1 day Ago By Christian Zilko
Quentin Tarantino and Brad Pitt might not be entirely done with Cliff Booth. In what initially struck many cinephiles as a cruel April Fool’s joke but has now been reported by multiple outlets, Pitt is in talks to reprise his Oscar-winning role from “ Once Upon a Time in Hollywood ” in a film written by Tarantino and directed by David Fincher , and which is set up at Netflix. The project, which first reported on by The Playlist , has been described as an extension of the mythology of the first film without necessarily being a direct sequel.
Representatives for Netflix and Tarantino did not respond to IndieWire’s requests for comment. Even after releasing “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood” in 2019, Tarantino has continued to develop the character of Cliff Booth. His novel based on the film added significant details about the character’s origins, including the foreign arthouse films that he enjoyed watching after returning home from his military service.
And Booth was reported to feature heavily in “The Movie Critic,” Tarantino’s scrapped project that was originally planned as his 10th and final film as a director. That project reportedly went through multiple iterations and would have included characters from throughout Tarantino’s filmography, but the director was ultimately unhappy with the scripts and pulled out of the film. Reporting in THR indicated that Fincher’s project is not “The Movie Critic,” but could contain elements of that script that Pitt was intrigued by.
The outlet reported that Pitt received Tarantino’s blessing to take the script to his frequent collaborator Fincher, who directed him in “Se7en,” “Fight Club,” and “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.” The project could give Tarantino the opportunity to keep expanding the story of Cliff Booth without violating his self-imposed ten movie limit as a director. The auteur does not count films like “True Romance” and “From Dusk Till Dawn,” which he wrote but did not direct, towards that total.
And while Tarantino would be unlikely to direct a film for Netflix given his insistence on theatrical exclusivity, the streaming service is Fincher’s longtime home. Perhaps the pedigree of the project could entice Netflix to budge on its opposition to theatrical rollouts like it did for Greta Gerwig’s upcoming “Narnia” movie”.
