David Fincher is reuniting with one of the defining stars of his career. Variety is reporting that Fincher will direct Brad Pitt in a sequel to Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. The film, which comes from a script from Quentin Tarantino, does not have an official title and is apparently being set up at Netflix.
Pitt will reprise his role as stuntman Cliff Booth, who may have killed his wife. He won an Oscar for his performance in the original film, where he was the second lead behind Leonardo DiCaprio’s Rick Dalton. There’s been no word about whether DiCaprio will return for this sequel.
Once Upon a Time in Hollywood was Tarantino’s last directorial effort, and this sequel would be remarkable in a number of ways. For one thing, it would involve one high-profile, widely beloved director taking over a property from another. It’s unclear why Tarantino did not want to direct this sequel himself. What’s equally unclear is how the project wound up at Netflix, especially after the 2019 film was released in theaters and became a solid hit for Sony Pictures.
This project comes after Tarantino scrapped plans for a film called The Movie Critic, which already had a finished script and had Pitt attached to star. There were apparently rumors that Pitt would be playing some version of his Once Upon a Time in Hollywood character, who Tarantino’s novelization of the movie reveals is something of a movie buff. Now, Pitt is officially reprising the role, and will also reunite with Fincher, who he worked with on Se7en, Fight Club, and most recently The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.
