After making a meta-textual screen acting comeback in 2020’sThe Way Back,Ben Affleckis looking to make his screen directing comeback. As reported by Deadline, Affleck will be directingThe Big Goodbye, a dramatized look behind the scenes of the iconic Hollywood filmChinatown.
The Big Goodbyewill be based on the book of the same name bySam Wasson. Released in 1974,Chinatownrocked audiences with its incendiary script byRobert Towne, nihilistic direction byRoman Polanski, and committed performances byJack NicholsonandFaye Dunaway. It also represents a sort of last “gasp” at the director-driven, “New Hollywood” boom in mainstream cinema, where giant studios like Paramount Pictures would give big personalities like Polanski and iconic, eccentric producerRobert Evanscarte blanche to deliver whatever they wanted.
The Big Goodbyewill be produced by, naturally, Paramount Pictures, andSNL’sLorne Michaelswill join the project as a producer alongside Affleck, who will also be writing the screenplay. No cast members have been announced, nor any news that Affleck himself will be acting, but I’d have to imagine tons of stars would thrill at the chance to play these big-shot Hollywood legends.
Affleck’s last-directed film was the poorly receivedLive By Night, and I’m thrilled to see him return behind the chair in a project I’m sure he’s excited about. I just have one question about this specific project: Why? Why give any more oxygen, attention, and positive rose-colored-glasses looks at the international sex criminal known as Roman Polanski? If you didn’t know, Polanski, in addition to directing film classics likeChinatownandRosemary’s Baby, is literally not allowed in the United States for statutory rape, a charge hepled guiltyto right before fleeing the country. I don’t know about you, but Ithinkthere are plenty of character-driven dramas diving into film history Affleck could direct that don’t have a real life fugitive pedophile as a central figure we are to align with.
WillThe Big Goodbyedelve into this? Are the historical contexts ofChinatownand its place in Hollywood history worth revisiting and adapting to the screen despite the obvious, glaring controversy at its center? I suppose time will tell. Until then, here are ourfavorite Ben Affleck performancesthus far. Simpler times.
