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Honestly, Jake, do not worry if you completely forget Chinatown. According to Deadline, Ben Affleck is here to remind you, by writing and directing a film depicting the making of Roman Polanski’s 1974 neo-noir classic Chinatown. The film will be based on Sam Wasson The Big Goodbye: Chinatown and the Last Years of Hollywood, which was published February 4. Even more intriguing, apparently Saturday Night LiveLorne Michaels, who opted for the book rights and approached Paramount with the project, will also produce.
According to Macmillan’s description of the book, The Big Goodbye explores Chinatown as the jewel in the crown of 1970s Hollywood cinema. “Here, Jack Nicholson is aware of his powers, as compelling a movie star as he has ever been, and begins his great, doomed love affair with Anjelica Huston, “writes the publisher. ‘Here is director Roman Polanski, both predator and prey, haunted by the cruel death of his wife, back to Los Angeles, the scene of the crime, where the seeds of his own self-destruction are rapidly planted. Here is the brief dealmaking of ‘The Kid’ Robert Evans, the most adult producer. Here, too, is Robert Towne’s Factory Script, widely regarded as the greatest original manuscript ever written. How, if that, the film will deal with the numerous allegations of sexual assault against Polanski in the years since is not yet clear.
Affleck died in the basketball drama The way back earlier this year, but has not targeted since 2016s Live by Night, in which he also wrote and starred. It is unknown at this time what he will do after leaving the post Great farewell-inspired film, but watching Ben Affleck as Jack Nicholson as JJ Gittes as directed by Ben Affleck sounds, how easy it becomes then, unforgettable.
