Working in 1983 as a special correspondent for the now defunct TV-Cable Week magazine, Straczynski first learned the story of Christine Collins and her son from a Los Angeles City Hall contact.

Reverend Gustav Briegleb publicizes Christine's plight and rails against the LAPD for incompetence, corruption and the extrajudicial punishment meted out by its "Gun Squad," led by Chief James E. Davis.

Famed attorney Sammy "S.S." Hahn takes on Christine's case pro bono and secures the release of the other women whom the police wanted to silence.

Epilogue text states that Captain Jones was suspended, Chief Davis was demoted, and Mayor George Cryer did not run for re-election; that California made it illegal to commit people to psychiatric facilities based solely on the word of authorities; that Rev.

Briegleb continued to use his radio show to expose police misconduct and political corruption; that Wineville changed its name to Mira Loma to escape the stigma of the murders; and that Christine Collins never stopped searching for her son.

Clark pointed out the initial burial location on the property and police discovered body parts, blood-stained axes and personal effects belonging to missing children.

[18] Howard and Imagine partner Brian Grazer began looking for a new director to helm the project;[19] they pitched the film to Eastwood in February 2007,[10] and immediately after reading the script he agreed to direct.

[22] Straczynski cited his academic background, including majors in psychology and sociology, as beneficial to writing the scenes, specifically one in which Steele distorts Collins' words to make her appear delusional.

Hopper dressed Jolie in austere grays and browns with knitted gloves, wool serge skirts accompanying cotton blouses, Mary Jane shoes, crocheted corsages and Art Deco jewelry.

"[57] Ryan also noted the calmness of the set,[58] observing that her experiences working with director Sidney Lumet on 100 Centre Street and Before the Devil Knows You're Dead were useful due to his sharing Eastwood's preference for filming a small number of takes.

[43] Eastwood did not want the flashbacks to Northcott's ranch to be too much like a horror film—he said the focus of the scene was the effect of the crimes on Sanford Clark—so he avoided graphic imagery in favor of casting the murders in shadow.

Stern used stronger skypans—more intense than is commonly used for key lighting—to reduce contrasts when applying daytime rain effects, as a single light source tended to produce harder shadows.

[52] CIS had to generate mostly new computer models, textures and motion capture because the company's existing effects catalog consisted primarily of modern era elements.

CIS referenced vintage aerial photographs of downtown Los Angeles so shots would better reflect the geography of the city, as Hancock felt it important to have a consistency that would allow audiences to understand and become immersed in the environment.

To eliminate inaccuracies that develop when creating a digital extra of different proportions to the motion capture performer, CIS sent nine skeleton rigs to House of Moves before work began.

[62] The sequence is representative of the range of effects that feature throughout the film; Los Angeles itself is presented as a major character,[52] brought to life by unobtrusive peripheral imagery that allows the viewer to focus on the story and the emotional cues.

[67] Changeling begins with an abduction, but largely avoids framing the story as a family drama to concentrate on a portrait of a woman whose desire for independence is seen as a threat to male-dominated society.

[69] Rather than "an expression of feminist awareness", David Denby argues, the film—like Eastwood's Million Dollar Baby—is "a case of awed respect for a woman who was strong and enduring".

[70] The portrait of a vulnerable woman whose mental state is manipulated by the authorities was likened to the treatment of Ingrid Bergman's character in Gaslight (1944), who also wondered if she might be insane;[21][71] Eastwood cited photographs that show Collins smiling with the child she knows is not hers.

The film shows that psychiatry became a tool in the gender politics of the era, only a few years after women's suffrage in the United States was guaranteed by the ratification of the Nineteenth Amendment.

[21] Romantic notions of the 1920s as a more innocent period are put aside in favor of depicting Los Angeles as ruled by a despotic political infrastructure, steeped in sadistic, systematic corruption throughout the city government, police force and medical establishment.

"[77] Samuel Blumenfeld of Le Monde said the scene featuring Northcott's execution by hanging was "unbearable" due to its attention to detail; he believed it one of the most convincing pleas against the death penalty imaginable.

[83] The producers and Universal considered opening Changeling wide in its first weekend to capitalize on Jolie's perceived box office appeal, but they ultimately modeled the release plan after those of other Eastwood-directed films, Mystic River in particular.

[22] Although the positive critical notices from Cannes generated speculation that the film would be a serious contender at the 2009 Academy Awards, the North American theatrical release met with a more mixed response.

[78] Honeycutt wrote that due to its close adherence to the history the drama sagged at one point, but that the film did not feel as long as its 141 minutes because the filmmakers were "good at cutting to the chase".

[69] Ansen said Straczynski's dialogue tended to the obvious, but that while the film lacked the moral nuance of Eastwood's others, the well-researched screenplay was "a model of sturdy architecture", each layer of which built audience disgust into a "fine fury".

[134] McCarthy said Changeling was one of Eastwood's most vividly realized films, noting Stern's cinematography, the set and costume design, and CGI landscapes that merged seamlessly with location shots.

[78] Dargis was not impressed by the production design; she cited the loss of Eastwood's regular collaborator Henry Bumstead—who died in 2006—as a factor in Changeling's "overly pristine" look.

[135] "J. Michael Straczynski's disjointed script manages to ring false at almost every significant turn ... and Clint Eastwood's ponderous direction—a disheartening departure from his sure touch in 'Letters From Iwo Jima' and 'The Bridges of Madison County'—magnifies the flaws."

[68] Denby said it was beautifully made, but that it shared the chief fault of other "righteously indignant" films in congratulating the audience for feeling contempt for the "long-discredited" attitudes depicted.