20 Things You Didn't Know About Zodiac
19. David Fincher Asked The Cast To Speak Quickly (Because The Script Was So Long)
Though Fincher films are well noted these days for their frantic, rat-a-tat dialogue style, back in 2007 this wasn't so much an artistic conceit for the director as it was a practical one.
Ultimately Zodiac's shooting script ran in at a stonking 200 pages, which per usual filmmaking rule of thumb would equate to a 200-minute runtime - quite an ask for a thriller with an unsolved mystery at its center.
In order to get things as tight as possible and keep the studio happy, Fincher asked his cast to speak faster than their usual vocal cadence, saving precious slivers of time with each snappy take.
As a result, the director was able to bring the runtime down to a more manageable - though still pretty beefy - 157 minutes.