‘The Offer’ Sneak Peek: Robert Towne Tries to Sell ‘Chinatown’ (VIDEO)

Can Robert Towne (Ian Michaels) get Bob Evans (Matthew Goode) as on board with his idea for Chinatown (the 1974 film written by Towne and directed by Roman Polanski) as he is for drinking at 11 a.m.? That’s the question for TV Insider’s exclusive sneak peek of the June 2 episode of The Offer.

After Evans orders a drink, Robert asks, “Everything OK in your world?” Evans says it is (“why wouldn’t it be?”) then turns the conversation to the other man’s script, which he loved. “It really elevated the idea of a P.I.,” he says. However, it’s not all praise from Evans. “If there’s one thing, just one small thing, the conspiracy is a little hard to follow,” he admits. “So if you had to, just for me, had to talk about Chinatown, the themes, et cetera, what would the pitch be?”

Watch the clip above as Robert tries to sell Evans on Chinatown to see how that goes.

In “Crossing That Line” (Episode 8 of 10 of the limited series), it’s the bloody aftermath of the Italian-American Civil Rights League rally, and Gallo (Joseph Russo) threatens The Godfather‘s production budget as Ruddy (Miles Teller) struggles to protect the funding for Sicily. With Evans still spiraling after the breakup of his marriage with Ali MacGraw (Meredith Garretson), Barry Lapidus (Colin Hanks) capitalizes.

The Offer, Thursdays, Paramount+