Picture: Sony Pictures
Legendary director David Fincher is working with Netflix under an exclusive overall deal that runs through to at least 2027. There are a number of projects being actively developed, but one that has come together in the last few months and had the door blasted off last night is a follow-up to the 2019 movie Once Upon A Time…In Hollywood. There’s a bunch of tidbits going about, so let’s run down everything said about the sequel so far…
Rumors first began circling a few weeks back with World of Reel reporting that he’d heard rumors that Brad Pitt and David Fincher were teaming on a yet-to-be-titled project. Then, on April 1st (yes, April Fool’s Day of all days), small indie outlet The Playlist lifted the lid on the project.
For context, Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood was released in theaters back in 2019 with Sony Pictures (who works with Netflix under a deal, it’s worth noting) and served as Tarantino’s ninth and as of today, his latest film. It followed the exploits of Rick Dalton (played by Leonardo DiCaprio) and his driver and stuntman, Cliff Booth (played by Brad Pitt). A sequel (of sorts) to the movie has already been released in the form of the 2021 novel by Tarantino that fleshes out the backstory of many of the characters seen in the film. You may also remember a TV series based on the TV show within the movie, Bounty Law, was reportedly in the works.
Anyway, back to this new Netflix movie. Before we proceed, it’s worth noting that Netflix has not provided a comment to anyone who has asked.
For the past few years, Tarantino’s potential final film (the director has said he’d only direct 10) has been referred to as The Movie Critic, which The Playlist says has evolved into being this sequel script for Netflix, which the streamer has paid in the region of $20M for. While details are slim on that script, we do know it would’ve taken place in the ’70s and follow a film critic who wrote for a porn magazine. THR said, “The mystery project is also not The Movie Critic, according to one insider.”
Not wanting it to be his final film, Tarantino has hand-picked David Fincher to work with on the project. By most accounts, the story will shift the main focus from Rick Dalton to Cliff Booth. Most accounts state that Tarantino was only open to moving the script to another director if it was right.
Who else is involved? From all the reporting, Brad Pitt is a lock, and The Insneider followed up soon after The Playlist posted with the news that Leonardo DiCaprio was in negotiations to return in a small role, although he wasn’t a lock. In addition, Margot Robbie is reportedly aware of the project.
Theatrical doesn’t seem important either. The Insneider states, “Fincher isn’t getting — and didn’t ask for — the IMAX treatment that Greta Gerwig is getting for her Narnia movie. Fincher doesn’t care about a theatrical release and is fine with the film debuting on Netflix.”
According to THR and World of Reel, filming on the project could begin this July, and there is no official title for the follow-up just yet.
This is one of at least four projects Fincher is publicly tied to at Netflix. Earlier this year, we exclusively reported that Netflix and Fincher had tapped the Black List script Bitterroot to direct. That’s in addition to Squid Game: America (which we hear may be getting a name change) and a Chinatown prequel (which we’re told is on permanent hold given that Netflix and Fincher couldn’t align on budgets).
That’s all we have so far. We’ll keep you posted with more as and when we have it.
