re: The Two Jakes. Yea?

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Isn't the script that became Who Framed Roger Rabbit a cannibalized script that was supposed to be a sequel to Chinatown?

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I've heard this before. It's pretty well-documented that a third Jake Gittes film was planned, and that the writers of Roger Rabbit were inspired by Chinatown. However, I assume the script connection is just Hollywood legend.

First of all, Who Framed Roger Rabbit was released two years before The Two Jakes. Secondly, Jack Nicholson said there was never a script for a third film:

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In 2007, when Nicholson was asked about a third instalment, he said there wasn’t an actual script (unsurprising since Robert Towne never really finished the second one).

Still, he revealed, “I would imagine Robert has some kind of outline. I can tell you it was meant to be set in 1968 when no-fault divorce went into effect in California. The title was to be Gittes vs. Gittes.”

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I suppose elements of this outline could've been a basis for Who Framed Roger Rabbit, depending on when Towne wrote it, but that seems unlikely if a Chinatown trilogy was originally intended.

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