The making of 'The Soloist'

Robert Downey Jr. on the unique relationship between Steve Lopez and Nathaniel Ayers...

“Steve’s thing in doing this series [of newspaper columns] about Nathaniel became sensationalized, and maybe that was good. Maybe there was some kudos or some cachet to that for [Lopez] as a journalist, but it transcended that. Their relationship transcended the book and even the movie, and they’re still hanging out now—it’s not like once the movie rights got bought, [Lopez] said, ‘hey, my job’s done here,’ in that typical L.A. fashion that that might occur. I think that’s what attracted [the actors], too. We knew that these were good people who really had become friends in the most unlikely circumstances.”