Chinatown Screenwriter Robert Towne Dead at 89

Robert Towne, who arguably set a new business normal with his Oscar-successful screenplay for Roman Polanski’s 1974 film Chinatown, died at his house in Los Angeles on Monday. He was 89. His publicist, Carri McClure, verified the news to The Hollywood Reporter. Often regarded as a single of the greatest screenwriters of all time, the many scripts he labored on for the duration of his career include things like the Oscar-nominated screenplays for The Final Element, Shampoo, and Greystoke: The Legend of Tarzan, Lord of the Apes (although Towne was not thrilled with generation conclusions on that previous task, in the long run opting to be credited underneath the title of his pet dog, P.H. Vazak).

Born in Los Angeles, California in 1934, Towne’s beginnings in Hollywood were being in Tv set writers’ rooms. He sooner or later also made a reputation as a reliable script medical professional, famously executing uncredited get the job done on films these as Bonnie and Clyde, The Godfather, The Parallax Perspective, and Heaven Can Wait. When Francis Ford Coppola received the Oscar for Finest Adapted Screenplay for The Godfather, he gave Towne a shoutout for the duration of his acceptance speech for crafting “the pretty gorgeous scene among Marlon and Al Pacino in the yard.” Towne went on to direct various motion pictures of his very own, including Particular Very best, Tequila Sunrise, and Question the Dust. Afterwards in his profession, he returned to Tv as a consulting producer on Mad Guys — and as not long ago as last month, Towne told Selection that he and David Fincher experienced finished producing all episodes of Netflix’s long-gestating Chinatown prequel sequence.

In 2000, Towne mirrored on his lengthy job in an job interview with Innovative Screenwriting. When requested about currently being so extensively praised in the sector, he observed that it didn’t make his career any a lot easier. “The only reward your working experience offers you is, when you’re caught on the tale stage: ‘Well, hell, I acquired as a result of it right before, I guess I’ll get by way of it once more,’” Towne explained. “It’s that dumb religion in the simple fact of your own background … But it is just as tough each and every time.”