15º – Chinatown (Ricardo)

6 de julho

Eu sempre gostei muito do Polanski. Sua obra é muito pungente, muito pessoal. Fica bem claro que todo o sofrimento do cinesta é, de uma certa forma, canalizado para seus filmes – isso é bem evidente em filmes como ‘Lua de Fel’ ou ‘O Pianista’.  Um outro aspecto que me atrai é sua capacidade técnica e o seu talento para agregar os melhores em torno dele, com resultados quase sempre brilhantes. ‘Chinatown’ é, talvez, o melhor exemplo disso.
Selecionei esta Trivia bem legal sobre o filme:

- The scene where Roman Polanski slits Jack Nicholson’s nose was extremely complex to film, and the two men involved got so tired of explaining how it was done that they began to claim Nicholson’s nose was actually cut.

- The prop knife used to cut Jack Nicholson’s nose had a special hinged blade that would only bend in one direction. If it were inserted the wrong way, it would have really cut Nicholson who was understandably nervous during the filming of that scene.

- At one point, Roman Polanski and Jack Nicholson got into such a heated argument that Polanski smashed Nicholson’s portable TV with a mop. Nicholson used the TV to watch L.A. Lakers basketball games and kept stalling shooting

- Because this film was the first of a planned trilogy, Jack Nicholson turned down all detective roles he was offered so that the only detective he played would be Jake Gittes

- The last movie Roman Polanski filmed in the US.

- In 2007, the American Film Institute ranked this as the #21 Greatest Movie of All Time.

- Ranked #2 on the American Film Institute’s list of the 10 greatest films in the genre “Mystery” in June 2008

- Faye Dunaway and Roman Polanski were notorious for their on-set arguments; during filming, Polanski pulled out some strands of Dunaway’s hair.

- After several takes that never looked quite right, Faye Dunaway told Jack Nicholson to actually slap her. He did, and the scene made it into the movie.

- Peter Bogdanovich turned down the chance to direct. He later regretted his decision.

- Roman Polanski has said that the dark ending to the film was a result of his own despair following the murder of his wife, actress Sharon Tate.