Thirty years ago, I saw a TV interview with Robt. Towne, who was talking about the writing of that script. He said he always thought first about what a character wanted, and what that character feared, and in the case of Jake Gittes, he decided that what Gittes most feared was being embarrassed or humiliated in public. Therefore Towne arranged matters so that Gittes tells a dirty joke without knowing that the beautiful and glamorous Evelyn Mulwray is in the adjoining room, and later his nose is cut, forcing him to wear a hideous bandage. You maneuver your characters into situations in which what they fear will, in fact, happen.
A good summary of a terrific book. 1967 - 1980 was in my opinion, the true golden age of Hollywood, because of writers like Towne and executives like Evans. I return to 'Chinatown' often and I always find something in it I've missed. A great companion to 'The Big Goodbye' is the docudrama series 'The Offer' on Paramount+, about the making of 'The Godfather.' Both capture the dynamic of early '70's corporate vs. creative dynamic.
I have enjoyed reading screenplays occasionally but the ones on the Web are usually a final version, almost a transcription of the finished movie. I’d really like to see the version that was pitched and bought to compare with the final picture. How such great movies like Chinatown emerge from that “collaborative” process amazes me.
An insightful comment from Charles Baxter:
Thank you for this column.
Thirty years ago, I saw a TV interview with Robt. Towne, who was talking about the writing of that script. He said he always thought first about what a character wanted, and what that character feared, and in the case of Jake Gittes, he decided that what Gittes most feared was being embarrassed or humiliated in public. Therefore Towne arranged matters so that Gittes tells a dirty joke without knowing that the beautiful and glamorous Evelyn Mulwray is in the adjoining room, and later his nose is cut, forcing him to wear a hideous bandage. You maneuver your characters into situations in which what they fear will, in fact, happen.
A good summary of a terrific book. 1967 - 1980 was in my opinion, the true golden age of Hollywood, because of writers like Towne and executives like Evans. I return to 'Chinatown' often and I always find something in it I've missed. A great companion to 'The Big Goodbye' is the docudrama series 'The Offer' on Paramount+, about the making of 'The Godfather.' Both capture the dynamic of early '70's corporate vs. creative dynamic.
I have enjoyed reading screenplays occasionally but the ones on the Web are usually a final version, almost a transcription of the finished movie. I’d really like to see the version that was pitched and bought to compare with the final picture. How such great movies like Chinatown emerge from that “collaborative” process amazes me.