The Soloist is a 2009 drama film directed by Joe Wright, and starring Jamie Foxx and Robert Downey Jr.

Investigating, he encounters Nathaniel Ayers, a homeless man with schizophrenia, who is playing a violin when Lopez introduces himself.

Curious as to how a former student of such a prestigious school ended up on the streets, Lopez contacts Juilliard but learns that no record of Ayers graduating from it exists.

Though at first figuring a man with schizophrenia who's talented with a cello isn't worth his time, Lopez soon realizes that he has no better story to write about.

Unable to handle the voices, Ayers dropped out and ended up on the streets due to the delusion that his sister wanted to kill him.

Unfortunately, his tendency to wander puts both Ayers and the cello in danger, so Lopez talks him into leaving it at a shelter, located in a neighborhood of homeless people.

It is revealed at the end that Ayers is still a member of the LAMP Community – a Los Angeles nonprofit organization that seeks to help people living with severe mental illness – and that Lopez is learning how to play the guitar.

Directed by Joe Wright, was written by Susannah Grant, based on a series of columns[5] written by Los Angeles Times columnist Steve Lopez, who chronicled the plight of Nathaniel Ayers, Jr., a musician with schizophrenia, and eventually was chronicled in Lopez's book, The Soloist,[6] which was published in the spring of 2008.

The site's critics consensus reads: "Though it features strong performances by its lead players, a lack of narrative focus prevents The Soloist from hitting its mark.

[11] Audiences surveyed by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade "B+" on scale of A+ to F.[12] Reviewers generally praise the performances by Robert Downey Jr. and Jamie Foxx, but comment on the film's lack of narrative focus in attempting to tell a convincing or engaging story, due to the somewhat "uneven" direction by director Joe Wright.