Robert Towne's guest appearances

Robert Towne

FilmWeek

Minute Impossible

Light The Fuse - The Official Mission: Impossible Podcast

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The Spy Command

Greg Grunberg

Brad Bird

Michael Giacchino

Stephen King

David Oyelowo

David Crosby

Mark Gatiss

Mel Gibson

JJ Abrams

Dale Dye

Barry Jenkins

Mikey Neumann

Don Quixote

Burt Reynolds

Hayley Atwell

OwlTail

Jack Nicholson

Faye Dunaway

Robert Evans

Roman Polanski

'Chinatown' has it all: premium 1960's and 70's counter-cultural bona fides in Jack Nicholson and Robert Towne.  The ultimate Robert Evans production, as Producer AND head of the studio; a situation that allowed the barren earth from which 'Chinatown' sprung to be watered and tended to carefully despite strong headwinds against it ever coming to fruition. In this episode, I get into the backstory of 'Chinatown' and its origins in Towne's interest in the rapidly-expanding development swallowing up the Southern California of his 1940's childhood. And Polanski, having fled LA following the horrific 1969 murder of his wife, Sharon Tate and their unborn child, was in no hurry to return.   But the combined efforts of Evans and Nicholson changed Polanski's mind, and he and Towne embarked upon a reworking of the script.  And the result is a timeless classic, a jaundiced look at American (and male) power and politics. An upending of the tropes of the femme fatale noir character perfectly embodied by a never-better Faye Dunaway was the icing on this particular cake. And Polanski's simple but incredibly thought-out direction is a wonder to contemplate, which this episode does with soundbites from David Fincher, Robert Towne, Steven Soderbergh, and Kimberly Pierce. Finally, Jerry Goldsmith's incredible, indelible score is all the more remarkable given that it was a replacement score, written and recorded in just 9 days with the film's release date looming.

'Chinatown' has it all: premium 1960's and 70's counter-cultural bona fides in Jack Nicholson and Robert Towne.  The ultimate Robert Evans production, as Producer AND head of the studio; a situation that allowed the barren earth from which 'Chinatown' sprung to be watered and tended to carefully despite strong headwinds against it ever coming to fruition. In this episode, I get into the backstory of 'Chinatown' and its origins in Towne's interest in the rapidly-expanding development swallowing up the Southern California of his 1940's childhood. And Polanski, having fled LA following the horrific 1969 murder of his wife, Sharon Tate and their unborn child, was in no hurry to return.   But the combined efforts of Evans and Nicholson changed Polanski's mind, and he and Towne embarked upon a reworking of the script.  And the result is a timeless classic, a jaundiced look at American (and male) power and politics. An upending of the tropes of the femme fatale noir character perfectly embodied by a never-better Faye Dunaway was the icing on this particular cake. And Polanski's simple but incredibly thought-out direction is a wonder to contemplate, which this episode does with soundbites from David Fincher, Robert Towne, Steven Soderbergh, and Kimberly Pierce. Finally, Jerry Goldsmith's incredible, indelible score is all the more remarkable given that it was a replacement score, written and recorded in just 9 days with the film's release date looming.

143. Jack Nicholson & Faye Dunaway in Roman Polanski, Robert Towne, and Robert Evans' 'Chinatown' (1974)

 This week we dip into the “Mission: Impossible” multiverse by exploring the Robert Towne draft of the first movie. We go through the script, picking apart the changes from the final film, both subtle and substantial, while comparing it to the David Koepp drafts that both preceded and followed this draft. It’s a peek at a never-made ‘Mission’ that very nearly was!

This week we dip into the “Mission: Impossible” multiverse by exploring the Robert Towne draft of the first movie. We go through the script, picking apart the changes from the final film, both subtle and substantial, while comparing it to the David Koepp drafts that both preceded and followed this draft. It’s a peek at a never-made ‘Mission’ that very nearly was!

199. Robert Towne's Draft of 'Mission: Impossible' from February 28th, 1995

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MI:2 080 - The Robert Towne Voice