Netflix might have hit on film nerd heaven, as The Playlist is reporting that David Fincher, Brad Pitt, and Quentin Tarantino are teaming up for a sequel to Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, with Fincher directing, Tarantino writing, and Pitt starring.
Per The Playlist, “this is the screenplay that Tarantino’s The Movie Critic evolved into when the writer/director couldn’t put the pen down and kept exploring the adventures of Cliff Booth.” Pitt won an Oscar for playing Cliff in the original 2019 film, an aging stuntman and best friend of movie star Rick Dalton (Leonardo DiCaprio). DiCaprio’s involvement in the sequel, it’s said, is “very doubtful.”
The Hollywood Reporter, which further confirmed the news, says production could begin this summer.
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This wouldn’t be the first time a Tarantino script was directed by someone not named Quentin Tarantino — early on in his career, Tarantino worked on the films True Romance, Natural Born Killers, and From Dusk Till Dawn for directors Tony Scott, Oliver Stone, and Robert Rodriguez. This would, however, be the first time that’s happened in 30 years.
It also, most importantly to people named Quentin Tarantino, would not count as Tarantino’s tenth film, which he has long maintained would be his final one as a director. Originally, that film was thought to be The Movie Critic, until he ultimately pulled the plug on the project.
Fincher and Pitt, of course, have a long-standing relationship as collaborators, going back to 1995’s Se7en. Fincher has stayed loyal to Netflix since 2017, spearheading the series Mindhunter and Love, Death & Robots and directing the films Mank and The Killer for the streamer.
For more, check out our complete ranking of Tarantino’s nine films to date, and also find out what it’s like to watch Pulp Fiction in the man’s own movie theater.