Brad Pitt's Cliff Booth Gets a Fincher Sequel: Back in IMAX Oct. 30
Tarantino wrote the script and handed the director's chair to David Fincher. "The Further Mis-Adventures of Cliff Booth" is coming to cinemas November 25 ... and the original film returns exclusively to IMAX theaters October 30 to set the stage.
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Quentin Tarantino wrote the script. David Fincher is directing it. Per Dark Horizons, "The Further Mis-Adventures of Cliff Booth" is arriving in cinemas on November 25. Before it does, the original "Once Upon a Time in Hollywood" is returning exclusively to IMAX on October 30 to remind everyone what the character is capable of.
This is a film industry story that almost never happens. Tarantino does not hand his material to other directors. He writes, he shoots, he controls the frame. The fact that he wrote a Cliff Booth sequel and gave the chair to Fincher is the kind of creative arrangement that gets dissected in film school for the next decade.
Why Cliff Booth and not Rick Dalton
When the 2019 film wrapped, the consensus among critics and audiences was clear: Brad Pitt won that movie. His Cliff Booth, the unflappable stunt double who may or may not have killed his wife on a boat, collected every scene he was in and walked away with the Best Supporting Actor Oscar. Leonardo DiCaprio's Rick Dalton was the emotional center of the story, but Cliff Booth was the one people wanted more of.
The original film grossed more than $378 million worldwide on a roughly $90 million budget. The supporting cast included Timothy Olyphant, Margot Robbie as Sharon Tate, Al Pacino, Kurt Russell, and Dakota Fanning. Pitt was the breakout, and the title of the sequel makes plain who the sequel belongs to.
The Fincher angle
David Fincher and Quentin Tarantino share a reputation for total control over their films and almost nothing else stylistically. Fincher is cold, precise, and clinical. Tarantino is warm, digressive, and novelistic. The question the sequel raises before a single frame has been released: whose film will it actually feel like? Tarantino wrote the blueprint. Fincher built the house. The result is going to be one of the more unusual double-bill conversations in modern cinema.
The IMAX re-release on October 30 functions as a setup. Latecomers and nostalgic fans get to see Cliff Booth on the largest possible screen before Fincher tells them what he did next. As marketing strategies go, it is effective: the best trailer for a sequel is the original film playing at full volume.
What we do not know yet
No cast has been confirmed for the spin-off beyond what the title implies. Whether DiCaprio, Robbie, or other cast members from the original are returning has not been announced. The story the sequel tells, the setting, and whether it stays in 1969 Los Angeles or moves the timeline are all open questions. Given the Fincher involvement, expect precision over nostalgia.
What is confirmed: November 25 is a major release date. If Fincher and Tarantino have pulled this off, it will be the most-discussed film of the year. If they have not, that will also be a conversation worth having.
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