:55:00
But when we talk about that movie,
we call it Roman Polanski's Chinatown.
:55:03
That's a possessive credit from a Director's
Guild point of view, which is very unfair.
:55:08
It is Roman Polanski's Chinatown.
It's also Bob Towne's Chinatown.
:55:11
But, more so, and I don't say this from an
egotistical way, it's Bob Evans' Chinatown.
:55:15
I was on the picture for five years, four
years, and Roman was on it for nine months.
:55:20
But it says,
"Roman Polanski's Chinatown."
:55:24
My first independent production had its
origins over a steak dinner with Bob Towne.
:55:29
Towne unraveled
an original story he was writing.
:55:32
"It's about how Los Angeles
became a boomtown, Evans.
:55:35
Incest and water.
It's set in the '30s.
:55:38
Second-rate shamus gets eighty-sixed
by a mysterious socialite.
:55:43
I'm writing it for Nicholson."
:55:45
I had met Nicholson a few years back
and we'd become great pals.
:55:49
Sounds perfect for Irish.
What's it called?
:55:52
"Chinatown."
Chinatown?
:55:56
You mean it takes place in Chinatown?
:55:59
"No, no, no. Chinatown
is a state of mind."
:56:03
Oh, I got it.
:56:06
I had no idea what the
fuck he was talking about.
:56:11
Six months later, Towne delivered
his first draft of the script.
:56:15
Just like the title, it was pure Chinese.
:56:20
Was I alone in my confusion?
:56:23
Nobody, I mean nobody, understood it.
:56:29
One day, I was summoned
to a meeting with Charles Bluhdorn.
:56:33
"Evans, don't make
this your first picture.
:56:38
No one at the studio
understands a word of it.
:56:41
The only place it'll play
is in your projection room."
:56:45
I'm thinking, thinking, thinking...
:56:49
I knew I had Nicholson locked.
:56:51
And even though I didn't understand the
script, I knew Towne was a brilliant writer.
:56:55
Sorry, Charlie, Chinatown is my next picture.
I'm gonna make it.