David Fincher cut roughly 60 pages from Quentin Tarantino‘s original screenplay for “The Further Mis-Adventures of Cliff Booth,” the upcoming “Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood” follow-up starring Brad Pitt. It was essentially two movies,” Fincher told Empire in a new joint interview with Tarantino. The film, which sees Pitt reprise his Oscar-winning role as Hollywood stuntman Cliff Booth, ultimately came in at approximately two hours and 20 minutes.
Fincher explained that his interest in the project centered less on its plot than on the opportunity to explore the characters and their relationships against the backdrop of 1970s Hollywood. Tarantino had previously considered the film as a possible follow-up to his 2019 hit but ultimately decided he did not want a sequel to serve as his 10th and potentially final movie. Pitt, who previously worked with Fincher on “Se7en,” “Fight Club” and “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button,” helped bring the director onto the project.
Fincher also discussed the process of adapting Tarantino’s screenplay while balancing the creative interests of its writer and star. While the original film centered on Booth’s relationship with fading television actor Rick Dalton, played by Leonardo DiCaprio, the sequel draws more heavily from crime fiction, including the work of novelist Elmore Leonard, whose book “Rum Punch” served as the basis for his 1997 film “Jackie Brown.” “I don’t think of it as a hangout movie at all,” Tarantino told Empire. It has this force, thus I didn’t need a lot of plot.
This script was very different…To me, it had the flavor of an Elmore Leonard paperback: a crime-story paperback feel.” The project reunites Pitt with the character that earned him the Academy Award for best supporting actor in 2020.
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