"Chinatown", the gritty thriller with Jack Nicholson as a former police officer and successful private investigator Gittes, gets a prehistory. The industry magazine Variety confirmed a message from the website "Deadline", according to which Netflix is working on a prequel series. The script is to Robert Towne, who wrote both the script for the classic and for the sequel in 1990, and the producer and director David Fincher deliver.
The series tells of the beginnings of the young Jake "JJ" Gittes as a private investigator. More was not known about the content. Netflix initially did not comment on the news, according to Variety.
Screenwriter Towne had won an Oscar for "Chinatown" directed by Roman Polanski in 1975. He also provided the script for the sequel "The Trace Leads Back - The Two Jakes" from 1990. At that time, Jack Nicholson directed. Already in 1973, Towne and Nicholson had worked together for the movie "The Last Command", Nicholson in front of the camera. Both were nominated for an Oscar. Towne also writes the scripts for "Shampoo," "Greystone - The Legend of Tarzan, Lord of the Apes," and the first two "Mission Impossible" films.
Fincher has worked several times for Netflix, often as a producer - such as "House of Cards" -, the current series "Mindhunter" (read here the SPIEGEL criticism) he produced, some episodes he also staged. In general, Fincher is mainly known as a director. He is currently working on the Netflix movie "Mank", in which Gary Oldman plays the "Citizen Kane" author Herman Mankiewicz. For "The Social Network" and "The strange case of Benjamin Button" he was nominated for the Oscar. Fincher also directed "Fight Club" and "Seven".
If the "Chinatown" Prequel realized, it would not be the first Netflix series based on a Nicholson classic. Currently the streaming service is preparing the series "Ratched" with Sarah Paulson. It's about the notorious nurse Ratched from "One Flew Out of the Cuckoo's Nest."