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Ben Affleck is reportedly directing a new documentary about the classic film-noir, Chinatown.
According to Deadline, Affleck is adapting the behind-the-scenes non-fiction book The Big Goodbye about Chinatown into a revealing new documentary.
The original film was released in 1974 and starred Jack Nicholson and Faye Dunaway. It was written by Oscar-winning screenwriter Robert Towne and produced by Robert ‘The Kid’ Evans. Controversial director Roman Polanski directed the film in the years following the high-profile murder of his wife, Sharon Tate.
A synopsis of the book the documentary will be based on, written by Sam Wasson and released earlier this year, describes it as: “the defining story of the most colourful characters in the most colourful period of Hollywood history.
“Here is Jack Nicholson at the height of his powers, as compelling a movie star as there has ever been, embarking on his great, doomed love affair with Anjelica Huston. Here is director Roman Polanski, both predator and prey, haunted by the savage death of his wife, returning to Los Angeles, the scene of the crime, where the seeds of his own self-destruction are quickly planted.”
It continues: “Here is the fevered dealmaking of ‘The Kid’ Robert Evans, the most consummate of producers. Here too is Robert Towne’s fabled script, widely considered the greatest original screenplay ever written. Wasson for the first time peels off layers of myth to provide the true account of its creation.”
The script will reportedly be written by Affleck and produced by SNL’s Lorne Michaels.
Last year, it was revealed that David Fincher is writing a pilot script for a sequel series of Chinatown on Netflix.
As Deadline reported back in November, Fincher is set to team up with Robert Towne with the pair writing a pilot script for a sequel series for the Oscar-winning film.
It will reportedly focus on a young version of Jake Gittes (who Jack Nicholson played in the original) navigating a town full of corruption.
Fincher’s work on Chinatown will follow his work directing House of Cards, which saw him become one of the first A-list Hollywood film makers to turn his attention to producing for TV, and Mindhunter, which launched its second series on Netflix last year.
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