Brad Pitt is set to star in a follow-up to Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, with Quentin Tarantino writing the script and David Fincher directing, according to a report in The Playlist.
The sequel has been confirmed by Deadline and will see Pitt reprise his Oscar-winning role of the stunt double and potential wife-killer Cliff Booth.
Tarantino has reportedly given Fincher the rights to direct his script. Since Fincher has a first-look deal at Netflix the sequel will be produced by the streamer. Pitt was an executive producer for Netflix’s smash hit Adolescence.
The follow-up film, which does not yet have a name, marks the reunion of Pitt and Fincher. Together these two have made some of their most acclaimed films, including the thriller Se7en, the cult classic Fight Club and Academy favourite The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.
Once Upon a Time in Hollywood was released by Sony Pictures in 2019, and Tarantino subsequently published a novelisation in 2021. Once Upon a Time in Hollywood: A Novel, in which Tarantino develops the backstory of Cliff Booth, debuted at number one on the New York Times’ fiction best-seller list.
Variety reports that Tarantino negotiated a deal with Sony that would return the film’s rights to him at some point, and that this sequel means they are likely already retained by Tarantino.
Once Upon a Time in Hollywood tells the story of the dried-up action film star Rick Dalton (Leonardo DiCaprio) and his stunt double Cliff Booth as they navigate Hollywood in the lead up to the Tate murders. Set in late 1960s Hollywood, Dalton hopes to breathe new life into his fading acting career by making friends with his neighbours, young actress Sharon Tate and her director husband, Roman Polanski.
The film was nominated for ten Oscars in 2020, and won two, including Pitt for Best Supporting Actor, and Best Production Design. Tarantino once said that it was his favourite film that he had made.
This news comes after Tarantino announced he was scrapping his follow-up project The Movie Critic, which was thought to have featured Booth as a main character. It was to be Tarantino’s tenth and ‘final’ film and was due to be made by Sony.
The Movie Critic was said to take place in the 1970s and tell the story of a film critic who wrote for a porn magazine. The script was written and Pitt was cast, but Tarantino eventually decided against making it.
Fincher has already directed two features for Netflix, both of which have similar themes to Once Upon a Time. The Killer (2023) tells the story of an assassin, played by Michael Fassbender, who has to go on the run after a hit goes wrong. Mank (2020) follows screenwriter Herman J. Mankiewicz (Gary Oldman) and the development of the screenplay for Citizen Kane.
