying himself. He has no fear.
But still: for me, it’s the Koteas close-up that acts like a warning bell – a “ding ding ding DANGER” visual cue, that underlines and reinforces what John Carroll Lynch is doing. It’s not one or the other and I always like to point out the peripheral stuff AND all the good stuff that comes out of listening – and filmmakers who really understand the importance of listening. That scene isn’t about the talking going on – although there is a lot of dialogue. It’s about those three guys listening. LOVE IT. One of the most satisfying things about Zodiac is how so MUCH of it is about listening, and listening very very VERY closely to whatever it is that’s being said.
and it’s a small role – comparatively – but it’s one of my favorite Robert Downey Jr. performances. “I cover crime in Vallejo?”
“The marked man.” Only he could get away with a line reading like that, and Fincher had to really REALLY push him to do it. He begged him, like “just try it, just do it once, if it’s awful we won’t use it.” Downey told this story himself on the commentary track. and of course it was amazing and Fincher used it.
Downey is such a wonderful, specific actor, I’ve always loved him in everything since Less Than Zero. In Two Girls and a Guy I thought he was incredible.
He’s so good as Avery. So SPECIFIC. “Paul.” “Yes?” “Editorial.” “Very Well.”
The Zodiac commentary track is one of my favorites. I’m not sure if it was there or somewhere else but I remember someone talking about Downey’s line readings, how he’s delivering each one like a self satisfied bon mot, like he’s writing witticisms as he speaks. It’s a wonderfully unique character.
I love the “very well” too!!
and yeah, that commentary track is one of my faves too. I love that it’s not just the actors – there’s also Fincher – and James Ellroy! It’s very rich, and you get all these different perspectives.
And yes the close-up to Koteas is amazing, it’s such a great visual cue. And you’re right, interesting choice to show him first, I wonder why? Maybe to show how the secret was outside the main line or something? Dwelling on the meaning of showing him first….
I’ve been thinking about why this worked so well.
Here’s my guess: a closeup of the other two guys – whom we’ve seen so much so far – including closeups – just wouldn’t have the same impact, because we’ve gotten used to it, visually.
But this new guy – this side guy – getting a closeup like that – makes everyone sit up straight, it really grabs you. You are not at all expecting it – so the moment just highlights “PAY CLOSE ATTENTION”.
something like that – I can’t remember – does Fincher talk about this on the commentary track?
Not sure if you know, but Koteas was interviewed for AV Club’s “Random Roles” series (I love that series!) I was disappointed they didn’t ask about his one scene in Living Out Loud – it’s the epitome of “random” and he is fantastic – and crucial – it’s just one scene, a random character – but he’s a catalyst for a lot that happens after. and of course they discuss Zodiac but not that moment.
Here’s the Koteas Random Roles: https://www.avclub.com/elias-koteas-1798224815
What a great actor Koteas is! Probably the best part of Some Kind of Wonderful. And his interplay with Nick Nolte in The Thin Red Line was amazing, really getting to the realities of war. Actors like him are always, always making the film better when they are in it.
absolutely!!
AVC: So would that be a personal hell for you—a screening room stocked with nothing but your own movies?
EK: [Laughs.] That would be hell. If you’re looking for self-abuse without drugs or drinking, that would be one way to do it. You just totally abuse yourself spiritually by watching yourself.
I always find it interesting when actors can’t watch their own movies. I know SOME do, Geena Davis says on the Thelma and Louise track that she’s seen the movie more than 100 times. I don’t blame her. I would! Interesting to me. Koteas seems to just love to act, not watch movies!
I guess seeing yourself “act” make you self-conscious – which is Death – also all you might see is what you did wrong, or think “why did they choose that take??” etc.
He’s always so good, you’d like him to appreciate himself – lol – but that doesn’t really matter ultimately. Only the work matters and how YOU feel about it. Do it and move on!