Chinatown

Chinatown (1974)

Timing: 2:10 (130 min)

7.91/10
4219

7.704/10
41602

8.1/10
376000

All about film

Video 7

Photo 128

Actors and characters

Release date

1974-06-20

Country

United States

Production

Paramount, Robert Evans Company, Long Road Productions, Penthouse

Genre

Crime, Drama, Mystery, Thriller

Budget

$6 000 000

Revenue

$30 000 000

Website

Director

Roman Polanski

Actors

Jack Nicholson, Faye Dunaway, John Huston, Perry Lopez, John Hillerman, Diane Ladd, Roman Polanski, Roy Jenson, Richard Bakalyan, James Hong
All actors and roles (10)

Scenario

Robert Towne

Producer

C.O. Erickson, Robert Evans

Operator

John A. Alonzo

Composer

Jerry Goldsmith

Artist

Audition

Jane Feinberg, Mike Fenton

Editing

Sam O'Steen
All team (34)

• In 1973, Paramount Studios offered Robert Towne $175,000 to write a screenplay adaptation of "The Great Gatsby." However, Towne instead chose to work on his original screenplay, "Chinatown," for only $25,000.
• Jack Nicholson's character, Jake Gittes, was named after the actor's friend and producer, Harry Gittes.
• While preparing for filming, Robert Towne and the film's director, Roman Polanski, titled each scene of the screenplay with individual sentences, wrote these sentences on scraps of paper, and taped them to the door of the office in Polanski's house where they worked. The game was to move these slips of paper around until they fell into the correct order.
• According to Robert Towne, it took him at least 10 months to write the screenplay. The most difficult part for him was finding a starting point for the action.
• After receiving the footage shot on the first day from the lab, Polanski was furious because, based on the success of "The Godfather" (1972), producer Robert Evans had ordered the film to be developed with a reddish tint. Roman Polanski demanded that the film be developed normally.
• In one interview, Robert Towne admitted that he hadn't intended to set the final scene in Chinatown. However, two weeks before the end of filming, someone said: 'Goodness, the film is called 'Chinatown,' and there isn't a single scene in that area.'
• A heated discussion flared up between Polanski and Towne regarding the ending: ultimately, Polanski won, not wanting a happy ending. In 1999, Towne rewatched the film and admitted that he had been wrong. Roman Polanski said that the sad ending of the film was closer to him because of the murder of his wife, Sharon Tate. Faye Dunaway recounted that Evelyn was supposed to lose her sight, in analogy with Oedipus, who blinded himself after his marriage turned out to be incestuous. The actress really wanted this ending to remain in the film, but problems arose with the makeup artists, resulting in the decision to simply shoot Evelyn.
• In 1973, Paramount Pictures offered Robert Towne $175,000 to write a screenplay adaptation of “The Great Gatsby.” However, Towne instead chose to work on his original screenplay, “Chinatown,” for just $25,000.
• After receiving the footage shot on the first day from the lab, Polanski was furious, as producer Robert Evans, based on the success of “The Godfather” (1972), had ordered the film to be developed with a reddish tint. Roman Polanski demanded that the film be developed normally.
• In one interview, Robert Towne admitted that he did not intend to make Chinatown the location for the final scene. However, two weeks before the end of filming, someone said, "My God, the film is called 'Chinatown,' and there isn't a single scene in that district."