Video interview: Robert Towne
Today’s video interview features Robert Towne. His script to Chinatown (1974) is generally acknowledged to be one of the best ever written and it won an Academy Award for best original screenplay. Towne has numerous other writing credits including The Last Detail (1973), Shampoo (1975), Personal Best (1982), Tequila Sunrise (1988), and Mission Impossible (1996), but perhaps he’s most known in Hollywood as a “script doctor,” having written on (uncredited) a slew of movies including Bonnie and Clyde (1967), The Parallax View (1974), Heaven Can Wait (1978), and Eight Million Ways to Die (1986).
This interview in three parts is from a wonderful series called “Word Into Image”.
UPDATE: If one needs any proof that being a top-flight screenwriter is not always a bowl full of profit participating cherries, take a moment to read this New York Times article from 1988 about Towne, as he discusses a particularly dark time in his life.
Part One
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BydjeiT13Bs
Part Two
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Why96sTKQKM
Part Three
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rXtluk-FbJQ
UPDATE: These videos have been pulled from YouTube. However you can go here to see other video clips with Towne.