Had “The Two Jakes” not turned into a money pit of a movie, largely undermined by producer Robert Evans who derailed the production in 1985 when he insisted on reviving his long-dormant acting career in the role of businessman Jake Berman (eventually portrayed by Harvey Keitel), Nicholson and Towne would’ve sat tight for a couple of decades and returned with “Gittes vs. Gittes.”

In a 2007 interview with MTV, Nicholson explained “We always planned on making three films. We wanted it all to be tied into elemental things. ‘Chinatown’ is obviously water. ‘The Two Jakes’ is fire and energy. And the third film was meant to be about Gittes’ divorce and relate to air.”

The air element is intriguing, and it sounds like it could’ve been a doozy had they pulled it off. As Nicholson told MTV:

“[I]t was meant to be set in 1968 when no-fault divorce went into effect in California. It was to be about Gittes’ divorce. The secrecy of Meg Tilly’s character was somehow to involve the most private person in California, Howard Hughes. That is where the air element would have come into the picture.”