We asked: What did working with that community send you away with? What you learn from them?

"I learned the same thing from the members of Lamp Community that I keep on learning over and over&ellips; never underestimate anyone," said Wright. "The Lamp Community were extraordinarily welcoming and warm, and incredibly, they're a very intelligent group of people. It's easy to confuse mental illness with mental incapacity or stupidness. These people are not stupid; they're some of the cleverest people met in America, especially spending so much time in Hollywood (as one has to)."

"They're people who are very open and understanding and caring," continued Wright. "And there's an extraordinary sense of community there; they really look after each other; they are each other's keeper—to quote the Bible. So&ellips; taking responsibility for your fellow human being is something they taught me about."

"They also demanded total honesty. That's something that I'm not very used to, especially in some of the circles one moves in in the film business. They demand a lack of sentimentality, a lack of self-pity, and a lot of love. But it's difficult to talk about them as they; it's a group of individuals and an extraordinary group of individuals, and each of them taught me different things."

Any specific stories or people who still stick out for you?

"I tried not to have a favorite; I tried very hard. But I did, and she's called Leanne," admitted Wright. "Leanne appears in the movie. Robert Downey interviews her in this little scene&ellips; Leanne's been on the streets for 30 years and was diagnosed with schizophrenia in 1968, I believe, although that's sketchy. She, against the odds, against all odds, has survived. Any money she gets, she spends it on cat food. I find it extraordinary the way the people who have least often give the most. And she has great humor. I'm quite a soppy sod and I like to give lots of love and she's quite hard work, Leanne. But those glimpses, those moments when you actually felt like you got through were worth all the hard work. She's an extraordinary woman and I will never ever forget her."

More than just a film about homelessness, The Soloist is also very much a film about music, and as many have described it, the redemptive and transformative power of music.

We asked: What would you say it is about music that makes it transformative or redemptive?

"I think there's a lot of chaos in the world, and I think what music does is create order out of the chaos, and create a sublime order out of the chaos—quite literally, in measuring time into beats and sound into harmony," said Wright. "And so, I think that's probably the key to music's redemptive quality. And also something that one can become very, very passionate about, and so it gives a focus to our emotions as well, which I think is important. Just as religion can, to be honest with you; it gives you something to focus those kind of random, often terrifying emotions."

Continue: 1 2 3 4