The impact of schizophrenia on the life of nathaniel ayers depicted in steve lopezs the soloist

Lopez and Nathaniel meet at park.

Francois Duhamel Steve Lopez is living a reality most journalists only fantasise about. Four and a half years ago he wrote a column for the Los Angeles Times which, at least at the time, he thought was little different from the hundreds of others he had produced in his long and fertile career.

But the column, about a homeless musician who once attended the prestigious Juilliard School in New York, hit an extraordinary chord in his readers. Nathaniel Ayers presented a remarkably compelling story — here was a man with an almost preternatural gift for music, struck at an early age by schizophrenia and reduced to a life of quiet despair, despite his undiminished talent, on the streets of LA's Skid Row.

So Lopez got to know the man better and wrote more columns. Then his agent pressed him to write a book proposal.

Then, even before the book contract was signed, Hollywood came calling, including an offer from none other than Steven Spielberg. But if Lopez is aware of being among the blessed of his profession, it certainly has not gone to his head. Certainly, his life has changed dramatically as his relationship with Ayers has deepened, but it does not include any of the usual Hollywood cliches such as lolling in whirlpool baths with starlets or driving to the beach in an open-top BMW.

Rather, he feels humbled — and, often, exhausted — by the experience of becoming a mentor and friend to this man. Ayers still takes up an extraordinary amount of his time and emotional energy.

If Lopez is not pressing him to take pills to help his digestion or sorting out some practicality at his small apartment, he is driving him around town to repair or add to his now dazzling collection of musical instruments, taking chunks out of his working day that he then has to make up by staying in the office until nine or 10 at night.

Ayers, for sure, is a responsibility as well as a story subject. At first, Lopez felt it was not fair to throw him into the limelight and then ignore him. He relied on him, too, to provide him with more material as his relentless column deadlines kept pressing.

Then, as time went on, Ayers became more like a relative than an interview subject or a source — a person Lopez took on, a little out of obligation, and a little out of a sense of peculiar personal fulfilment.

Now, he says, he can't imagine life without him. The day before we met, Lopez had taken Ayers first to one music shop and then another, ostensibly to get a pad repaired on his flute. The second shop was one Ayers had not visited before and soon he was begging Lopez to let him try out a trumpet.

Two hours later, they left the store with a brand new trumpet, a new trombone, and a music book for both the trumpet and a viola.

Ayers has plenty of money now, thanks to his improbable fame; he relies on both Lopez and his sister to manage his funds and help him enjoy and extend his passion for music. Lopez, at this point in the proceedings, was running late for an interview at the LA farmer's market, so he made a snap decision to take Ayers with him.

That, too, was not without complication: Lopez was nervous about his response — there are times when his friend, due to his mental health problems, can become belligerent. His journalistic heroes were big-city columnist such Jimmy Breslin in New York or Mike Royko in Chicago, guys who could wrest compelling words out of a man crying into his beer over the wife who had just left him.

Lopez was certainly inventive. One day, despairing at the sight of thousands of unopened reader letters in boxes around his desk, he opened one at random and wrote a column about the writer — a man from the San Gabriel Valley who sat for hours at his kitchen table obsessively compiling a personal history.

Then, in Aprilhe took a walk in Pershing Square, a small park in downtown LA known down the decades as the hangout of pimps and rent-boys, and stopped at the sight of a dishevelled black man of about his age playing a tattered violin with only two strings.The Soloist stars Jamie Foxx as Nathaniel Ayers and Robert Downey Jr as a fictionalised version of Steve Lopez.

Photograph: Francois Duhamel Steve Lopez is living a reality most journalists only. The Soloist suffering from Schizophrenia Film Case Study Paper Ashley Harris University of Tennessee.

Nathaniel Ayers, who is homeless and mentally ill. With hopes of just getting a story, For example, when Lopez said “my name is Steve Lopez”, Ayers repeated “Steve Lopez” spelled it out and proceeded to state and spell his own %(5).

Jul 12,  · 0 ‘The Soloist’ -- A Diagnostic Film Critique. Another circumstance has almost led Nathaniel to real time danger as he cares less for his life than an obsessive compulsion to pick up a cigar butt along a busy runway, just so he’d find security at the thought of Steve, becoming pleased with that act.

Schizophrenia. The entire wikipedia with video and photo galleries for each article. Find something interesting to watch in seconds. The Soloist NOTE: this list of How did seeing the real-life Nathaniel Ayers and Steve Lopez prior to viewing the film impact your experience of viewing the film?

The sister of Nathaniel Ayers shares her thoughts about what it was like to grow up with her brother, who is mentally ill and is the focus of . The Soloist is a film based upon the true story of Nathaniel Ayers, a musician who suffers from schizophrenia, and Steve Lopez a journalist for the Los Angeles Times, who befriended the then homeless Ayers when he was living on the streets of LA. Lopez was . It is based on the story of Nathaniel Ayers, a musician who developed schizophrenia. The screenplay by Susannah Grant is based on the book, The Soloist by Steve Lopez, Foxx portrays Ayers, who is considered a cello prodigy, and Downey portrays Lopez, a Los Angeles Times columnist who discovers Ayers and writes about him in the newspaper.

4. Discuss your reaction to the film in terms of its main themes: homelessness schizophrenia. It is based on the story of Nathaniel Ayers, a musician who developed schizophrenia. The screenplay by Susannah Grant is based on the book, The Soloist by Steve Lopez, Foxx portrays Ayers, who is considered a cello prodigy, and Downey portrays Lopez, a Los Angeles Times columnist who discovers Ayers and writes about him in the newspaper.