Posted in: Movies, Netflix | Tagged: david fincher, once upon a time in hollywood, quentin tarantino, the adventures of cliff booth

Quentin Tarantino On David Fincher Directing Cliff Booth Spin-Off

Quentin Tarantino on David Fincher wanting to direct The Adventure of Cliff Booth: "[It] shows a level of seriousness towards my work that I think needs to be taken into account."

Once Upon a Time…in Hollywood managed to find a place at the box office in 2019 despite the near-constant competition from other studios and people legitimately thinking that half a billion dollars was underperforming. The movie was a massive hit for Sony, making just under $400 million at the worldwide box office on a budget of less than $100 million. The large cast of eccentric characters, both real and fictional, drew audiences in. Tarantino has been talking about a prequel film focusing on Brad Pitt's Cliff Booth since at least 2021, but whether or not he directed it would clash with his idea that he only wanted to direct ten films before retiring. He finished the script in April 2024, and people were brought on, but he canceled the film. A year later, something unexpected happened to The Adventures of Cliff Booth as we learned the film was titled.

Tarantino wasn't going to direct the film, but he did hand his script over to David Fincher, and Netflix decided to fund the project. Fincher and Netflix have worked on several projects over the last couple of years, from Mindhunter to The Killer. Netflix did as they always do and threw a ton of money into the project. Tarantino was recently on The Church of Tarantino podcast (via What's On Netflix) and spoke about the budget, saying it's "the biggest budget movie I've ever done by a hundred million," and considering that the last budget was a $100 million, the current estimate is in the $200 million region.

Tarantino explained why he decided to leave The Adventure of Cliff Booth, saying, "I love this script, but I'm still walking down the same ground I've already walked. It just kind of unenthused me. This last movie, I've got to not know what I'm doing again. I've got to be in uncharted territory." Tarantino went on to praise Fincher, saying, "I think me and David Fincher are the two best directors. So the idea that David Fincher actually wants to adapt my work, to me, shows a level of seriousness towards my work that I think needs to be taken into account."

For someone who is as committed to the theatrical experience as Tarantino is, he's being very open-minded about how Netflix is going to release this film. "I don't hold it against the company for not following what's not their business model," he explained, "You can you can decree that it's not their business model, but it is just what it is. I wouldn't be surprised if they came out with a two-week release of it, at least limited to some degree. And then I think at least as far as like the big cities are concerned, they'll probably have screenings that they're probably going to want to do well in the Oscars." He did go on to acknowledge that box office pressure can lead to a movie being "tainted" by underperforming and how much emphasis that opening weekend number can be an issue.

However, some problems come with streaming, and we're watching some of them play out this weekend with the release of Highest 2 Lowest, the new film from Spike Lee, which, despite its theatrical distribution from A24, is getting buried at the box office because it has a September streaming release on AppleTV+. Tarantino described the pressure of box office success as a " sort of Damocles that existed and that I've lived with my entire career," but with streaming, that isn't there. His view on the model is, "The tickets are already bought. Not tickets – subscriptions. They bought subscriptions. Yeah, I think the business idea is people join Netflix if they're not already a member just to see the movie."

While this is very true, it's also a business model that has a hard time being sustainable when you're throwing (reportedly) $200 million at yet another movie. You don't get that boost from the box office right away, which streaming lacks, so that they could have X number of subscriptions already, but they could throw $200 million at a project, and walk away with fewer subscriptions if people decide to cancel. So there are pluses and minuses for situations like this, but Tarantino handing a project off to another director is noteworthy, and now we have even more time to speculate on what his tenth feature will be and if it's going to be his last.

The Adventures of Cliff Booth started filming in July 2025 and is expected to wrap at the beginning of 2026. The cast consists of Brad Pitt and Timothy Olyphant reprising their roles as Cliff Booth and James Stacy, alongside Scott Caan, Elizabeth Debicki, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, Carla Gugino, Holt McCallany, JB Tadena, and Corey Fogelmanis. It currently doesn't have a release date.

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