Blank Check — Patreon: Zodiac with Leslye Headland (Ad-Free)

Published 2023-10-15; 2:32:45 by the feed.

As extracted (engineer-sonnet-2026-10-13)

The extraction calls the show “Blank Check with Griffin & David (Patreon)” and the episode “Zodiac with Leslye Headland (Ad-Free)”.

Hosts: Griffin Newman, David Sims, Ben Hosley. Guests: Leslye Headland.

Subject films: Zodiac.

On the transcript: No speaker labels and heavy ASR errors on names and some phrases; speaker attributions are inferred and many are low-confidence. Zodiac's times_mentioned counts every line with 'zodiac', including the killer.

Added from the extractor's memory, not said

Film titles expanded to canonical form where the transcript is clipped: 'the taking film, 123' -> The Taking of Pelham One Two Three; 'Jesse James' -> The Assassination of Jesse James; 'diving bow and the butterfly' -> The Diving Bell and the Butterfly; 'Internal Sunshine' -> Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind; 'lambs cam' -> The Silence of the Lambs; 'Roger Rabbit' -> Who Framed Roger Rabbit; 'amazing Spider-Man one' -> The Amazing Spider-Man.
Corrected spellings in people and mangled_names (e.g. Harris Savides, Laray Mayfield, John Mahon) are best guesses from the sound.

Films that came up

Claims (57)

theme (personal canon): Zodiac → The Shining. Both are on Leslye's four-film Mount Rushmore.
“It's Zodiac, the Shining, back to the future, the apartment.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Zodiac with Leslye Headland (Ad-Free) · 0:04:09 · Leslye Headland (0.90 sure it was them)
theme (personal canon): Zodiac → Back to the Future. Both are on Leslye's four-film Mount Rushmore.
“It's Zodiac, the Shining, back to the future, the apartment.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Zodiac with Leslye Headland (Ad-Free) · 0:04:09 · Leslye Headland (0.90 sure it was them)
theme (personal canon): Zodiac → The Apartment. Both are on Leslye's four-film Mount Rushmore.
“It's Zodiac, the Shining, back to the future, the apartment.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Zodiac with Leslye Headland (Ad-Free) · 0:04:09 · Leslye Headland (0.90 sure it was them)
unmapped (reason to retire): Quentin Tarantino → Buddy Buddy. Tarantino says in interviews he is retiring so as not to make a Buddy Buddy.
“I was like, don't want to make buddy buddy.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Zodiac with Leslye Headland (Ad-Free) · 0:04:58 · Griffin Newman (0.50 sure it was them)
verdict (verdict): Quentin Tarantino → The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes. Tarantino said on a Video Archives episode this was the Wilder film to end on.
“this is the one he should have ended on.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Zodiac with Leslye Headland (Ad-Free) · 0:05:09 · David Sims (0.40 sure it was them)
verdict (ranking): The Social Network → Zodiac. One speaker says Social Network is not even in the same conversation as Zodiac.
“It's not even in the same conversation”
Blank Check — Patreon · Zodiac with Leslye Headland (Ad-Free) · 0:08:48 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
industry (Oscar-season comparison): Zodiac → Norbit. Zodiac got zero Oscar nominations while Norbit got one.
“Norbit one Oscar Nam Zodiac Zero.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Zodiac with Leslye Headland (Ad-Free) · 0:15:50 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)
craft (same-year mood): Zodiac → There Will Be Blood. Zodiac, There Will Be Blood and No Country shared a nihilistic mood in 2007.
“There's something in the air that year.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Zodiac with Leslye Headland (Ad-Free) · 0:17:09 · Leslye Headland (0.40 sure it was them)
craft (same-year mood): Zodiac → No Country for Old Men. Zodiac, There Will Be Blood and No Country shared a nihilistic mood in 2007.
“But even like just these nihilistic endings where you're like, you know, there's just there's no hope.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Zodiac with Leslye Headland (Ad-Free) · 0:17:16 · Leslye Headland (0.40 sure it was them)
industry (awards slot): Zodiac → The Assassination of Jesse James. Jesse James came out later and took the slot critics were fighting to nudge Zodiac into.
“takes the zodiac spot of the one the critics are fighting to nudge in”
Blank Check — Patreon · Zodiac with Leslye Headland (Ad-Free) · 0:18:09 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)
industry (release window): Zodiac → 300. 300 opened a week after Zodiac and made March a legitimate release month.
“This is like a week after this movie comes out, March becomes a legitimate time to release a movie.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Zodiac with Leslye Headland (Ad-Free) · 0:21:47 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)
unmapped (generational datedness): Easy Rider → Fight Club. Younger viewers may see Fight Club the way the speakers see Easy Rider.
“younger people now watching that film would be like us watching Easy Rider.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Zodiac with Leslye Headland (Ad-Free) · 0:24:48 · Leslye Headland (0.70 sure it was them)
unmapped (satire that holds up): Fight Club → Dr. Strangelove. Leslye calls Fight Club a Strangelove-style satire that lasts because male toxicity is evergreen.
“But to me, Fight Club is Doctor Strangelove.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Zodiac with Leslye Headland (Ad-Free) · 0:25:13 · Leslye Headland (0.85 sure it was them)
unmapped (live-in movie): Barry Lyndon → Zodiac. Leslye compares Zodiac, a movie she can live inside, to Barry Lyndon.
“It's like it's like Barry Linden for me.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Zodiac with Leslye Headland (Ad-Free) · 0:29:06 · Leslye Headland (0.85 sure it was them)
craft (labyrinthian structure): The Shining → Zodiac. Zodiac's episodic, not-three-act feel is likened to The Shining's labyrinth.
“it's not a slave to the 3 act structure, it's interstitial, it's got this sort of episodic feel to it and not unlike the shining.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Zodiac with Leslye Headland (Ad-Free) · 0:32:02 · Leslye Headland (0.80 sure it was them)
unmapped (praise): Steven Soderbergh → Zodiac. Soderbergh gave a scene-by-scene lecture on Zodiac and called its visual storytelling next level visual math.
“And the term I heard he used all the time was just next level visual math.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Zodiac with Leslye Headland (Ad-Free) · 0:34:53 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
unmapped (template): Into Thin Air (book) → Rendezvous with Rama (unmade). Fincher said he wanted to make Rama like Into Thin Air, with technical detail.
“He said he wanted to do it like John Krakowers into thin air.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Zodiac with Leslye Headland (Ad-Free) · 0:37:19 · Griffin Newman (0.50 sure it was them)
what-if (what-if comparison): Gravity → Rendezvous with Rama (unmade). The speaker guesses Fincher wanted something like Gravity but harder sci-fi.
“I think he wanted to do something similar to gravity, but even more hard sci-fi hard science, less pulpy”
Blank Check — Patreon · Zodiac with Leslye Headland (Ad-Free) · 0:37:44 · Griffin Newman (0.50 sure it was them)
lineage (adaptation): Anthony Bourdain → Kitchen Confidential (Seared). Seared was an adaptation of Bourdain's book.
“Uh, an adaptation of Anthony Bourdain's book.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Zodiac with Leslye Headland (Ad-Free) · 0:38:00 · Griffin Newman (0.50 sure it was them)
lineage (same project lineage): Kitchen Confidential (Seared) → Burnt. Fincher was later attached to Chef, which becomes Burnt.
“later attached to chef, which then becomes burnt also with Bradley Cooper.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Zodiac with Leslye Headland (Ad-Free) · 0:38:08 · Griffin Newman (0.40 sure it was them)
unmapped (courtship): Tom Cruise → David Fincher. Cruise passed on Fincher for The Last Samurai, then offered him MI3 with a Robert Towne script.
“Cruz considered Furdig, decided to do last samurai instead, but then was like, here's a Robert Towns script for MI3.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Zodiac with Leslye Headland (Ad-Free) · 0:39:54 · Griffin Newman (0.50 sure it was them)
unmapped (replacement): Joe Carnahan → Mission: Impossible III. Carnahan replaced Fincher on MI3, then Abrams started from scratch.
“I say Carnahan is his replacement.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Zodiac with Leslye Headland (Ad-Free) · 0:40:19 · Griffin Newman (0.50 sure it was them)
unmapped (attached then replaced): David Fincher → The Black Dahlia. Fincher was attached and pitched a miniseries; the project became a film De Palma made.
“that turns into a movie that De Palma makes a flawed, but interesting film.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Zodiac with Leslye Headland (Ad-Free) · 0:45:21 · Griffin Newman (0.50 sure it was them)
people (shared actor): Charles Fleischer → Who Framed Roger Rabbit. Fleischer, who plays a Zodiac suspect, is the voice of Roger Rabbit.
“Speaking of Roger Rabbit in this movie.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Zodiac with Leslye Headland (Ad-Free) · 0:46:37 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)
lineage (reboot lineage): Spider-Man 4 (unmade) → The Amazing Spider-Man. Vanderbilt was hired for Spider-Man 4 or 5, which turned into The Amazing Spider-Man.
“before it then turns into amazing Spider-Man one.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Zodiac with Leslye Headland (Ad-Free) · 0:48:48 · Griffin Newman (0.50 sure it was them)
programming (pairing): James Vanderbilt → Alvin Sargent. Hiring Vanderbilt is likened to hiring Alvin Sargent to write the Raimi films.
“this is equivalent to them hiring Alvin Sargent to write the Rami films.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Zodiac with Leslye Headland (Ad-Free) · 0:49:03 · Griffin Newman (0.50 sure it was them)
craft (script structure): L.A. Confidential → Zodiac. The script reminds Leslye of L.A. Confidential: methodical, restarts mid-film, scenes handing off to the next.
“It's absolutely, like, the script reminds me so much of LA confidential.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Zodiac with Leslye Headland (Ad-Free) · 0:49:11 · Leslye Headland (0.80 sure it was them)
lineage (structure / influence): L.A. Confidential → Zodiac. Leslye says Zodiac feels like it follows in the footsteps of L.A. Confidential.
“zodiac feels like it follows in the footsteps of that.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Zodiac with Leslye Headland (Ad-Free) · 0:50:16 · Leslye Headland (0.80 sure it was them)
lineage (adaptation): Robert Graysmith → Zodiac. The Salerno script, which Vanderbilt took over, adapted Graysmith's nonfiction book (with a speculative sequel bolted on).
“So it's sort of like an adaptation of Graysmith's nonfiction book and a speculative sequence.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Zodiac with Leslye Headland (Ad-Free) · 0:50:39 · Griffin Newman (0.50 sure it was them)
unmapped (why Fincher was offered it): Seven → Zodiac. Seven made Fincher the first choice for any serial-killer project, Zodiac included.
“Ever since he makes seven, if there's some serial killer movie, is getting sent it”
Blank Check — Patreon · Zodiac with Leslye Headland (Ad-Free) · 0:51:53 · Griffin Newman (0.50 sure it was them)
unmapped (tonal joke): Zodiac → Charlie's Angels. Fincher thought the long phone-warrant scene was funny, like Charlie's Angels.
“because it was kind of like Charlie's Angels”
Blank Check — Patreon · Zodiac with Leslye Headland (Ad-Free) · 0:55:23 · Griffin Newman (0.50 sure it was them)
unmapped (trio of leads): L.A. Confidential → Zodiac. The film passes the baton among three men, which is why it is like L.A. Confidential.
“This is why it's like LA Confidential, though.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Zodiac with Leslye Headland (Ad-Free) · 0:55:58 · Leslye Headland (0.50 sure it was them)
theme (character parallel): L.A. Confidential → Zodiac. The vanishing Avery is likened to the Kevin Spacey character in L.A. Confidential.
“Like, like the Kevin Spacey character.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Zodiac with Leslye Headland (Ad-Free) · 0:56:14 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
unmapped (overlapping shoot): Brokeback Mountain → Zodiac. Zodiac filmed through Gyllenhaal's Brokeback Mountain awards campaign.
“This movie is filming during the broke back campaign season.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Zodiac with Leslye Headland (Ad-Free) · 0:58:33 · Griffin Newman (0.50 sure it was them)
people (cinematographer): Harris Savides → Zodiac. Savides shot Zodiac and is praised as possibly the best cinematographer of the speaker's lifetime.
“Paris Savita shot this movie.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Zodiac with Leslye Headland (Ad-Free) · 1:09:18 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)
craft (same camera): Miami Vice → Zodiac. Both used the Thomson Viper digital camera.
“man, use that on Miami Vice as well.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Zodiac with Leslye Headland (Ad-Free) · 1:09:57 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)
craft (same camera): Park Chan-wook → Zodiac. Park Chan-wook also used the Viper.
“Park Chen will also use the Viper film.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Zodiac with Leslye Headland (Ad-Free) · 1:10:23 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)
craft (camera as character): Panic Room → Zodiac. The opening dolly shot is the Panic Room kind of thing: a camera moving with a mind of its own.
“it is that panic room kind of thing as well, of just like the camera kind of perfectly moving”
Blank Check — Patreon · Zodiac with Leslye Headland (Ad-Free) · 1:14:21 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)
lineage (influence): Alfred Hitchcock → David Fincher. Fincher obviously cites Hitchcock (the speaker adds so do many people).
“he obviously cites Hitchcock, so massively”
Blank Check — Patreon · Zodiac with Leslye Headland (Ad-Free) · 1:14:57 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)
people (casting): Donnie Darko → Zodiac. Fincher liked Donnie Darko and had Gyllenhaal pegged for a while.
“unsurprisingly, Fincher liked Donny Darko”
Blank Check — Patreon · Zodiac with Leslye Headland (Ad-Free) · 1:22:44 · Griffin Newman (0.50 sure it was them)
people (casting): Collateral → Zodiac. Fincher cast Ruffalo partly because he liked him in Collateral.
“One, Fincher really liked him in collateral.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Zodiac with Leslye Headland (Ad-Free) · 1:24:06 · Griffin Newman (0.50 sure it was them)
people (casting): Rumor Has It → Zodiac. Jennifer Aniston, on Rumor Has It with Ruffalo, helped him get the role.
“So rumor has it kind of helps him get this.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Zodiac with Leslye Headland (Ad-Free) · 1:25:09 · Griffin Newman (0.50 sure it was them)
contrast (contrast): Seven → Zodiac. Zodiac is called the anti-Seven: killers made dorky, not glamorous.
“It is it is really the anti-seven.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Zodiac with Leslye Headland (Ad-Free) · 1:31:54 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)
unmapped (namesake): Dave Toschi → Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope. Star Wars has a Tosche station, named after Dave Toschi.
“It does. named after Dave Kosk.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Zodiac with Leslye Headland (Ad-Free) · 1:39:12 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)
craft (tone of the era): The Wire → Zodiac. Zodiac's boring, methodical procedure is why The Wire felt revolutionary around the same time.
“this is why the wire had felt so revolutionary, which is around the same time”
Blank Check — Patreon · Zodiac with Leslye Headland (Ad-Free) · 1:43:07 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)
people (recurring actor): Zach Grenier → David Fincher. Grenier is an A-plus Fincher freak, usually cast as a freak.
“Zach Rennier, who's, you know, A plus Fincher freak.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Zodiac with Leslye Headland (Ad-Free) · 1:48:55 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)
craft (shot comparison): The Silence of the Lambs → Zodiac. Belli looks straight into camera, called the Lambs cam.
“the lambs cam.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Zodiac with Leslye Headland (Ad-Free) · 1:51:16 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
unmapped (recasting): Gary Oldman → Brian Cox. Fincher tried Oldman in prosthetics for Belli, then hired Cox.
“He always asked Gary Oldman in, but he put him in a bunch of prosthetics and was like, this looks silly.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Zodiac with Leslye Headland (Ad-Free) · 1:52:11 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)
people (shared actor): John Mahon → L.A. Confidential. The old cop in Zodiac is also in L.A. Confidential.
“I think he's also in LA confidential”
Blank Check — Patreon · Zodiac with Leslye Headland (Ad-Free) · 2:03:19 · Leslye Headland (0.40 sure it was them)
theme (stylistic comparison): Alfred Hitchcock → Zodiac. Leslye says Fincher uses full Hitchcock in the Fleischer basement scene, which is wholly subjective.
“No, Fincher is using full Hitchcock to do a scene that is entirely subjective.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Zodiac with Leslye Headland (Ad-Free) · 2:07:42 · Leslye Headland (0.50 sure it was them)
unmapped (case becomes movie): Zodiac Killer → Dirty Harry. In the film Ruffalo's line says they are already making movies about the case, at the Dirty Harry premiere.
“They're already making movies about it.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Zodiac with Leslye Headland (Ad-Free) · 2:10:16 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
people (shared composer): David Shire → The Taking of Pelham One Two Three. Shire, Zodiac's composer, also scored Pelham 123.
“David Shire, one of the great composers of all time. Did one of my favorite film scores for the taking film, 123.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Zodiac with Leslye Headland (Ad-Free) · 2:14:08 · Leslye Headland (0.50 sure it was them)
craft (temp score): The Conversation → Zodiac. The Conversation's score was used as temp music while Zodiac was cut, then Shire scored it.
“they use the conversation score as temp score.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Zodiac with Leslye Headland (Ad-Free) · 2:14:21 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)
industry (box office): Zodiac → Wild Hogs. Wild Hogs beat Zodiac at the box office.
“It annihilated zodiac.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Zodiac with Leslye Headland (Ad-Free) · 2:16:30 · Griffin Newman (0.50 sure it was them)
industry (same-weekend obsession): The Number 23 → Zodiac. The Number 23 is another film about obsession, a bad one.
“About obsession, but a bad one.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Zodiac with Leslye Headland (Ad-Free) · 2:17:26 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)
unmapped (follow-up): Hustle & Flow → Black Snake Moan. Black Snake Moan was Craig Brewer's follow-up to Hustle and Flow.
“It's his follow-up. Hustle and flow, right, of course.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Zodiac with Leslye Headland (Ad-Free) · 2:18:27 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)
unmapped (follow-up): Shattered Glass → Breach. Breach was Billy Ray's follow-up to Shattered Glass.
“It's his follow, his follow-up to shattered glass.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Zodiac with Leslye Headland (Ad-Free) · 2:19:22 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)

Fun items (27)

fun, about Zodiac: The era's meme: Norbit got one Oscar nomination (makeup), Zodiac got none.
“Norbit one Oscar Nam Zodiac Zero.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Zodiac with Leslye Headland (Ad-Free) · 0:15:50 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)
fun, about Zodiac: Zodiac was released at Cannes two months after it bombed, to Fincher's confusion.
“They put it at Cann, 2 months as Griffin is saying, after it had bombed, even to Fincher's confusion.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Zodiac with Leslye Headland (Ad-Free) · 0:18:38 · David Sims (0.40 sure it was them)
fun, about Leslye Headland: Leslye watched Zodiac every day after moving to LA, until her roommate staged an intervention.
“she had an intervention with me, and was like, you have to stop watching.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Zodiac with Leslye Headland (Ad-Free) · 0:28:01 · Leslye Headland (0.95 sure it was them)
fun, about Steven Soderbergh: Soderbergh once lectured on Zodiac at NYU, scene by scene, and called it next-level visual math; the speaker regrets missing it.
“One of the greatest regrets of my life is I was invited by someone to attend Soderberg at NYU giving a lecture on Zodiac.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Zodiac with Leslye Headland (Ad-Free) · 0:34:07 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
fun, about Joe Carnahan: Carnahan said in interviews that his dropped MI3 script was largely about drug trafficking in human bodies.
“The thing I know that Carnahan has said in interviews is that his script was largely about drug trafficking in human bodies.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Zodiac with Leslye Headland (Ad-Free) · 0:40:38 · Griffin Newman (0.50 sure it was them)
fun, about Lords of Dogtown: Fincher's budget ask for Lords of Dogtown was fifteen million to rebuild the pier at full scale, which got him pushed off.
“you have to rebuild the pier at full scale.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Zodiac with Leslye Headland (Ad-Free) · 0:43:25 · Griffin Newman (0.50 sure it was them)
fun, about Zodiac: Graysmith claimed the killer could mount a flashlight on his gun; Fincher went to a flashlight museum, learned no 1969 bulb could do it, and so the film shows no such beam.
“And Fincher went to a flashlight museum.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Zodiac with Leslye Headland (Ad-Free) · 0:53:34 · Griffin Newman (0.50 sure it was them)
fun, about Jake Gyllenhaal: Zodiac shot through the Brokeback Mountain awards season, and Fincher would not release him for events; Fincher says he was distracted.
“And Fincher will not release him to do shit.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Zodiac with Leslye Headland (Ad-Free) · 0:59:00 · Griffin Newman (0.50 sure it was them)
fun, about Jake Gyllenhaal: Fincher's dossier line on how scattered Gyllenhaal was on set during his campaign.
“He was being nibbled to death by ducks and not particularly smart ducks.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Zodiac with Leslye Headland (Ad-Free) · 1:00:38 · Griffin Newman (0.40 sure it was them)
fun, about Jake Gyllenhaal: On the making-of, Gyllenhaal asks Fincher to confirm he is good at inserts after dozens of takes of his hands scribbling; Fincher teases, then agrees.
“no, no, no, you are, you are good at inserts.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Zodiac with Leslye Headland (Ad-Free) · 1:02:40 · Griffin Newman (0.50 sure it was them)
fun, about Mark Ruffalo: Ruffalo says his first day with Gyllenhaal took 68 takes and he hoped Fincher was coming to fire him.
“My favorite line, actually, is Ruffalo saying, like, I did my 1st day with 68 takes with Jake.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Zodiac with Leslye Headland (Ad-Free) · 1:03:20 · Griffin Newman (0.50 sure it was them)
fun, about Mark Ruffalo: Ruffalo, the actor who took to Fincher's system most, said he finally understood Fincher is taking a stab at immortality.
“He says, I finally understood, quote, he's taking a stab at immortality, which I think is a really great line for Ruffalo.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Zodiac with Leslye Headland (Ad-Free) · 1:03:50 · Griffin Newman (0.50 sure it was them)
fun, about Robert Downey Jr.: Downey's line on working for Fincher, from the dossier: he can do it because he understands gulags.
“I think I'm a perfect person to work for him because I understand gulags.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Zodiac with Leslye Headland (Ad-Free) · 1:07:32 · Griffin Newman (0.50 sure it was them)
fun, about Robert Downey Jr.: Downey's Oppenheimer press-tour story: after 60 takes, Fincher made him watch the footage on the monitor and Downey had to admit it was not right.
“And he made him watch all the takes on the monitor.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Zodiac with Leslye Headland (Ad-Free) · 1:07:59 · Griffin Newman (0.50 sure it was them)
fun, about Zodiac: The opening dolly shot needed a huge run of dolly track; Leslye says she'd be laughed out of the room pitching it.
“40 yards of fucking dolly track”
Blank Check — Patreon · Zodiac with Leslye Headland (Ad-Free) · 1:14:21 · Leslye Headland (0.50 sure it was them)
fun, about David Fincher: Fincher's stated goal for Zodiac: a serial-killer movie the killers could not enjoy.
“I wanted to make a movie that serial killers couldn't masturbate to.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Zodiac with Leslye Headland (Ad-Free) · 1:31:41 · Griffin Newman (0.50 sure it was them)
fun, about Zodiac: Zodiac's blood is digital, and Leslye says it looks better than almost any digital blood she has seen.
“the fact that the blood is digital.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Zodiac with Leslye Headland (Ad-Free) · 1:34:10 · Leslye Headland (0.50 sure it was them)
fun, about Dave Toschi: Star Wars has a Tosche station, named for Dave Toschi (the speakers' joke: Luke never gets the power converters).
“It does. named after Dave Kosk.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Zodiac with Leslye Headland (Ad-Free) · 1:39:12 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)
fun, about Brian Cox: Cox's Belli looks straight into the lens when talking; the speaker likens it to the Lambs cam.
“he's just looking like essentially straight into the cam song.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Zodiac with Leslye Headland (Ad-Free) · 1:51:09 · Leslye Headland (0.40 sure it was them)
fun, about Gary Oldman: Oldman was put in prosthetics to play Belli; it looked silly, so Fincher hired Brian Cox.
“He always asked Gary Oldman in, but he put him in a bunch of prosthetics and was like, this looks silly.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Zodiac with Leslye Headland (Ad-Free) · 1:52:11 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)
fun, about Arthur Leigh Allen: Fincher told John Carroll Lynch to play it innocent; the more innocent he played, the guiltier he looked.
“the more innocent, he played it the more he looked guilty”
Blank Check — Patreon · Zodiac with Leslye Headland (Ad-Free) · 2:05:38 · Leslye Headland (0.50 sure it was them)
fun, about Zodiac: Fincher changed the Chronicle's typewriters between eras for accuracy.
“Fincher changes the kind of typewriter they use”
Blank Check — Patreon · Zodiac with Leslye Headland (Ad-Free) · 2:10:57 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)
fun, about Zodiac: The film's second Hurdy Gurdy Man cue lands as catharsis; Leslye says the song is forever transformed.
“I'm like, you have forever transformed this song.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Zodiac with Leslye Headland (Ad-Free) · 2:13:55 · Leslye Headland (0.70 sure it was them)
fun, about David Shire: Shire wrote about forty minutes of score; The Conversation's score had been the temp track.
“they use the conversation score as temp score.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Zodiac with Leslye Headland (Ad-Free) · 2:14:21 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)
fun, about Wild Hogs: Zodiac opened against Wild Hogs, Ghost Rider, Bridge to Terabithia, The Number 23 and Black Snake Moan; Wild Hogs beat it.
“It annihilated zodiac.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Zodiac with Leslye Headland (Ad-Free) · 2:16:30 · Griffin Newman (0.50 sure it was them)
fun, about James Ellroy: On the Zodiac commentary Ellroy introduces himself as the king of American crime fiction.
“King of American crime fiction.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Zodiac with Leslye Headland (Ad-Free) · 2:21:34 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)
fun, about Robert Graysmith: A friend's ink review from an art store sounded too specific to be anyone but Graysmith; Griffin reads it at the very end.
“too weirdly specific to not be written by the real Robert Graysmith.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Zodiac with Leslye Headland (Ad-Free) · 2:25:48 · Griffin Newman (0.90 sure it was them)

Who's talking

Griffin Newman (host): Loves Zodiac as a masterpiece and the Fincher dossier details; the show's box-office fixer. Gets weirdly delighted by obsessive production detail (flashlight museum, typewriters). Has no patience for the studio logic of dumping films.
David Sims (host): Frames Zodiac against its 2007 competition and talks about its craft precisely. Coined the phrase 'a movie where the look of it makes your teeth hurt'. Treats Zodiac as a comfort-food movie despite the subject.
Leslye Headland (guest): Loves Zodiac as part of a Mount Rushmore (Zodiac, The Shining, Back to the Future, The Apartment) and watched it daily at a low point in her life. Adores blocking and staging as the true mark of the greats, loves Fincher's digital photography, and sees Fight Club as an evergreen Strangelove-style satire. Also a fan of L.A. Confidential as a nook-and-cranny movie.

The show's recurring bits

Names the transcriber got wrong

'Leslie Hadland' / 'Leslie Headland' → Leslye Headland (guest)
'David Venture' / 'Pincher' / 'Furdig' / 'Dave Fincher' variants → David Fincher
'Paris Savita' → Harris Savides (cinematographer, per sound only)
'Grace Smith' / 'Robert Grace Smith' → Robert Graysmith
'Tosky' / 'Toski' / 'Dave Kosk' → Dave Toschi
'Elroy' → James Ellroy
'Chloe Savina' / 'Chloe Eveny' / 'Cloris Severne' → Chloe Sevigny
'Jyllen Holland' / 'Gyllen Hall' / 'Joan Hall' / 'Jillian Hall' → Jake Gyllenhaal
'Robert Denning Jr.' / 'RDJ' → Robert Downey Jr.
'Elias Codius' / 'Elias Cody' → Elias Koteas
'Jermal Mulroney' / 'German Mulroney' → Dermot Mulroney
'Donald Logue' → Donal Logue
'Clay Duvall' / 'Klete Deval' → Clea DuVall
'John Anis' → John Ennis
'June Dye and Raphael' / 'June Nine Rayfield' → June Diane Raphael
'Ione Sky' → Ione Skye
'John Mayen' → John Mahon (best guess)
'Larry Mayfield' → Laray Mayfield (casting director; best guess)
'Melvin Belly' → Melvin Belli
'Mark Foster' → Marc Forster
'Fred Durstan' → Fred Durst
'John Wu' → John Woo
'Robert Towns' → Robert Towne
'Krakowers' → Jon Krakauer
'Morgan Freedom' → Morgan Freeman
'Nicholas Cage' → Nicolas Cage
'Stephen Freers' → Stephen Frears
'Kitchen Confidential' / 'Seared' kept as said
'Hurdy-gurdy man' is a song, no film
'Zameckis' → Robert Zemeckis
'Rami films' → Sam Raimi's Spider-Man films
'diving bow' → The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
'Internal Sunshine' → Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
'4 months, 3 weeks, and 2 days' kept
'Videology' trivia-bar names ('Love Ventura Pet Detective') garbled

Blank Check — Patreon: Zodiac with Leslye Headland (Ad-Free)

As extracted (engineer-sonnet-2026-10-13)

Added from the extractor's memory, not said

Films that came up

subject (1)

compared (13)

passing (80)

dismissed (1)

recommended (1)

anecdote (6)

Claims (57)

Fun items (27)

Who's talking

The show's recurring bits

Names the transcriber got wrong