Scripts for Towne and Fincher prequel series ready for Netflix

Posted in: Movies, Netflix, Preview, Streaming, TV | Tagged: Chinatown, David Fincher, Netflix, Robert Towne

Oscar-winning Chinatown screenwriter Robert Towne announced some important news about his and David Fincher’s prequel series for Netflix.

Every now and then, an update appears on our screens about a big project that we completely forgot was even in development. In this case, we are talking about a potential Chinatown Series that was supposed to premiere on Netflix in 2019 – with the Oscar-winning original screenwriter Robert Towne And David Fincher (Thought Hunter) are working together on a prequel to the Jack Nicholson and Faye Dunaway-with, Roman PolanskiNicholson-directed classic film that explores the early days of Nicholson’s detective JJ Gittes when he first began patrolling the streets of you-know-where. In conversation with diversityTowne gave a very positive update on the current state of affairs and shared some thoughts he and Fincher had regarding the focus of the series.

“All I can say is that all the episodes were written for Netflix. Working with a force of nature like David Fincher, while sometimes humbling, is always enlightening,” Towne said of the state of affairs from a script perspective (though Netflix did not comment on the report). As for the series’ big villain, Towne shared that he and Fincher did not try to pitch another Noah Cross (John Huston) – the power of darkness in the original film – but to show how the evils of the film are a continuation of the evils of the past. “When David and I started talking, we agreed that we weren’t going to try to repeat Noah Cross,” Towne added. “But we wanted to keep in mind that the crimes that history considers monstrous are the ones that don’t stay in the past but persist in haunting the future, and I think we succeeded in doing that.”

One person from the original film who will play an important role in the potential series is Lt. Lou Escobar (Perry Lopez), who has a shared past with Gittes: He was a police officer and patrolled Chinatown with him – and he knows about the incident that would change Gittes forever. “Chinatown, with all its impact on a developing Los Angeles, is central to understanding Jake Gittes’ development, as is his friendship with and dependence on his partner Lou Escobar,” explained Towne. “It was enlightening to delve into their backstory, especially that of Escobar. Small details that are touched upon in the film are brought to life and experienced in a way that even surprised me.”

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