Description
The Two Jakes is a 1990 American neo-noir mystery crime drama film and the sequel to the 1974 film Chinatown. Directed by and starring Jack Nicholson, it also features Harvey Keitel, Meg Tilly, Madeleine Stowe, Richard Farnsworth, Frederic Forrest, David Keith, Rubén Blades, Tracey Walter and Eli Wallach. Reprising their roles from Chinatown are Joe Mantell, Perry Lopez, James Hong, and, in a brief voice-over, Faye Dunaway. The musical score for the film is by Van Dyke Parks, who also appears as a prosecuting attorney. The screenplay is by Robert Towne, whose script for Chinatown won an Academy Award.
The Two Jakes faced a troubled production and went through several years of development hell. Various actors were attached at several points, including Joe Pesci and Roy Scheider, with screenwriter Towne also at one point set to direct and producer Robert Evans set to co-star. Filming finally took place with Nicholson at the helm, filming around Los Angeles in the early summer of 1989. The film was released by Paramount Pictures on August 10, 1990. The film received mixed reviews and was not a box office success and plans for a third film about J. J. Gittes, with him near the end of his life, were abandoned.
