“You’ve got a nasty reputation, Mr. Gittes. I like that.”
Peter Bogdanovich turned down the chance to direct. The role of Evelyn Mulwray was originally intended for producer Robert Evans’ wife, Ali MacGraw, but she lost the role when she divorced him for Steve McQueen. Later, Evans wanted Jane Fonda for the part while director Roman Polanski insisted on Julie Christie. When Christie passed, they went with Faye Dunaway. Writer Robert Towne was originally offered $125,000 to write a screenplay for The Great Gatsby (1974), but Towne felt he couldn’t improve the F. Scott Fitzgerald novel, and instead accepted $25,000 to write an original story, titled Chinatown. This was meant to be the first film of a trilogy about corruption in the development of Los Angeles. It was set in the 1930s and was about the water department. The second film, The Two Jakes (1990), was set in the 1940s and was about the gas companies. The third film of the trilogy was about the building of the massive freeway system and was to be called Cloverleaf, named after a famous interchange in downtown L.A., but it was never made. But years later, some of the story ideas (like the building of a massive freeway by a corporation named Cloverleaf ) were incorporated into Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988). Phillip Lambro was originally hired to write the music score but it was rejected by producer Evans, leaving Jerry Goldsmith only ten days to write and record a new score. Chinatown was the last movie Roman Polanski filmed in the U.S., before relocating to europe to avoid facing prison for a statutory rape charge.
