Tarantino & Fincher Unite: Once Upon a Time in Hollywood Sequel

Breaking Hollywood news! And some fantastic news as such! Variety has confirmed over the past few days that we are, in fact, eating up a new project from Quentin Tarantino and David Fincher. QT’s most recent effort, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood (2019), is by far his most tightly produced work, combining his iconic filmmaking and writing styles into a historical fiction for the ages. A personal favorite among many, primarily due to the charismatic leads of Leonardo DiCaprio and Brad Pitt as Rick Dalton and Cliff Boof, respectively. Following the film’s release and the ever-looming deadline for QT’s tenth and final film, he’s changed direction towards writing novels and nonfiction.

            His best effort in this new direction so far is the fiction-novel companion piece to the aforementioned film of his under the same name. A completely different perspective of the same events of the film, the novel showcases Tarantino’s creativity in interpreting events through characters’ specific perspectives and how they ultimately differ from one another. In the case of Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, the novel, we get a new focus centered almost entirely around Brad Pitt’s Cliff Booth, as he experiences a very different side of Hollywood than his actor counterpart. Cliff is a hippy through and through compared to the far more conservatively modeled Rick. His adventures are relaxed drives and late-night theater viewings of obscure international cinema, where Rick would rather be getting blackout drunk in his Hollywood Hills home, regressing from his time of greatness. A notable comparison between the novel and the film is the meandering nature it takes, never going to action or dramatic beats but instead allowing its characters to exist within the world and think and feel their own thoughts as though they are real human beings. This is another testament to QT’s immense understanding of writing thorough characters and worlds for them to live in.

            So, all this to say, never in a million years would I have predicted the next project with Tarantino’s name attached to be a sequel to his most recent work, nevertheless having the David Fincher directing. Which leads to the new film we’re getting hyped about: an untitled sequel. A return to the world of late ‘60s and 1970s Hollywood, this time through the lens of Cliff Booth as he escapes into the world of pornography and the developing markets for more raunchy and controversial material.

            This is all coming after Quentin Tarantino decided to get rid of his slated tenth and final film, which was tentatively titled The Movie Critic. The new film, this Fincher-helmed Hollywood sequel, seems to borrow a number of elements and themes from the scrapped project. Cliff will be accompanying a film critic through the changing landscape of Hollywood in the aforementioned context of the introduction of more nudity and creative camerawork, often associated with the French New Wave of cinema. Unfortunately, however, Variety has reported it is unlikely for Margot Robbie to return as the now-living Sharon Tate, nor DiCaprio as Rick Dalton. Regardless, this is a momentous occasion to have two powerhouse creatives uniting to continue an existing and creepingly legendary story.

            An interesting point I noticed was the changing of direction in terms of Quentin Tarantino’s approach to the media landscape. Once Upon a Time came out in 2019 under Sony’s ownership, but according to Variety, the rights reverted back to Tarantino after a few years, giving him complete control. Netflix will be the service getting the streaming and distribution rights to the sequel, meaning that it will likely not be in theaters, at least not widely available, and instead will be streaming for the masses on release. Considering his strong views on the state of Hollywood and the streaming world, I find it interesting he decided to take this route. He has gone with Netflix before, having them split up The Hateful Eight (2015) into a mini-series format, but given the length and structure of that particular film, that made sense. This feels like a slight one-eighty for QT, but I am purely speculating on this.

            There is no working title for the Hollywood sequel at the moment. Netflix has also not publicly commented on the project either. This is the first time Tarantino has branched out from his own writing and directing duology in a major capacity since From Dusk Til Dawn (2005) with Robert Rodriguez. He’s always been known for being vocal and protective of his characters and work overall, so it’s a big deal to see him return to this collaborative way of creativity. Fincher has been around adapting works and remaining an open collaborator with many, so this combination will likely yield great results. These two individuals care very deeply about the craft and yet have far different styles and approaches. In my eyes, it’s a match made in Heaven that none of us really gave credence to the possibility of. Time will tell, and you can count me first in line when it comes out.