16 Jun 2025

What exciting project brings together Quentin Tarantino, Brad Pitt and David Fincher?

A stage play project, a novel, a TV show idea… Since the release of Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood in 2019, Quentin Tarantino hasn’t let go of his characters – actor Rick Dalton (Leonardo DiCaprio) and his stunt double Cliff Booth (Brad Pitt). On April 1st, a spin-off of the feature film was confirmed, with David Fincher as director and Quentin Tarantino as screenwriter. As Tarantino’s second most successful film, it seems to be an endless source of inspiration.

  • By La rédaction

    and Jordan Bako.

  • The trailer of the film Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood (2019).

    Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood 2 scheduled for 2026?

    The announcement came on April 1st, 2025, leading many to believe it was just a (bad) joke made on April Fools’ Day. According to the American media The Playlist, the film Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood (2019) will indeed be getting a spin-off.

    Quentin Tarantino wrote and directed the original film. However, the latter decided to pass the torch on to a new director for this sequel. David Fincher will helm the project. As for Quentin Tarantino, he will only focus on writing the script of this second chapter.

    A surprising move coming from the director of Pulp Fiction, who usually both writes and directs his features. Only two films in his career broke with his habit and only the scripts were written by Quentin Tarantino: True Romance (1993) and From Dusk Till Dawn (1996), both scripted but not directed by him. Again, according to The Playlist, the script for this sequel reportedly comes from the script of the shelved project The Movie Critic, which was initially set for release in 2025. Fun fact, Netflix is said to have paid Quentin Tarantino $20 million to pen the script for this spin-off…

    Quentin Tarantino, David Fincher and Brad Pitt reunited

    The first chapter brought together Brad Pitt, who won an Oscar for his role, Leonardo DiCaprio and Margot Robbie. But also a whole slew of Hollywood’s most promising young actors, including Margaret Qualley, Austin Butler, Mikey Madison (who recently won her first Oscar for Anora), and Sydney Sweeney.

    With nearly $400 million in box office revenue, 10 Oscar nominations, and a Golden Globe for Best Comedy Film, Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood stands as one of Quentin Tarantino’s greatest commercial success. The plot follows actor Rick Dalton and his stuntman Cliff Booth. The context is the dazzling Hollywood in the 1970s. It also weaves in the tragic story of Sharon Tate and her encounter with the murderer Charles Manson

    The Netflix sequel marks a reunion between David Fincher and one of his go-to actors, Brad Pitt. The actor played some of the director’s most iconic roles in Se7en (1995), Fight Club (1999), and The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008). In this spin-off, he is expected to play the same role as the stuntman he previously played in the original film. The latter used to write articles in a porn magazine.

    According to The Hollywood Reporter, Elizabeth Debicki (Tenet, The Crown), Yahya Abdul-Mateen II (Watchmen), and Scott Caan (Hawaii Five-0) are also part of the cast. However, it remains unclear whether Leonardo DiCaprio and Margot Robbie will return as well… Negotiations between Netflix and the two actors are underway. The filming will begin soon, this summer in California, for a release scheduled in 2026.

    Quentin Tarantino, writer

    Beyond this screenplay, Quentin Tarantino is involved in several other ventures, despite previously saying that his next film would be his last. The American director now manages a movie theater. Indeed, he recently acquired the Vista Theatre in the heart of Hollywood, thus rescuing it from post-Covid bankruptcy. But above all, he has embraced the role of writer, expanding the world of Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood into a novel and a play.

    While book-to-film adaptations are very common, the lesser-known genre of novels inspired by films also exists. That is exactly what Quentin Tarantino did with Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, published in French by Fayard on August 25th, 2021.

    The teaser of the Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, Book I.  

    Books inspired by the film Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood

    Why switch from screen to page for such a visual piece, one that even won the Oscar for Best Production Design in 2020? For the American filmmaker, it is first and foremost a way to flesh out narrative arcs left unresolved in the feature. We learn more about Cliff Booth’s (Brad Pitt) backstory. While the film ambiguously hinted at his involvement in his wife’s death, the book leaves no room for doubt…

    The dialogues are more explicit, even cruder this time: “Cliff was never obsessed with a girl’s looks. As long as she lets him sink his teeth into her ass.” It gives readers a rawer, more unfiltered perspective on the characters. The author’s American publisher released the book with a trailer featuring a retro-style voice-over. A good way to stay in the universe of the film.

    The teaser of the series Bounty Law.

    From the stage to television: the thousands lives of Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood

    Quentin Tarantino also plans to bring the story to the stage. The fictional actor Rick Dalton, played on screen by Leonardo DiCaprio, could become the main character of this new extension. The play would follow his career acting in Italian spaghetti westerns, including the period when he meets his wife, Francesca Capucci, as shown in the film. The insatiable director of Pulp Fiction is also said to be developing a five-episode TV show based on the film Bounty Law, the black-and-white embedded narrative that introduces Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood.

    The sequel to Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood by David Fincher has no release date yet. Once Upon a Time in Hollywood by Quentin Tarantino, translated by Nicolas Richard, published by Fayard, is available in bookstores.