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David Fincher is teaming up with Netflix on four new projects, including a spin-off to the streamer's biggest show, Squid Game, and a new series based on a Hollywood classic. The acclaimed director of movies like Fight Club and The Social Network first partnered with Netflix to direct several episodes of the acclaimed crime series Mindhunter in 2017. Fincher then returned to work with the streamer for his original thriller, The Killer, in 2023. The movie, which stars Michael Fassbender as a meticulous contract killer, received good reviews from critics and audiences, and quickly dominated the streamer's Top 10 chart. As a result, it was expected that Netflix would want to partner with Fincher again, but few could have predicted the projects he would be undertaking.

Last year it was reported by serial Hollywood scooper, @TheInSneider (via X), that David Fincher had been approached by Netflix to direct and produce an American spin-off of Squid Game,...

Netflix's Chinatown prequel series scripts are completed, bringing a fresh look at Jake Gittes' past with unexpected surprises. Robert Towne and David Fincher collaborate on the project, aiming to explore new elements without replicating the original film's villain. The prequel series will delve deep into Gittes and Escobar's relationship, shedding light on their codependence for the first time.

Back in 2019, a prequel series to Roman Polanskis classic neo-noir film, Chinatown, was announced to be in the works at Netflix with David Fincher and original writer Robert Towne. Theres been little news on the project since then, but we now have an exciting new update from Towne hinting that the Chinatown prequel may be closer than we thought. Released in 1974, Chinatown was nominated for 11 Academy Awards, and is widely regarded as one of the best crime dramas ever made. Townes original screenplay took home the films only Oscar win,...

“The episodes have been written for Netflix,” screenwriter Robert Towne says of his Chinatown prequel series, which will be directed by David Fincher.

As the classic noir thriller Chinatown marked its 50th anniversary – it premiered on the 20th June 1974 – screenwriter Robert Towne recently provided an update on a long-rumoured prequel series.

Its episodes, Towne told Variety, “have been written,” and will explore the earlier years of detective Jake Gittes, played by Jack Nicholson in the original film.

The series was first reported on in 2019, with the story being that David Fincher would direct and that it would all be bankrolled by Netflix. The streaming giant didn’t comment on the reports at the time, but it sounds as though the show has been quietly in the works for the past five years, with Towne confirming that he’s been collaborating with Fincher on the project in the interim.

“All I...

The Hollywood Reporter won best website and Rebecca Keegan was named print journalist of the year at the 66th annual SoCal Journalism Awards, which were handed out Sunday night.

THR won a total of 11 first places, the most awards for any publication, including prizes for critics Daniel Fienberg, David Rooney and Sheri Linden, as well as a win for best feature under 1,000 words by Gary Baum and Ryan Gajewski. It was a stellar night for Keegan, who also won an award for best culture/arts feature under 1,000 words for her piece “The Auteurs of San Quentin.”

There were also wins for Scott Feinberg (best audio personality profile/interview over 10 minutes), Anaja Smith (best use of social media tied to a cover story), as well as THR‘s excellent photo department, which picked up awards for single topic photo essay (culture/entertainment) and entertainment portrait photo.

The awards are handed out...

Robert Towne and David Fincher's collaboration on the Chinatown prequel series promises to delve into Jake Gittes and Lou Escobar's partnership while respecting the original film. Towne confirms all of the scripts for the prequel show have been completed. The enduring elements of Chinatown will be expanded upon in the Netflix prequel series, with an emphasis on Gittes' evolution and Escobar's backstory.

Chinatown writer Robert Towne provides an update on David Fincher's upcoming prequel series of the celebrated 1974 film. Fincher and Towne have been collaborating to create a Netflix prequel series that explores the life of J.J. "Jake" Gittes (Jack Nicholson) before the events of Chinatown. The project, along with Fincher and Towne's involvement, was first announced in 2019, with the latest update being the most substantial since its initial announcement.

While speaking with Variety, Towne shared that all the scripts for the Chinatown prequel series have been completed.

For a while there, we thought they really did forget it, Jake. But now Chinatown screenwriter Robert Towne has provided an update on the prequel series he has developed alongside David Fincher, confirming that the blinds haven’t been closed on the endeavor after all.

Towne — who won an Oscar for his original screenplay — recently told Variety that all episodes of the planned Chinatown prequel have been written. “All I’m likely to say is yes, all the episodes have been written for Netflix.” On collaborating with Fincher, he added, “Working with a force of nature like David Fincher, tho’ occasionally humbling, is never less than enlightening.”

Expanding the seedy world of noir classic Chinatown has been done before, with Towne and Jack Nicholson reuniting for 1990’s The Two Jakes, which we’ll just say is no Chinatown…But a prequel to the 1974 film exploring the origins of Jake Gittes...

It’s nearly five years since we learned David Fincher and Robert Towne would partner on a Chinatown series concerning the early days of Jack Nicholson’s Jake Gittes. The time since pointed towards a director who’d been brought back to feature filmmaking, to say nothing of how costly and expansive such a project would be for a company clearly less willing to take chances on major auteurs. Speaking to Variety on occasion of the film’s 50th anniversary, however, Towne provided the crucial notice that “all the episodes have been written.” An advanced state of development that nevertheless fails to signal where it’s at with Netflix––the company offered no update of their own.

Towne was fairly candid, though, saying the project’s villain will evoke John Huston’s Noah Cross––among the most evil characters in mainstream American cinema––having been shaped by the notion “that...

There are the classics — and then there’s “Chinatown.” First released on June 20, 1974, the seminal noir feature was a resounding success at its time: a big hit for producer and Paramount heavy Robert Evans, a renowned return to Hollywood for director Roman Polanski and an Academy Award winner for screenwriter Robert Towne, plus Oscar nominations for stars Jack Nicholson and Faye Dunaway.

But the film has only become more enshrined in the canon in the decades since, in particular for Towne’s script: a grim portrait of uninhibited greed shaping Los Angeles in the 30’s, celebrated as one of the best — and often cited as the best — screenplay in history. Key to its legacy is its terrifying ending, which sees Nicholson’s detective J.J. Gittes return to his old stamping ground of Chinatown. There he witnesses another deadly miscarriage of justice that he’s helpless to stop.

That Towne...

The Hollywood Reporter has landed 44 nominations for the 66th annual SoCal Journalism Awards, including print journalist of the year for Rebecca Keegan and best website.

Other nominations were bestowed upon THR’s Songwriter Roundtable, podcasts Awards Chatter and It Happened in Hollywood, and the Live Feed and Heat Vision blogs, in addition to THR’s original photography, videos, criticism and social media posts.

The awards are handed out by the Los Angeles Press Club, which noted that more than 2,300 entries were submitted this year. The winners will be announced at an awards dinner gala June 23 at the Millennium Biltmore Hotel in downtown Los Angeles.

Below is a list of THR’s nominations. See a full list of noms.

Journalist Of The Year

Print, over 50,000 circulation

Rebecca Keegan

All Media Platforms — Print, Radio, Podcast, TV or Online

Multimedia Package

Mesfin Fekadu, THR Photo Team, THR Video Team,, “The Hit Squad: Billie Eilish,...

Season 2 of Nic Pizzolatto's HBO series "True Detective" was a frustratingly disjointed affair. It played like the first draft of a James Ellroy L.A. noir: it was emotionally overheated and graphically violent, but the inciting incident and ensuing intrigue never caught fire. The quintet of compromised main characters, who worked in different Los Angeles law enforcement agencies, were fascinating in their own right (save for Taylor Kitsch's overmatched California Highway Patrol officer), but the stakes were strangely un-engaging. Imagine "Chinatown" with Perry Lopez' Lieutenant Lou Escobar getting a full arc to give more oxygen to the Hollis Mulwray investigation from the LAPD's perspective, and that's this season of "True Detective" in a nutshell.

Season 2 was a rough sit, but it had its pleasures. The narrative never locked into place, but the actors punched their weight. Colin Farrell clawed his way through the scarred skin of...