When two of the biggest titans in Hollywood join hands at the peak of the careers, for a follow-up to an audience favourite as well as a critical darling, it's naturally going to spark significant buzz. Ahead of the upcoming release of "Once Upon a Time in Hollywood" spin-off, "The Further

When two of the biggest titans in Hollywood join hands at the peak of the careers, for a follow-up to an audience favourite as well as a critical darling, it's naturally going to spark significant buzz. Ahead of the upcoming release of "Once Upon a Time in Hollywood" spin-off, "The Further

When two of the biggest titans in Hollywood join hands at the peak of the careers, for a follow-up to an audience favourite as well as a critical darling, it's naturally going to spark significant buzz. Ahead of the upcoming release of "Once Upon a Time in Hollywood" spin-off, "The Further

When two of the biggest titans in Hollywood join hands at the peak of the careers, for a follow-up to an audience favourite as well as a critical darling, it's naturally going to spark significant buzz. Ahead of the upcoming release of "Once Upon a Time in Hollywood" spin-off, "The Further Mis-Adventures of Cliff Booth", in limited IMAX venues on November 25, 2026, before streaming globally on Netflix on December 23, 2026, David Fincher and Quentin Tarantino commenced their promotional rounds, finally opening up on what their collaboration meant and why it was a project worth bringing to fruition.

Tarantino, who has, through the course of his nearly 40-year-old career, experienced the good and bad sides of his scripts getting adapted by other filmmakers (remember the unpleasant episode with "Natural Born Killers"?), found in Fincher the right guy to approach the script of "Cliff Booth," recalling Tarantino's experience with Tony Scott's handling of his script of "True Romance."

In an interview with Empire magazine, Tarantino warmly recalled that Brad Pitt originally approached him, suggesting Fincher handle directing duties, an idea that Tarantino immediately warmed up to. Oh, and the latter also loved Fincher's "The Killer".

Interestingly, "Cliff Booth" will be relatively different in tone from "Once Upon a Time in Hollywood." In the same interview, Tarantino teased it as an Elmore Leonard-style story — a territory he once ventured into with the Pam Grier-Robert Forster-starrer "Jackie Brown," which was an adaptation of the author's "Rum Punch" — unlike the "hangout" nature of "OUATIH".

On Fincher's part, he was compelled to shorten Tarantino's humungous script from 230 pages — "essentially two movies", per Fincher — to 60, a creative choice the latter was totally on board with. The "Se7en" likened it to a "story around a bonfire," focusing on the peculiar aspect of "how the participants collided with one another in the back alleys of Hollywood in 1977". Since the film is set in the late 70s, Fincher looked to an influential film from the era for inspiration — Hal Ashby's 1975 classic, "Shampoo."

Why they went straight to Netflix

To begin with, Tarantino's "10-Film" rule discouraged him from doing the spin-off — he wanted to do something original for, possibly, his 10th and final film. When Pitt brought the script to Fincher, it was bound to land up on Netflix, given Fincher's long-standing contract with the streamer. For Tarantino and Fincher, it was a lucrative offer: Netflix was willing to throw an enormous number.

Last year, during a casual chat on The Church of Tarantino podcast, the "Pulp Fiction" filmmaker hinted it was in the ballpark of $200 million — which Tarantino remarked is "the biggest budget movie I've ever done by a hundred million". Additionally, Tarantino, Fincher, and Pitt were each reportedly paid a $20 million salary upfront.

So, now, it's up to the audiences to see for themselves if Fincher and Pitt have made something as close to the goodness of the original, or better.

Aside from Pitt, "The Further Mis-Adventures of Cliff Booth" also features Timothy Olyphant (reprising his role as James Stacy), aside from Scott Caan, Elizabeth Debicki, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, Carla Gugino, Holt McCallany, JB Tadena, and Corey Fogelmanis.

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