Ben Affleck is set to write and direct the film version of Sam Wasson’s novel, “The Big Goodbye: Chinatown and the Last Years of Hollywood,” which is about the creation of the legendary 1974 film Chinatown starring Jack Nicholson and Faye Dunaway, per Variety. It also details the history of 1970’s Hollywood, an era that revolutionized the film industry with Chinatown being among the finest of the time. Affleck will also produce the film alongside Lorne Michaels, the creator of Saturday Night Live.

Many consider Roman Polanski’s Chinatown as one of the best films of all time. A neo-noir crime mystery set in Los Angeles’ Chinatown district, it is also regarded as one of Nicholson’s most defining works. He stars as J.J. “Jake” Gittes, a private investigator instructed by Dunaway’s Evelyn Mulwray set out to follow her husband.

At the 47th Academy Awards in 1975, Chinatown was nominated for eleven Oscars, including a Best Original Screenplay win by Robert Towne. The Golden Globes of the same year saw it winning Best Director, Best Drama, and Best Screenplay.

Affleck’s last project as a director was 2016’s Live by Night. As an actor, he most recently starred in Gavin O’Connor’ s 2020 The Way Back.