In April 2005, Los Angeles Times columnist Steve Lopez began writing a series of feature articles about Nathaniel Anthony Ayers, an astonishingly talented, yet utterly lost street musician. Lopez had happened upon Ayers on the hard-knock streets of Skid Row, pushing his shopping cart and playing a two-stringed violin with astonishing virtuosity. In no time, Lopez's stories became a phenomenon across Los Angeles.

As he began to dig into Ayers' past as a Juilliard prodigy of great promise, Lopez set out on his own challenging quest to bring dignity to Ayers’ current life on the street. The articles continue to draw a vast readership. Rife with emotion and eye-opening in their raw reality, the stories of Lopez’s unusual encounters with Ayers captured the city’s imagination. With a whimsical belief that Beethoven must be the leader of Los Angeles, an unwavering commitment to art and personal freedom in spite of his circumstances, and a steely knowledge of how to survive the dangerous streets of L.A., Ayers was a real and irresistible character.

However, his story conveys so much more than just a man down on his luck. It is about the secret, yet transcendent dreams that exist at the margins of American society. It is about crossing the gulf between the privileged and the outcast. And, perhaps most intriguingly, it is about the often perilous task of trying to change a friend’s life, and how such a quest can lead paradoxically to exhilarating revelations about one’s own.

Oscar® winner Jamie Foxx and Oscar® nominee Robert Downey Jr. team up with Joe Wright, director of the Academy Award®-nominated "Atonement," to bring this important true story to the big screen. Weaving the challenges of homelessness, the redemptive power of music and one unlikely friendship, The Soloist connects us to a very real world that is too often overlooked.

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