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David Fincher Developing Chinatown Prequel Series For Netflix
David Fincher is teaming with the writer of the neo-noir classic Chinatown for a prequel series at Netflix. Deadline reports that Fincher and Robert Towne, who won an Oscar writing the script for the 1974 film, have signed deals with Netflix to write a pilot script for the potential series. Fincher will executive produce with Towne and Josh Donen.
The prequel series will center on a younger Jake Gittes, the Jack Nicholson-played private eye of the film, “as he plies his business in a town where the wealthy and corruption involves areas like land, oil and gangs.” The site notes that while it is hoped Fincher would direct it, that’s not currently part of the deal. Fincher previously worked with Netflix on House of Cards and is behind the service’s Mindhunter.
Roman Polanski directed the original film, which saw Nicholson’s Jake investigate an adulterer and expose a much deeper, darker secret. The film is a classic and highly influential on the rise of neo-noir in the 1970s through to the current day. A sequel, The Two Jakes, released in 1990 with Nicholson starring and directing. It did…not do as well, to put it mildly. Polanski does not appear to be involved in the prequel series.