Robert Towne on Fincher prequel, writing for Jack Nicholson

There are the classics — and there’s the upcoming “Chinatown.” First released on June 20, 1974, the seminal noir feature was a mighty success at the time: a massive hit for producer and Paramount veteran Robert Evans, a celebrated return to Hollywood for director Roman Polanski, and an Academy Award for screenwriter Robert. Winning Town, as well as Oscar nominations for stars Jack Nicholson and Faye Dunaway.

However, the film has become more established in the canon over the past few decades, particularly thanks to Towne’s script: a searing portrait of the unbridled greed that shaped Los Angeles in the ’30s, celebrated as one of the highest – and is often quoted Highest in the historical past – script. Key to its legacy is its eerie ending, which sees Nicholson’s detective JJ Gittes returning to his worn-out stamping gardens in Chinatown. There he witnesses some other terrible miscarriages of justice which he is helpless to prevent.

The town, which initially objected to the finishing touches, is the stuff of Hollywood bigwigs. Not only had the screenwriter not initially envisioned a more triumphant conclusion for Gits, but he was against the story being based in Chinatown in any way. As David Fincher says in his and the Town’s DVD overview, “The last thing we would like to do is never have to go to Chinatown. …Chinatown may not be a place you can actually go to because it is a state of mind.

In the years since, Towne has consistently confirmed that he now believes Polanski’s reimagined ending is the correct one. Now in his 80s, the screenwriter himself has returned to “Chinatown,” working with Fincher to script a prequel order that explores the days of Gits as a newly minted detective moves into that community. Was patrolling, who might have come to meet him.

“All I’m likely to say is that yes, all the episodes are written for Netflix,” Towne wrote in an interview. selection, “Working with a force of nature like David Fincher, however humbling at times, is nothing short of enlightening.”

Netflix had no comment on the mission. (When the Order’s creation was first reported in 2019, the streamer had nothing to offer.) However, the town scene for the prequel came together in a cohesive, gloating take on the horrifying events that made the Gittes innately eccentric (a To a fault) made the individual scene that he is in Polanski’s actual film.

In regards to the villain of the Order, Towne says, “When David and I first started talking we agreed that we wouldn’t try to repeat Noah Cross.” “But we wanted to keep in mind that the crimes that history considers terrible are the crimes that will not remain in the past but will push into the future, and I think we succeeded in that.”

Specifically, Towne and Fincher’s scripts explore the relationship between a sensitive Gittes and fellow officer Lou Escobar. Played by Perry Lopez in the 1974 film, Escobar is more of a hindrance than Gittes’ best friend in that story. However, their shared history as police colleagues patrolling Chinatown, as well as Escobar’s presence during the tragedy that shakes Gits, are both mentioned throughout the film.

Town says, “Chinatown, with all its implications for the growing Los Angeles, is central to understanding the growing Jake Gittes, as is his friendship and dependency with his partner Lou Escobar.” “It was enlightening to go into their backstory, especially Escobar’s background. The small details touched upon in the film are given life and detail in a way that surprised even me.

Despite this, the yet-unrealized Netflix order will not be the first continuation of “Chinatown.” A sequel, “The Two Jakes”, was written by screenwriter and directed by Nicholson himself. In the years ahead of production, Nicholson referred to “The Two Jakes” as part of a “triptych” of features, pointing to a possible third entry in the so-called “Chinatown” trilogy, continuing to oversee development. And the corruption of twentieth-century Los Angeles.

“’Chinatown’ for me started when I was living in Benedict Canyon and some developer bought land in nearby Deep Canyon and started a greedy building company. The land was being destroyed because of greed,” says Towne.

“The Two Jakes” was absolved in 1990: at the same time as another late (albeit more awards-friendly) rendition at the brandnew Hollywood apple, Francis Ford Coppola’s “The Godfather Part III.” The sequel reveals that Gittes has resettled in Los Angeles in 1948 during World War II. Now the landlord of his own private commercial building and a member of a country club, the private scene has become complacent and, as The New York Times put it in its review, “outdated (and pervasive).” But when an untapped real estate conspiracy targeting oil reserves is uncovered, Gittes once again becomes haunted by his latent morality, leading him to discover unexpected connections to a transfer case that haunts him.

After multiple collapses during pre-production over several years, the long-delayed “To Jake” was immediately labeled a disaster upon drop, earning mixed reviews and failing to dramatically recover its budget. Any enthusiasm for the trilogy-capper was once briefly crushed, even though information about the mission gradually emerged over the years. A possible name was once even floated: “Gits vs. Gits.”

Both Towne and Nicholson are quoted as saying that a third Gits story would have been created under California’s no-fault break-up, meaning a marriage can be legally ended without any Necessity of wrongdoing of one party. Option. Naturally, such regulation would have put an end to Gittes’s layout of spy pictures; Investigating and photographing infidelity is his bread and butter.

Date Town refutes the notion that “Chinatown” was intended as the beginning of a trilogy, confirming that a third Gits film was seen as an opportunity. On the other hand, when asked about “Gits vs. Gits”, the screenwriter shared that he had completed the script for “The Two Jakes” and was considering the closest story ideas to the sequel before filming began. Was forbidden to do so.

“There are no answers to the interesting questions though, at least none that I can give. My involvement in ‘The Two Jakes’ ended before Jack directed the film. As well as any speculation about where Jake Gittes might be, and what he might be doing at a future date, Town says. “A character like Athena from the head of Zeus does not look fully formed. How he develops or develops – let’s face it – is the screenwriter’s prime craft. Jake Gittes was in his late thirties in ‘Chinatown’. And whatever I anticipated in my late 30s is probably not what I would dare to make now.

“That’s why I’m so fond of the prequel that introduces Gits to Los Angeles more recently. …I’m particularly attracted to this young Jake Gittes,” Towne adds. “Because for all his bravery – his not playing by the rules, his tendency to be in charge – he controls events far less than events control him. And by the time he figures it out, it’s too late to do anything about it, which seems to me to be the plight of very young and very old people.

Towne has also spoken over the years about how Nicholson’s character Gittes was a creative influence in his writing. The pair’s history goes back to a performance aesthetic in the late 1950s, taught by then-blacklisted actor Jeff Corey. The two were friends and lived together as roommates before Towne wrote the screenplay for Hal Ashby’s “The Last Detail” and landed one of Nicholson’s most memorable roles. Gittes’s nature was once similarly calibrated for the actor.

“The moment I laid eyes on him, I knew Jack was going to be a star. … I can’t imagine anyone else in this role,” Town says. “It wasn’t just his capacity for outrage, there was an innate feeling that the world might not be fair but that it’s very Needed Happen. It was also his obsession with clothes, a fixed eye for detail, a disregard – even hatred – for the simple.

Yet Town’s actor-conscious ability was not exclusive to “Chinatown”. The screenwriter has written for the stars throughout his career, including his early collaboration with Tom Cruise on “Days of Thunder” and the first two “Mission: Impossible” films. It also coincided with Towne’s second directorial feature of the year, “Tequila Sunrise”, in which Kurt Russell got one of his most charming roles as suit-wearing narcotics detective Nick Frescia.

“Having a real person to write about makes my job easier and more enjoyable,” says Towne. “I’ve known Goldie Hawn since ‘Shampoo’ and through her later known Kurt Russell, who is the best-hearted bad boy you’re likely to meet. Nick Fracchia was meant to be Kurt. Or, Look at Tom Cruise, he’s a brilliant actor who has played many roles, but like seeing (James) Cagney walk in or Jimmy Stewart walk in, you know it’s Tom from the first shot, he’s got that brutal energy, and. So if you’re writing for him, you’re halfway there in terms of the character.”

A lifelong screenwriter, Towne has watched the film industry change from brandnew Hollywood to streaming. Writing for Lapham’s Quarterly in the mid-90s, he raised an existential question about his profession that becomes more relevant in the scattered thought zones of the virtual week: “Without equality between you and your audience. It’s hard to write effectively. Shared beliefs, such as shared experiences and shared myths, provide that foundation. …To me, this is the problem facing the contemporary screenwriter: How can he tell a compelling story when there is nothing that is self-evident for the audience?”

When asked about the article, Towne says, “I wasn’t sure of my mental state when I said that, but what I will say now is that storytelling doesn’t stop just because a culture uses different mechanisms. Uses.” “The audience still wants to believe. They’re just more sophisticated, they’ve become accustomed to the film medium so they don’t get seduced so easily.

The unreleased 4K Extreme Blu-ray of “Chinatown” is now available from Paramount Items.