Trivia

1. Writer Robert Towne had originally planned a trilogy of movies chronicling at eleven-year intervals (in narrative terms). Chinatown was about water in the '30s, The Two Jakes about oil in the '40s. About the third film, there are some doubts; It was going to be called Cloverleaf, about freeways and pollution in the '50s. Or Gittes vs. Gittes, about privacy. Both versions were never made.

Writer Robert Towne, producer Robert Evans and director Jack Nicholson founded the production company T.E.N. in 1985 just to produce this film. When legal and financial problems occurred, Nicholson finished the project alone.

Cameo: Tom Waits as a police detective

Producer Robert Evans was tapped early on to play the "second" Jake. Writer Robert Towne (who had hoped to direct the film) didn't think that Evans was up to the job and fired him, and Jack Nicholson became the picture's director. This film is/was the second in a planned trilogy of films.

Kelly McGillis and Cathy Moriarty were considered for the female lead.

Dennis Hopper and Joe Pesci were considered for the role of Jake Berman.

18 months elapsed between the film's US release and its first (minimal) appearance in UK cinemas.

Harrison Ford and Roy Scheider were Robert Towne's choice for the part of the older Jake Gittes.

John Hackett, who appears briefly as the murdered Mark Bodine, is Jack Nicholson's stand-in.

This was the second part of a planned trilogy that began with Chinatown. " The third film, Gittes vs. Gittes was never created after the critical and commercial failure of The Two Jakes.