By Movies about movies have to be the most special of all genres for cinephiles. And when we think of this domain, we can’t help but count the works of the moviemaking business’s biggest fan, Quentin Tarantino, who has redefined the genre himself with his masterful creations, including his self-proclaimed “dazzling love letter to the movies” in ‘Once Upon A Time In Hollywood’. For fans who can’t get enough of this acclaimed drama, there’s more in the offing! Yes, you’ve heard it right.
We recently learned that David Fincher has been tapped to helm a sequel to Tarantino’s ‘Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood’, and in a major update, we might have just caught on to the title of the spinoff.
During an interview with ‘Sinners’ headliners Ryan Coogler and Michael B. Jordan, ‘Deadline’ editor-in-chief Mike Fleming revealed that the title for the Cliff Booth sequel is tentatively called ‘The Continuing Adventures of Cliff Booth’.
Speaking on the ‘Big Picture Podcast’, Fleming elaborated: “This probably should not be thought of as a sequel. It should be thought of as a follow-up that is connected to, but not the same as — the example that was cited to me was, think about how ‘The Big Sleep,’ the Raymond Chandler adaptation starring Humphrey Bogart, is in the same world as ‘Farewell, My Lovely,’ the 1975 Robert Mitchum movie, because they play the same character in that movie. But it’s different actors, different directors, and a different time in the storyline. They’re different. This will be like the further adventures of Cliff Booth, is my understanding of it.”
Production is said to begin this summer, though no official release date has been announced yet. Additionally, the budget of the production is reportedly around $200 million. It seems unlikely that Margot Robbie or Leonardo DiCaprio would be reprising their full-fledged roles from the first film—perhaps some cameos, but nothing is confirmed yet.
Apparently, the sequel, set in 1977, will follow Booth’s new career stint as a Hollywood studio fixer, eight years after the events of the original film. Fans can look forward to seeing Brad Pitt’s character—Rick Dalton’s stunt double and a laconic potential wife-killer—once again cruising the glorious lanes of Los Angeles in a classic ’66 Cadillac, sporting that unbuttoned yellow Hawaiian shirt, as the film revisits a bygone era of Hollywood.
With Fincher’s exceptional detailing and Pitt reprising one of the most iconic roles in his already prolific career, there’s more than one reason to be excited. This would mark the fourth collaboration between Pitt and Fincher, following their masterfully crafted ‘Se7en’, cult favorite ‘Fight Club’, and the award-winning ‘The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.’
For the uninitiated, ‘Once Upon A Time In Hollywood’, released in 2019, reimagined the notorious Charles Manson murders (particularly the murder of Sharon Tate and her friends in August 1969) alongside the story of a fading Western Hollywood star, Rick Dalton (played by DiCaprio), and his adventures with his stunt double, Cliff Booth (Pitt). An iconic blend of beauty, chaos, nostalgia, humor, and change, it offered the perfect dive into the whimsies of ’60s movie and TV lore.
Tarantino had, until recently, been planning to direct his 10th and final film, ‘The Movie Critic’, but the project unfortunately fell apart last year.
On a side note, other cast members from the original film—the Manson family hippies played by Sydney Sweeney, Margaret Qualley, Austin Butler, and Mikey Madison—have all catapulted to success in recent years.
The original film earned Pitt an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, his first acting Oscar despite three previous nominations. In the meantime, fans are eagerly anticipating his next big release, ‘F1’, a motorsports drama directed by Joseph Kosinski in which he stars as Sonny Hayes, scheduled for release on June 27.
Are you thrilled to see more of Cliff Booth, too?